OIE CONFERENCE ON ABANDONED DOGS

On the Second OIE Regional Workshop on Stray Dog Population Management for Balkan Countries (SDB2), organised by the World Organisation for Animal Health – OIE in Tirana on 14-16 June 2016, ORCA had held a presentation titled “Evidence-based dog population control at the local level: an example of good practice from Serbia”. Conference was supported by the European Union, Government of Switzerland, World Animal Protection and Government of Albania as the hosting country.

At this event, ORCA has presented comprehensive research related to dog population control in Municipality of Bogatic, conducted from October 2015 until May 2016 within the project co-financed by Bogatic municipality and ORCA, aiming to support Bogatic municipality in creating a humane and effective local dog population control programme, completely in line with Serbian legislation and OIE standards in this area. In this way we will contribute to the reduction of safety, health, ecological, hygiene, social and economic risks that are related to the presence of abandoned dogs in public areas.

Goal of the research is to assess the current state, capacities and needs of Bogatic in this area. That implies research of the culture of keeping dogs, research of the population of owned and roaming dogs in the territory of the entire municipality, research of citizens’ attitudes related to dogs, assessment of environmental factors influencing the roaming dog population, research of capacities of main stakeholders and available resources in this area.

OIE Platform on Animal Welfare for Europe has identified stray dog population control as one of the three priority topics in their action plan. Common vision of the OIE for Balkan countries related to stray dog population control is to become fully compliant with the OIE standards in this area by 2025.