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Sat, Nov 21 2009
Stray dogs problem in Sofia will be resolved with shelters in 2011, official says
Photo: Georgi Kozhouharov
The problem of Sofia's stray dogs will be resolved after 2011 when dog shelters will be built, Petar Petrov, head of the city hall Ekoravnovesie company was quoted by Standard daily as telling private national bTV channel on October 22 2009.
Ekoravnovesie is the company directly responsible for dealing with the problem that has beset Sofians for years with numerous cases of people being attacked by packs of strays throughout the city.
"The problem will be solved when all stray dogs are put in shelters that will be built by 2011," Petrov said. He claimed there were about 8500 stray dogs on Sofia's streets. There should be at least 11 shelters in every region of the city so that these dogs are taken care of, he said.
According to current legislation, strays are caught and neutered but then many are returned to the streets with the more aggressive ones placed in shelters. When the shelters are built, all dogs will be kept inside, Petrov said.
According to the Four Paws animal protection foundation, the problem lay not with the dogs but with people who abandon animals on the streets in the first place. "The dogs are a social problem that we have created," the foundation's representative told bTV as quoted by Standart.
According to Four Paws there were people in the Pernik region who come to Sofia to dump their dogs in the city.
Four Paws quoted statistics that there were about 500 dogs registered as pets in Sofia. They believe that the total number of all pets in the capital was more like 500 000.
Municipalities in Bulgaria did not respect the law on animal protection, Four Paws said. The foundation believes that people are to blame for accidents involving strays, not the dogs.
A shocking accident occurred on October 19 2009 when a pack of stray dogs dismembered a six-year-old girl in the village of Sushevo in north-eastern Bulgaria in the Razgrad region. She was attacked while on her way to the grocery store.
The dogs reportedly belonged to 49-year-old teacher Elena Bankova who has about a dozen canines in her garden, but the dogs in question have free access to and from the yard and are often seen in the village, chasing cars and terrorising locals.
This tragic incident could have been avoided if authorities did their job, Four Paws said in a statement on October 22.
Every municipality was obliged to register pet dogs in its territory and castrate the strays with the process supervised by the National Medical and Veterinary Service (NVMS).
However, lack of control by the NVMS meant that the law did not work, the statement said.
When Four Paws asked Razgrad municipality in May this year about the steps they had taken in this respect, there was no reply, "which suggests that they have done nothing", Four Paws said.
"There seem to be no sanctions applied to the municipality over this and it seems that the city hall and the regional branch of NVMS knew about the potential danger in Sushevo but did nothing either," the statement said.
The foundation demanded the resignations of all involved, including the mayor of Sushevo and the head of NVMS regional branch for failing in their job.
"Unfortunately, every time there is such an incident everybody blames the dogs and not the people and institutions who have let it happen.
Local authorities only start taking actions on an ad-hoc basis whenever there is someone bitten by a dog, Four Paws said. "They work on the principle that 'there is a dog; there is a problem'. They treat the consequences but not the cause," the statement said.
Ekoravnovesie is the company directly responsible for dealing with the problem that has beset Sofians for years with numerous cases of people being attacked by packs of strays throughout the city.
"The problem will be solved when all stray dogs are put in shelters that will be built by 2011," Petrov said. He claimed there were about 8500 stray dogs on Sofia's streets. There should be at least 11 shelters in every region of the city so that these dogs are taken care of, he said.
According to current legislation, strays are caught and neutered but then many are returned to the streets with the more aggressive ones placed in shelters. When the shelters are built, all dogs will be kept inside, Petrov said.
According to the Four Paws animal protection foundation, the problem lay not with the dogs but with people who abandon animals on the streets in the first place. "The dogs are a social problem that we have created," the foundation's representative told bTV as quoted by Standart.
According to Four Paws there were people in the Pernik region who come to Sofia to dump their dogs in the city.
Four Paws quoted statistics that there were about 500 dogs registered as pets in Sofia. They believe that the total number of all pets in the capital was more like 500 000.
Municipalities in Bulgaria did not respect the law on animal protection, Four Paws said. The foundation believes that people are to blame for accidents involving strays, not the dogs.
A shocking accident occurred on October 19 2009 when a pack of stray dogs dismembered a six-year-old girl in the village of Sushevo in north-eastern Bulgaria in the Razgrad region. She was attacked while on her way to the grocery store.
The dogs reportedly belonged to 49-year-old teacher Elena Bankova who has about a dozen canines in her garden, but the dogs in question have free access to and from the yard and are often seen in the village, chasing cars and terrorising locals.
This tragic incident could have been avoided if authorities did their job, Four Paws said in a statement on October 22.
Every municipality was obliged to register pet dogs in its territory and castrate the strays with the process supervised by the National Medical and Veterinary Service (NVMS).
However, lack of control by the NVMS meant that the law did not work, the statement said.
When Four Paws asked Razgrad municipality in May this year about the steps they had taken in this respect, there was no reply, "which suggests that they have done nothing", Four Paws said.
"There seem to be no sanctions applied to the municipality over this and it seems that the city hall and the regional branch of NVMS knew about the potential danger in Sushevo but did nothing either," the statement said.
The foundation demanded the resignations of all involved, including the mayor of Sushevo and the head of NVMS regional branch for failing in their job.
"Unfortunately, every time there is such an incident everybody blames the dogs and not the people and institutions who have let it happen.
Local authorities only start taking actions on an ad-hoc basis whenever there is someone bitten by a dog, Four Paws said. "They work on the principle that 'there is a dog; there is a problem'. They treat the consequences but not the cause," the statement said.
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Jake...what an arsehole...sounds like you married a two-legged bulgarian dog....
Well, luckily Mikael is not a model example of a Scandinavian and luckily Valeri is not a model example of a Bulgarian. Otherwise both of these places would be total horror to live ;)
In fact, very bad legislation was provided by Four Paws Bulgaria and Intimate With Nature Society.
Officials cannot solve the core problem, namely total pet population overreproductivity by sheltering.
Sofia must stop population growth by accepting legal policy in animal birth control (ABC).
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained foul, abusive or discriminating language.
Kill a stray today! This will be the new grassroots organisation for Sofia, BG. I have been in and out of BG at least 20 times over the past six years. I love the Balkans. I met my wife and got married in Sofia. We named our daughter after the capital city. We currently live in S. Korea because of my employment. My wife longs to visit her home. However, I told her we will never live in Sofia out of fear for the safety of our daughter. I would not take the risk. Here in S. Korea there is no stray dog problem. It would be considered culturally unsound. Although the culinary practice is somewhat outdated, a Korean would rather eat a dog than waste it. Shelters? Ok---that would provide some relief but not solve the problem. You would still have apathetic dog owners letting their dogs run loose. So, kill a stray today! People will thank you for it.
Mikael:
"I think Sofia's "credit crunch" will continue for the time people dare to visit the city."
Are all Swedes "one tack mind"?
Let me try again:
Sofia has NEVER been a tourist destination. It probably never will be. Most of it was built in the 20th century and whereas it may pass for "historic" in the States, it won't qualify for it in Europe.
That has nothing to do with the current economic downturn. The economic troubles are global - is this too difficult for your narrow mind?
Mikael, I suggest you get over not being treated like the "Great White Man" you were expecting in BG and move on. We are not meant to serve you - simple. Service in BG sucks, so get a clue and don't come back! You'll be happier and so will we. Sure some Bulgarians will lose their table waiting jobs, but perhaps that will prompt them to go back to school. They too will thank you for not coming back, in a long run.
Aren't any other nations, or other issues, you can focus on? You are not the first Scandinavian I've seen that's digging in obsessively in ONE pet hate. Is this a cultural thing?
Well said Mark & Vyvyan.I am amazed that more thought is going into building useless shelters for dogs, how about building decent homes for the good people of BG and shoot the dogs.
It looks as if the city of Sofia is doing everything to residents and visitors in Sofia to feel unsafe to move freely in the streets. I think Sofia's "credit crunch" will continue for the time people dare to visit the city.
Totally agree with Mat its about time someone did the decent thing and just got rid of these dogs.
There are 8500 solutions to this problem, all of which are 0.22 inches across
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”. Mahatma Gandhi
I have lost count the number of times I have seen my village children throwing stones and taunting dogs. Bad parenting is to blam not the animals. Greatness & Morals....I have yet to see !
I'm afraid Cosmos is right - "four paws" are just being sentimental and blinkered against reality. These stray dogs must be rounded up and humanely destroyed, every one.
The tragic event of the dismembered child should never be forgotten. Dogs are savage pack-hunters by nature unless trained from an early age to be different.
Other European cities - with one exception - do not have this problem. That city - with an even worse problem than has Sofia - is Bucharest. There even adults cannot walk down main avenues in the evening without being menaced by packs of feral dogs. So far the Romanians,not the world's best administrators, have done SFA about it.
In contrast, Chisinau (capital of neighbouring Republic of Moldova) doesn't have any stray dogs on the streets at all. (Some locals say this is because they are very tasty in the local 'mamaliga' meat stew....)
I meant to say the crisis will NOT be solved in 2011. How the heck do you edit these posts????
Any shelters should be for the homelss in Sofia (which there are many) and not for dogs. The estimate that there are just 8500 stray dogs in all of Sofia is so low that is is laughable, but there is nothing funny about these dogs and the trouble that they cause. I've spent nearly 20 years with Bulgarians and vistied the country many times during that period and there is one single trait that I have seen: Bulgarians do not like to make the hard choices needed to actually solve a problem. The stray dog crisis will be solved in 2011 with the construction of the shelters, but it was the easy choice and they went with it.
Shoot the lot and be done with it and as four paws are concerned they also failed are you stupid or what why put them in shelters when they are a danger to the people of BG. In this case your bleeding heart will not cure this mamouth problem. I can see from your reply that no mention of regret was made about this 6 yr old chid you make me sick.