Bulgaria, 
the stray dogs of Sofia are in eminent danger!
Living on the streets, the stray dogs of Sofia are exposed to the constant risk of death or maiming by accidents, illness, starvation, abuse and disappearing in the infamous isolators of Bulgaria. In addition to a few ten thousand homeless animals, it is estimated that there are about 200,000 owned dogs in Sofia.

The number is only an estimate since pet guardians rarely register or sterilize their pets. This tendency to neglect the necessary step of spaying or neutering a new pet contributes to the growing population of homeless animals. The unsterilized pets breed, and the resulting litters are abandoned (also unsterilized) to the streets. The strays then have litters of their own, and the population of feral animals grows.

The stray cats and dogs come in all sizes, ages, and breeds, with varying levels of health. But each of these animals deserves help and a loving home because they are homeless due to human actions.

According to the BSAPP, Bulgaria faces four major challenges in dealing with the stray animal overpopulation problem:

  • Pet owners do not sterilise their pets and throw out unwanted litters on the streets;
  • Lack of education about the overpopulation problem and spay/neuter;
  • Legal and illegal puppy mills abound;
  • Taxpayer money is wasted on ineffective municipal programs and not enough stray animals are sterilised to reach the impact threshold percentage of 70% of animals sterilised for TNR (trap-neuter-release) to start showing a tangible effect.*

* Statistical studies indicate that in order to fully control a stray population, you need to achieve a 70 percent sterilization rate of the animals within a particular community. Once you reach the 70 percent threshold, the probability that an unsterilized female comes into contact with an unsterilized male is sufficiently small, and the population stops growing. 

The BSAPP and World Health Organization (WHO) recognize the need to spay or neuter every stray dog and cat in Bulgaria in order to stop the overpopulation of homeless animals. Killing strays does not stop the problem and only offers a temporary “solution.” The BSAPP “firmly believe(s) that sterilisation is the only way to humanely bring under control the stray dog and cat population and improve animal and human welfare in the long run.” 

Following an incident in which a man had been attacked by stray dogs, the mayor of Sofia has given order to hunt and kill all stray dogs who happen to inhabit this district


March 31, 2012

All healthy, neutered and socialized dogs from the Malinova Dolina district in the country capital - Sofia are going to be euthanized as aggressive, as a reaction to the incident when in the same district an old man was attacked by aggressive dogs and is in a hospital in a serious condition.

Since there is no certified test for aggression in Bulgaria, and the aggressive dogs cannot be caught because they hide from people, unlike the socialized ones, the Mayor of Sofia - Ms Fandakova - has ordered all dogs that happen to inhabit the district, and who can be caught by the hunters, to be killed.


Below, pictures of the dogs who have been caught so far. 
They will be killed tomorrow morning, April 2, 2012

Update

The order for euthanasia of the dogs in the pictures, has been cancelled on the morning of April 2. 

Nevertheless, we ask our kind readers to please continue to sign the petition using the widget below the letter
until we receive confirmation that the plans to catch all dogs in the district of  Malinova Dolina have been cancelled also.


Protest letter


Mr President,
Dear Government Officials of Bulgaria,
Dear Members of the European Parliament,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

we have learned of your intention to kill all stray dogs who happen to live in the Malinova Dolina district in the country capital Sofia, regardless if they are sick and/or aggressive or healthy, neutered and socialized. All dogs that happen to live in this district and who can be caught by hunters or dog catchers, shall be killed. 

We are afraid that your intention is wrong on a number of levels including those moral and legal - they contradict European animal rights conventions and any adequate humans moral principles!

Your plans are not only contrary to the recommendations of the WHO (World Health Organisation) that states that TNR (trap-neuter-release) is the only proven method to control and reduce stray animal populations, but they violate also the following EU statutes, treaties and declarations:

  • On September 22, 2010 a law was signed in the Strasbourg Protocol Room which dealt with the issue of animal protection within the European Union.
  • Although this law specifically targeted the humane treatment of animals used for experimental purposes, a previous European Union Treaty, namely the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997 dealt with "ensuring protection and respect for the welfare of animals as sentient beings" . The protocol of the Amsterdam Treaty introduced "a clear legal obligation for the EU Community Institutions (Commission, Parliament, and Council)  to pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals.
  • In addition to these, the Treaty of Lisbon and the European Parliament Written Declaration 0026/2011, adopted October 13, 2011, were initiated to further consolidate a concrete and lasting protocol for the humane treatment of animals by Union Member States. Bulgaria, being a member state whose MEPs have signed Written Declaration 0026/2011 in promoting humane treatment of animals including their population control is therefore legally bound by its statutes.
  • Furthermore, is Bulgaria a signatory of the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals (signed; May 21, 2003 – ratified: July 20, 2004 – entry into force: February 1, 2005).

That said, we implore you to put a halt to these cruel plans to kill all homeless dogs in this district and to abide by the above mentioned EU statutes calling for spay and neuter as a humane means of controlling over-population.

Respectfully yours,

........................................

Please sign our petition

This petition is now closed and has been replaced by the one below!



By signing our petition using the widget >>>
 the above protest letter will instantly be send to: 

the President of Bulgaria
the Prime Minister of Bulgaria
the Minister of Agriculture and Food
the Mayor of Sofia, Ms J Fandakova 
EU-Commissioner John Dalli
the Bulgarian Members of the European Parliament
  

Thank you very much for your signature and for speaking out for the homeless dogs of Sofia!




Important update


April 6, 2012

At the press conference held April 5, 2012, the Minister of Agriculture and Food, Miroslav Naydenov, together with the Mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, have announced their future anti-stray-policy for the capital-city, Sofia. 

Please read the information in Bulgarian language HERE, or the translation link into English for your convenience HERE.

While this new legislation will be the subject of further debates during their National Assembly to be held April 8, 2012, their decision to let a veterinarian judge and decide if the captured animal should be deemed aggressive or not -  and consequently also be euthanized or not - without the presence of a local NGO, must be protested immediately at the strongest.



Protest letter


Mr President,
Dear Government Officials of Bulgaria,
Dear EU-Commissioner,
Dear Members of the European Parliament,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

we are writing to you concerning your press conference from April 5, 2012 regarding your new anti-stray-strategy to adopt for the capital-city, Sofia.

In fact, your action is due since too long. You are the ones to blame in case of incidents with strays in which citizens come to damage, and not the abandoned/homeless dogs who find themselves on your streets with no fault of their own.

Before we go any further, we would like to inform you already now, that your plan to let a veterinarian judge and decide if the captured animal should be deemed aggressive or not  - and consequently also be euthanized or not - without the presence of a local NGO, is not acceptable and cannot stay like that!

Concerning your National Assembly scheduled for Sunday, April 8, 2012 during which further details of your new anti-stray-legislation shall be decided, we would like to remind you the following letter, addressed to you on January 10, 2007 by the ' European Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals',  that reads:

http://animalprograms.webs.com/epintergroup2.htm 

Brussels 10 January 2007

Ref: PC/ae/001/2007 

Dear President, 

I am writting to you on behalf of the European Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals to forward you our warmest congratulations for Bulgaria's entry into the European Union. 

During the last ten years we regularly received messages of Bulgarian citizens and NGOs, who informed us about the serious welfare problems of stray animals in your country and particularly in Sofia. The Intergroup wrote to the Bulgarian authorities urging them to take action. At the time they replied that there was a thorough willingness to solve this problem. Reality has shown however, that the problems still persist and even have worsened in some cases. 

Your country has ratified the European Council's Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals wich makes it a binding obligation to take measures in this field. The Bulgarian Parliament has therefore initiated a procedure to introduce specific legislation that guarantees the protection and welfare of pet animals. Mrs Vania Tsvetkova MP and a group of other Parliament representatives have presented a draft proposal and we have been informed that also the Minister of Agriculture is making efforts in this direction. 

Apparently, the current draft proposals for legislation present striking shortcomings. "No-Kill Solutions", i. e. preventive measures for curbing and stabilize the stray pet populations without recurring to culling are not sufficiently taken into account. These would include: 

- Education programmes for pet owners to discourage amateur breeding and trade
- Low-cost sterilization campaigns of pet animals
- Ownership registration of pets with microchips
- Registration documents that are publicly available
- Licensing to control over-breeding and trade
- Control of activities related to the collection and traffic with stray animals. 

We sincerely hope that the Bulgarian institutions engaged in the legislative process will vote and enact effective measures to solve the problem of stray animals without recurring to a simple "catch and kill policy", which has proven to be completely ineffective and which is moreover unacceptable on ethical grounds. 

The Members of the Intergroup hope that you can influence the legislative proces by proposing the above mentioned points to be included in the new legislation. 

We are looking forward to your answer. 

Sincerely,

Paulo Casaca 


Since then, and in addition to what is stated in the above mentioned letter, the Treaty of Lisbon was signed on date of December 13, 2007 and the European Parliament Written Declaration 0026/2011 was adopted October 13, 2011. These important documents were initiated to further consolidate a concrete and lasting protocol for the humane treatment of animals including their population control by Union Member States. Bulgaria, being a member of the European Union is legally bound by their statutes.

That said, we call on you to abide by the above mentioned EU statutes calling for spay and neuter as a humane means of controlling over-population, to pay full regard to Article 13 of the Lisbon Treaty in your future actions, and we urge you to immediately review your decision concerning the determination if a dog is aggressive or not and to include your local NGOs in the decision making process.

Respectfully yours,

--------------------------------------


Please sign our petition


By signing our petition using the widget  >  >  >  >  >
the above protest letter will instantly be send to: 

the President of Bulgaria
the Prime Minister of Bulgaria
the Minister of Agriculture and Food
the Mayor of Sofia, Ms J Fandakova 
EU-Commissioner John Dalli
the Bulgarian Members of the European Parliament
     


Thank you very much for your signature and for speaking out for the homeless dogs of Sofia! 



Bulgarian Prime Minister personally tackles stray dogs problem

April 6, 2012 - Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, is dealing in person with the stray dog issue 
in Bulgaria and new measures will be implemented as early as Monday. 
Picture

The information was reported Friday by Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov. Speaking in an interview for the largest private TV channel bTV, Naydenov informed that a meeting had been held Thursday with Borisov, the Mayor of Sofia,Yordanka Fandakova, and the Chair of the Parliamentary Group of the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, Krasimir Velchev, which had concluded with the agreement to allow all municipalities in Bulgaria to build the so-called depots as temporary shelters for stray dogs.

According to the Minister, the decision to change the normative acts and ordinances had already been made and the construction of the depots can start next week.

Naydenov stated that plans from several years back to catch and euthanize straydogs have failed. He pointed out that about 5 000 such dogs are neutered each year, but the number of homeless animals is still going up.

Animal rights NGOs already voiced alarm and protested the latest measure saying thedepots will become just places to inhumanly massacre dogs.

The Minister says he is certain the new measures will trigger mass protests of these NGOs, but the cabinet is ready to take the burden and the responsibility.

At the end of March, 88-year-old economy Professor Boteo Tachkov was brutally attacked and almost killed by an pack of stray dogs in Sofia's Malinova Dolina district. The accident triggered public outrage, as the city has been struggling to cope with its increasing stray dog population for years now.

Source

The war against the strays of Sofia has begun
citizens are taking things in their own hands


The situation in Bulgaria, in particularly in Sofia, is becoming really rough. The violent attitude towards stray dogs is escalating very fast and it is going to reach its climax with organized mass killing of stray dogs by regular citizens. They are forming anti-stray dogs groups for capturing dogs and killing them fearless of any prosecution. 

NGO organization has received pictures of dozens of drowned, decapitated and burned to death bodies of dogs. However there are no taken actions of the government to stop them and insist on compliance with Animal Protection Ordinance.

April 7, 2012 - Concerned citizens, all together with NGO organizations, have noticed that hundreds of stray dogs are disappearing all around Sofia. Trucks have been “loading” stray dogs all the past week, including already neutered ones.

Ironically, any of those dogs wasn't found in Sofia municipality shelter “Seslavtzi”. All trucks have been empty. 

One extremely serious question is rising: Where all those dogs have gone?
Picture


64 NGO’s demand Minister Naydenov’s resignation

Picture
Miroslav Naydenov

April 9, 2012

64 Animal Wellfare NGO’s from Bulgaria, Holland, Germany and Switzerland want the resignation of Bulgarian Minister of Agriculture Miroslav Naydenov on account of “years of institutional languid attempts and lack of control” regarding the stray-dog issue.

In an open letter to the Prime Minister, the Presindent and the Ombudsman the Organizations want a Nation-wide Trap, Neuter & Return Program, as recommended by world-renown experts and the World Health Organization.

Please, help us spread the word and send THIS LETTER (see below) to all your contacts in the media and Animal Wellfare NGO’s.


Letter in Bulgarian language







Petition
Petition started by Occupy for Animals and ESDAW European Society of Dog and Animal Welfare 


TO:
Miroslav Naydenov,
Minister of agriculture and foods

COPY TO:
Rosen Plevneliev,
President of Bulgaria

Boyko Borisov,
Prime minister

Konstantin Penchev,
Ombudsman

Yordanka Fandakova,
Mayor of Sofia

John Dalli
EU-Comissioner

All Bulgarian Members of the European Parliament

Subject: Bulgarian Minister of Agriculture and Foods: Take up your political responsibility and resign!

Dear Dr Naydenov,

having read the letter addressed to you by 50 NGOs from Bulgaria, Holland, Germany and Switzerland that want  a Nation-wide Trap, Neuter & Return Program, as recommended by world-renown experts and the World Health Organization as well as your resignation as Bulgarian Minister of Agriculture on account of “years of institutional languid attempts and lack of control” regarding the stray-dog issue, having understood the points and accusations stated in the mentioned letter, that can also be read here http://arsofia.com/uploads/2012/04/open-letter.pdf, namely:  

- For having 47% of the echinococcal disease of the EU here in Bulgaria – not in the cities where the stray dog population is the largest, but in rural areas where your National Food Safety Agency has zero control over the illegitimate cultivation, butchering and consumption of meat-producing animals;

- For refusing to work with experts and relying on populist and ineffective methods to solve the stray dog problem – thus increasing both corruption in the related authorities and risk to the health of the citizens;

- For having assimilated formidable amounts of money for the non-existent pet dog registry database, which should have been finished by the National Food Safety Agency back in 2008 and is still unusable;

- For not punishing one single person for abandoning their pet since the Animal Protection Act is in force – from 2008;

- For the fact that the Ministry of Agriculture neglects the recommendations both of the European Parliament and the World Health Organization on Trap, Neuter & Return as an only effective long-term way to solve a stray dog situation that also benefits public health;

- For not being at all concerned with the recommendations of the world-renown experts (invited to Bulgaria in 2010 by the Ministry itself) who suggested Bulgaria needs a National strategy on the issue. That is to say: Trap, Neuter & Return on a national level, coordinated by the central government and executed in a military manner in all Bulgarian municipalities;

- For having neglected the ombudsman’s standpoint on the issue. Mr. Konstantine Penchev sent his advice back in the beginning of 2011, insisting that the Ministry of Agriculture should be the one to lead a National Strategy: to help the municipalities by  providing funds, legislation and coordinating a nation-wide Trap, Neuter & Return program;

- For refusing a public-private partnership on the issue, despite the many recommendations and good practices of the EU, and even rushing a bill through so that the NGO’s are excluded from the process;

- For deceiving the public as a veterinarian and a Minister in order to increase the tension in society, polarize opinions on the issue in order to avoid a constructive dialog and analysis of the weak, unmethodical and corrupt work of the municipalities and the ministry on the problem;

I would like to inform you that by signing this petition, I join these organizations calling for a nation-wide Trap-Neuter-Return Program which is the only proven method to reduce and control animal overpopulation, and that I expect you to take up your political responsibility and to resign as Minister of Agriculture and Foods.

Sincerely,

Please sign our petition

By signing our petition using the widget  >  >  >  >  >
the above protest letter will instantly be send to: 

the Minister of Agriculture and Food 
the President of Bulgaria
the Prime Minister of Bulgaria
the Ombudsman
the Mayor of Sofia
EU-Commissioner John Dalli
the Bulgarian Members of the European Parliament