Bosnia & Herzegovina
on 3rd of October, 2013 the parliament will start debating and then vote on
whether to implement the "Romanian Model" or not - if they, too, will
kill all homeless dogs 2 weeks after capture
INTRODUCTION
October 2, 2013 - During the Bosnian War, Sarajevo was under siege from 1992 to 1995. There was exposed artillery, snipers, cold and hunger clinging on the international humanitarian aid.
Having not enough food for themselves, many people abandoned their dogs and cats, while others put their companion animals before themselves - giving them the little food they got from humanitarian aid - and a lot of animals also found themselves all alone because their owners had been killed. Today, an estimated 12,000 abandoned dogs live on the streets of Sarajevo; nobody knows the number of abandoned dogs in the entire country given that there are no records.
In 2009, the Bosnian government passed a law - which is a prerequisite for Bosnia & Herzegovina's EU membership - that protects straying animals by prohibiting the catching (collecting) and brutal killing of the dogs by municipal workers. Since then, it is prohibited to kill stray animals, except in cases determined by a veterinarian as the only possible measure.
The law furthermore says that owners are required to sterilize and register their pet animals. They must register them at a competent veterinarian, which will have a record of all ownership of dogs and cats - the deadline for registration being seven days after acquiring a dog or cat. For those who already had pet animals, the deadline was 6 months from the entry into force of the law. Thus October 8, 2009 was the deadline by which all owned dogs and cats had to be registered.
One year after the entry into force of the law, that was the deadline for the municipalities, cities, cantons or entities to build shelters for animals. But this part of the law was not applied in practice at all.
Before aggression, Bosnia and Herzegovina was among the middle economically developed countries but today is the poorest country in Europe because of careless corrupted local, regional and central governments that only care about their own pockets and it should be no surprise that some of the few government or municipal shelters are set up mostly as money laundering machines for the government and some private individuals in order to enable them to steel money.
The mentioned law, passed nearly five years ago banning the killing of strays, had actually been passed because the government was alarmed at a sharp rise in canine slaughter as straying dogs proliferated on Bosnian streets. But people ignored the law, largely because authorities failed to provide alternatives such as sterilization and the needed shelters to house the animals and to keep them off the streets... and so the killings continued.
The law from 2009 is actually a very good law, but it was adopted "over night" without anybody providing the conditions for its implementation. And without proper implementation the best laws are useless and not even worth the paper on which they are written!
The Republika Srpska does not even accept the law from 2009 - even though they were obliged to - and they work according to the old law from 2008, which gives them the right to kill dogs after a period of 30 days. They even don’t fully comply to this old regulation and most often kill dogs as soon as possible. This happened at the Hresa-shelter end of 2012 when they killed 52 dogs in one night.
Since the country remains deeply divided along ethnic lines, different parts of Bosnia deal with the problem of strays in different ways. That's because the 1992-95 war between Bosnia's three groups, Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats, ended with a peace agreement that divided Bosnia into two semi-autonomous regions, linked by a weak central government. It's an arrangement that allows some local governments to pass their own dog-killing laws that contradict the nationwide ban.
PHOTO: a starving dog in the municipal shelter at Hreša, November 1, 2012
Wanna see the dog-catchers
- those who catch the dogs and bring them to Hresa - at work?
The video below was recorded in front of the main building of East New Sarajevo, near the Municipality Stari Grad and uploaded to Facebook and youtube on 5th of March, 2013.
Catastrophic news regarding the street dogs
in Bosnia and Herzegovina!
Today, almost five years after the implementation of Bosnia's animal welfare law, and given that the government and the municipalities have failed to properly implement the law from 2009, it is no wonder that the problem has become huge and urgent. It can not be denied that 12,000 dogs living on the streets of Sarajevo alone, is a problem.
The culprits - next to careless dog owners that let their animals roam freely and mate as they wish and then simply abandon the puppies on the streets - sit in the government and municipalities.
The state has almost no interest in a humane reduction of stray animals, the prices at the veterinary clinics for neutering are very high considering the standards and the high rate of unemployment in Bosnia. To some people, monthly salary in Bosnia is as nearly as high as the cost of a castration is.
For months, the media is spreading hatred against street dogs, and intentionally causes fear and hatred towards the dogs. Animal lovers advocate for a non-violent solution of the problem, saying that disregard / non-implementation of the law passed in April 2009 caused the problem. Their opponents say that the law is inappropriate for Bosnia and Herzegovina and that killing dogs is the only way to resolve the problem and already in January 2013, Occupy for Animals had warned that many of them are committed to change the law, trying to return to the killing as a legitimate option.
If one European animal holocaust were not enough, the Parliament of Bosnia & Herzegovina will start debating on 3rd of October, 2013 and then vote on proposed changes to their animal welfare law, some of which include the rounding up of ALL homeless animals and killing them 2 weeks after capture! On 5th of October, 2013 will decide whether to implement the "Romanian Model" or not.
It is rare that extremes of behavior challenge an established language, but these events invite depiction as 'a pandemic speciescidal holocaust'!
IMPORTANT UPDATE
A lady and devoted activist from Bosnia and who was present at the debate, provided us with the following update:
The public debate was fully as expected, who ever expected anything different is either naive or ill-informed. I was even prepared for far worse line of argumentation. In the quantative sense, our side took more room and was by all means more articulated.
Mayors and Uzunovic as if they hear none of the facts, explanations of the cause of the problem, repeated what we had been hearing for the past 4 years.
It will be hard to keep the law as is. The next 2 weeks are critical. If yesterday's day was a football match, the score is 0:0.
The Constitutional Legal Committee will not wait to receive an official record of the discussion and will do report on public debate and will forward all materials to the House of Representatives for consideration...
The public debate was fully as expected, who ever expected anything different is either naive or ill-informed. I was even prepared for far worse line of argumentation. In the quantative sense, our side took more room and was by all means more articulated.
Mayors and Uzunovic as if they hear none of the facts, explanations of the cause of the problem, repeated what we had been hearing for the past 4 years.
It will be hard to keep the law as is. The next 2 weeks are critical. If yesterday's day was a football match, the score is 0:0.
The Constitutional Legal Committee will not wait to receive an official record of the discussion and will do report on public debate and will forward all materials to the House of Representatives for consideration...
Killing is NO solution!
Catch-Neuter-Return is the only proven humane and effective method to reduce stray animal populations. 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.
Killing stray animals, however, does not stop the problem and only offers a temporary “solution”. The World Health Organization’s “Guidelines for Dog Population Management” (Geneva 1990) and various other academic studies show that killing dogs is ineffective. Despite mass extermination campaigns by misguided municipalities the street dog population grows...
'Extermination policies" has been proven ineffective as a method of population control because the vacuum left is soon filled by other dogs from surrounding areas (it is technically impossible to catch ALL dogs) who move in to utilize the resources available, or by the existing dogs using these resources to raise more puppies. have proven ineffective as a strategy to control stray animal populations all over the world. It only offers a 'temporary solution'.
The more dogs you kill, the more space and food there is for new dogs. The World Health Organisation backs this up. As long as people dump dogs on the street and let dogs loose on the street to breed, there will be more dogs. When dogs disappear, other dogs appear.
In addition to the implementation of a massive spay & neuter campaign for homeless dogs
As long as the above mentioned measures will not be taken, the killing of even ALL homeless dogs (although technically impossible) will be futile and all dogs that will die, will have died in vain because nothing will have changed on the overall situation of Bosnia's stray animals population. The situation will be exactly the same again in a few months...
It must also be noted that the word 'euthanasia' is inappropriate when it comes to Bosnia. People tend to believe that - when reading the word "euthanasia" - the dogs will be put out of their miserable life on the streets "humanely".
But NOT SO! Euthanasia in Bosnia, like in most eastern European countries, has nothing to do with the merciful ending of an animal's life as practiced in western societies. In the past we have seen dogs being round up and then killed using axes and iron bars...
Killing stray animals, however, does not stop the problem and only offers a temporary “solution”. The World Health Organization’s “Guidelines for Dog Population Management” (Geneva 1990) and various other academic studies show that killing dogs is ineffective. Despite mass extermination campaigns by misguided municipalities the street dog population grows...
'Extermination policies" has been proven ineffective as a method of population control because the vacuum left is soon filled by other dogs from surrounding areas (it is technically impossible to catch ALL dogs) who move in to utilize the resources available, or by the existing dogs using these resources to raise more puppies. have proven ineffective as a strategy to control stray animal populations all over the world. It only offers a 'temporary solution'.
The more dogs you kill, the more space and food there is for new dogs. The World Health Organisation backs this up. As long as people dump dogs on the street and let dogs loose on the street to breed, there will be more dogs. When dogs disappear, other dogs appear.
In addition to the implementation of a massive spay & neuter campaign for homeless dogs
- ALL dog owners must be compiled to sterilize their dogs
- the Bosnian government must provide free spay & neuter to those who cannot afford the cost
- the Bosnian government must take serious measures to end puppy mills and backyard breeding
- ALL animals must be chipped and a national register must be put in place
- the abandonment of animals must be severely punished
As long as the above mentioned measures will not be taken, the killing of even ALL homeless dogs (although technically impossible) will be futile and all dogs that will die, will have died in vain because nothing will have changed on the overall situation of Bosnia's stray animals population. The situation will be exactly the same again in a few months...
It must also be noted that the word 'euthanasia' is inappropriate when it comes to Bosnia. People tend to believe that - when reading the word "euthanasia" - the dogs will be put out of their miserable life on the streets "humanely".
But NOT SO! Euthanasia in Bosnia, like in most eastern European countries, has nothing to do with the merciful ending of an animal's life as practiced in western societies. In the past we have seen dogs being round up and then killed using axes and iron bars...
The Petition
TO:
The European Commission
The Council of Europe
The European Parliament
The European Parliament's Intergroup on the Welfare and Convervation of Animals
COPY TO:
The Members of the Bosnian Parliament and the Bosnian Ombudsmen
Dear Sir / Madam,
As if one European animal holocaust were not enough, we are afraid that another one is around the corner, and it's looming in your potential member-country, Bosnia & Herzegovina. Tomorrow, 3rd of October, 2013, the Parliament of Bosnia & Herzegovina will vote on whether to replicate the Romanian 'Slaughter Law' and allow the killing of all stray animals!
On 3rd of October, 2013, the Bosnian parliament will vote on proposed changes to their animal welfare law, some of which include the rounding up of ALL homeless animals and killing them 2 weeks after capture!
Bosnia's animal protection law is an excellent, very comprehensive law, and there is, actually, no need to change it, unless, of course, one intends to change it for the worse.
Please allow us to resume the situation for you:
During the Bosnian War, Sarajevo was under siege from 1992 to 1995. There was exposed artillery, snipers, cold and hunger clinging on the international humanitarian aid. Having not enough food for themselves, many people abandoned their dogs and cats, while others put their companion animals before themselves - giving them the little food they got from humanitarian aid - and a lot of animals also found themselves all alone because their owners had been killed. Today, an estimated 12,000 abandoned dogs (according to official sources) live on the streets of Sarajevo; nobody knows the number of abandoned dogs in the entire country given that there are no records.
In 2009, the Bosnian government passed a law - which is a prerequisite for Bosnia & Herzegovina's EU membership - that protects straying animals by prohibiting the catching (collecting) and brutal killing of the dogs by municipal workers. Since then, it is prohibited to kill stray animals, except in cases determined by a veterinarian as the only possible measure.
The law furthermore says that owners are required to sterilize and register their pet animals. They must register them at a competent veterinarian, which will have a record of all ownership of dogs and cats - the deadline for registration being seven days after acquiring a dog or cat. For those who already had pet animals, the deadline was 6 months from the entry into force of the law. Thus October 8, 2009 was the deadline by which all owned dogs and cats had to be registered.
One year after the entry into force of the law, that was the deadline for the municipalities, cities, cantons or entities to build shelters for animals. But this part of the law was not applied in practice at all.
Before aggression, Bosnia and Herzegovina was among the middle economically developed countries but today is the poorest country in Europe because of careless corrupted local, regional and central governments that only care about their own pockets and it should be no surprise that some of the few government or municipal shelters are set up mostly as money laundering machines for the government and some private individuals in order to enable them to steel money.
The mentioned law, passed nearly five years ago banning the killing of strays, had actually been passed because the government was alarmed at a sharp rise in canine slaughter as straying dogs proliferated on Bosnian streets. But people ignored the law, largely because authorities failed to provide alternatives such as sterilization and the needed shelters to house the animals and to keep them off the streets... and so the killings continued.
The law from 2009 is actually a very good law, but it was adopted "over night" without anybody providing the conditions for its implementation. And without proper implementation the best laws are useless and not even worth the paper on which they are written!
The Republika Srpska does not even accept the law from 2009 - even though they were obliged to - and they work according to the old law from 2008, which gives them the right to kill dogs after a period of 30 days. They even don’t fully comply to this old regulation and most often kill dogs as soon as possible. This happened at the Hresa-shelter end of 2012 when they killed 52 dogs in one night.
Since the country remains deeply divided along ethnic lines, different parts of Bosnia deal with the problem of strays in different ways. That's because the 1992-95 war between Bosnia's three groups, Bosniacs, Serbs and Croats, ended with a peace agreement that divided Bosnia into two semi-autonomous regions, linked by a weak central government. It's an arrangement that allows some local governments to pass their own dog-killing laws that contradict the nationwide ban.
Today, almost five years after the implementation of Bosnia's animal welfare law, and given that the government and the municipalities have failed to properly implement the law from 2009, it is no wonder that the problem has become huge and urgent. It can not be denied that 12,000 dogs living on the streets of Sarajevo alone, is a problem.
The culprits - next to careless dog owners that let their animals roam freely and mate as they wish and then simply abandon the puppies on the streets - sit in the government and municipalities.
The state has almost no interest in a humane reduction of stray animals, the prices at the veterinary clinics for neutering are very high considering the standards and the high rate of unemployment in Bosnia. To some people, monthly salary in Bosnia is as nearly as high as the cost of a castration is.
For months, the media is spreading hatred against street dogs, and intentionally causes fear and hatred towards the dogs. Animal lovers advocate for a non-violent solution of the problem, saying that disregard / non-implementation of the law passed in April 2009 caused the problem. Their opponents say that the law is inappropriate for Bosnia and Herzegovina and that killing dogs is the only way to resolve the problem and already in January 2013, Occupy for Animals had warned that many of them are committed to change the law, trying to return to the killing as a legitimate option.
On 3rd of October, 2013 the Bosnian parliament will vote on the proposed "slaughter law".
It is rare that extremes of behavior challenge an established language, but these events invite depiction as 'a pandemic speciescidal holocaust' which will have no long term effect on the stray animals situation.
As you know, Catch-Neuter-Return is the only proven humane and effective method to reduce stray animal populations. 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.
Killing stray animals, however, does not stop the problem and only offers a temporary “solution”. The World Health Organization’s “Guidelines for Dog Population Management” (Geneva 1990) and various other academic studies show that killing dogs is ineffective. Despite mass extermination campaigns by misguided municipalities the street dog population grows...
'Extermination policies" has been proven ineffective as a method of population control because the vacuum left is soon filled by other dogs from surrounding areas (it is technically impossible to catch ALL dogs) who move in to utilize the resources available, or by the existing dogs using these resources to raise more puppies. It only offers a 'temporary solution'.
In addition to the implementation of a massive spay & neuter campaign for homeless dogs:
As long as the above mentioned measures will not be taken, the killing of even ALL homeless dogs (although technically impossible) will be futile and all dogs that will die, will have died in vain because nothing will have changed on the overall situation of Bosnia's stray animals population. The situation will be exactly the same again in a few months...
It must also be noted that the word 'euthanasia' is inappropriate when it comes to Bosnia. People tend to believe that - when reading the word "euthanasia" - the dogs will be put out of their miserable life on the streets "humanely".
But NOT SO! Euthanasia in Bosnia, like in most eastern European countries, has nothing to do with the merciful ending of an animal's life as practiced in western societies. In the past we have seen dogs being round up and then killed using axes and iron bars...
The European Union provides the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina with many millions of euros worth of financial aid each year. The provisos attached to these aid packages require the recipient country to abide by EU laws which would include the laws related to animal welfare.
The European Commission has stated that aligning national animal welfare legislation with EU law is a prerequisite for EU membership. Many international animal welfare organisations cite Bosnia as one of the countries with the most instances of horrific animal cruelty and suffering and thus membership should not be obtained by Bosnia until radical changes are made regarding animal welfare.
A number of MEPs have raised and continue to raise the issue about the need for countries seeking to acquire EU membership to demonstrate standards of animal care, and thus it is mandatory that conditions at shelters in Bosnia Herzegovina are drastically improved and that humane stray dog control systems are implemented throughout the country.
Also, and with deep respect to the Bosnian Parliament, a significant body of evidence now exists to show that exposure to animal abuse impacts on children's psychological health (http://makingthelink.wix.com/a-time-for-change#!project-partners/ci4f) and as the Bosnian Parliament is aware, whereas any strategy affecting homeless animals is not within the EU remit of responsibility, under the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU has a Duty of Care to protect human health. Licensing slaughter on the streets will expose children to health affecting stimuli and would be inconsistent with EU policies. One would expect Bosnia to postpone application for EU Membership until the last animal is killed.
We urge the EU to please remind the Bosnian Government of their obligations to comply with EU-standards on animal welfare, including the humane control of stray animal populations, and to tell them to immediately drop the idea of killing all homeless animals two weeks after capture.
Thank you very much, in advance, for the time taken to read our message, and for taking the necessary measures regarding the matter that we have raised.
Yours respectfully,
[signer's name]
The European Commission
The Council of Europe
The European Parliament
The European Parliament's Intergroup on the Welfare and Convervation of Animals
COPY TO:
The Members of the Bosnian Parliament and the Bosnian Ombudsmen
Dear Sir / Madam,
As if one European animal holocaust were not enough, we are afraid that another one is around the corner, and it's looming in your potential member-country, Bosnia & Herzegovina. Tomorrow, 3rd of October, 2013, the Parliament of Bosnia & Herzegovina will vote on whether to replicate the Romanian 'Slaughter Law' and allow the killing of all stray animals!
On 3rd of October, 2013, the Bosnian parliament will vote on proposed changes to their animal welfare law, some of which include the rounding up of ALL homeless animals and killing them 2 weeks after capture!
Bosnia's animal protection law is an excellent, very comprehensive law, and there is, actually, no need to change it, unless, of course, one intends to change it for the worse.
Please allow us to resume the situation for you:
During the Bosnian War, Sarajevo was under siege from 1992 to 1995. There was exposed artillery, snipers, cold and hunger clinging on the international humanitarian aid. Having not enough food for themselves, many people abandoned their dogs and cats, while others put their companion animals before themselves - giving them the little food they got from humanitarian aid - and a lot of animals also found themselves all alone because their owners had been killed. Today, an estimated 12,000 abandoned dogs (according to official sources) live on the streets of Sarajevo; nobody knows the number of abandoned dogs in the entire country given that there are no records.
In 2009, the Bosnian government passed a law - which is a prerequisite for Bosnia & Herzegovina's EU membership - that protects straying animals by prohibiting the catching (collecting) and brutal killing of the dogs by municipal workers. Since then, it is prohibited to kill stray animals, except in cases determined by a veterinarian as the only possible measure.
The law furthermore says that owners are required to sterilize and register their pet animals. They must register them at a competent veterinarian, which will have a record of all ownership of dogs and cats - the deadline for registration being seven days after acquiring a dog or cat. For those who already had pet animals, the deadline was 6 months from the entry into force of the law. Thus October 8, 2009 was the deadline by which all owned dogs and cats had to be registered.
One year after the entry into force of the law, that was the deadline for the municipalities, cities, cantons or entities to build shelters for animals. But this part of the law was not applied in practice at all.
Before aggression, Bosnia and Herzegovina was among the middle economically developed countries but today is the poorest country in Europe because of careless corrupted local, regional and central governments that only care about their own pockets and it should be no surprise that some of the few government or municipal shelters are set up mostly as money laundering machines for the government and some private individuals in order to enable them to steel money.
The mentioned law, passed nearly five years ago banning the killing of strays, had actually been passed because the government was alarmed at a sharp rise in canine slaughter as straying dogs proliferated on Bosnian streets. But people ignored the law, largely because authorities failed to provide alternatives such as sterilization and the needed shelters to house the animals and to keep them off the streets... and so the killings continued.
The law from 2009 is actually a very good law, but it was adopted "over night" without anybody providing the conditions for its implementation. And without proper implementation the best laws are useless and not even worth the paper on which they are written!
The Republika Srpska does not even accept the law from 2009 - even though they were obliged to - and they work according to the old law from 2008, which gives them the right to kill dogs after a period of 30 days. They even don’t fully comply to this old regulation and most often kill dogs as soon as possible. This happened at the Hresa-shelter end of 2012 when they killed 52 dogs in one night.
Since the country remains deeply divided along ethnic lines, different parts of Bosnia deal with the problem of strays in different ways. That's because the 1992-95 war between Bosnia's three groups, Bosniacs, Serbs and Croats, ended with a peace agreement that divided Bosnia into two semi-autonomous regions, linked by a weak central government. It's an arrangement that allows some local governments to pass their own dog-killing laws that contradict the nationwide ban.
Today, almost five years after the implementation of Bosnia's animal welfare law, and given that the government and the municipalities have failed to properly implement the law from 2009, it is no wonder that the problem has become huge and urgent. It can not be denied that 12,000 dogs living on the streets of Sarajevo alone, is a problem.
The culprits - next to careless dog owners that let their animals roam freely and mate as they wish and then simply abandon the puppies on the streets - sit in the government and municipalities.
The state has almost no interest in a humane reduction of stray animals, the prices at the veterinary clinics for neutering are very high considering the standards and the high rate of unemployment in Bosnia. To some people, monthly salary in Bosnia is as nearly as high as the cost of a castration is.
For months, the media is spreading hatred against street dogs, and intentionally causes fear and hatred towards the dogs. Animal lovers advocate for a non-violent solution of the problem, saying that disregard / non-implementation of the law passed in April 2009 caused the problem. Their opponents say that the law is inappropriate for Bosnia and Herzegovina and that killing dogs is the only way to resolve the problem and already in January 2013, Occupy for Animals had warned that many of them are committed to change the law, trying to return to the killing as a legitimate option.
On 3rd of October, 2013 the Bosnian parliament will vote on the proposed "slaughter law".
It is rare that extremes of behavior challenge an established language, but these events invite depiction as 'a pandemic speciescidal holocaust' which will have no long term effect on the stray animals situation.
As you know, Catch-Neuter-Return is the only proven humane and effective method to reduce stray animal populations. 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.
Killing stray animals, however, does not stop the problem and only offers a temporary “solution”. The World Health Organization’s “Guidelines for Dog Population Management” (Geneva 1990) and various other academic studies show that killing dogs is ineffective. Despite mass extermination campaigns by misguided municipalities the street dog population grows...
'Extermination policies" has been proven ineffective as a method of population control because the vacuum left is soon filled by other dogs from surrounding areas (it is technically impossible to catch ALL dogs) who move in to utilize the resources available, or by the existing dogs using these resources to raise more puppies. It only offers a 'temporary solution'.
In addition to the implementation of a massive spay & neuter campaign for homeless dogs:
- ALL dog owners must be compiled to sterilize their dogs
- the Bosnian government must provide free spay & neuter to those who cannot afford the cost
- the Bosnian government must take serious measures to end puppy mills and backyard breeding
- ALL animals must be chipped and a national register must be put in place
- the abandonment of animals must be severely punished
As long as the above mentioned measures will not be taken, the killing of even ALL homeless dogs (although technically impossible) will be futile and all dogs that will die, will have died in vain because nothing will have changed on the overall situation of Bosnia's stray animals population. The situation will be exactly the same again in a few months...
It must also be noted that the word 'euthanasia' is inappropriate when it comes to Bosnia. People tend to believe that - when reading the word "euthanasia" - the dogs will be put out of their miserable life on the streets "humanely".
But NOT SO! Euthanasia in Bosnia, like in most eastern European countries, has nothing to do with the merciful ending of an animal's life as practiced in western societies. In the past we have seen dogs being round up and then killed using axes and iron bars...
The European Union provides the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina with many millions of euros worth of financial aid each year. The provisos attached to these aid packages require the recipient country to abide by EU laws which would include the laws related to animal welfare.
The European Commission has stated that aligning national animal welfare legislation with EU law is a prerequisite for EU membership. Many international animal welfare organisations cite Bosnia as one of the countries with the most instances of horrific animal cruelty and suffering and thus membership should not be obtained by Bosnia until radical changes are made regarding animal welfare.
A number of MEPs have raised and continue to raise the issue about the need for countries seeking to acquire EU membership to demonstrate standards of animal care, and thus it is mandatory that conditions at shelters in Bosnia Herzegovina are drastically improved and that humane stray dog control systems are implemented throughout the country.
Also, and with deep respect to the Bosnian Parliament, a significant body of evidence now exists to show that exposure to animal abuse impacts on children's psychological health (http://makingthelink.wix.com/a-time-for-change#!project-partners/ci4f) and as the Bosnian Parliament is aware, whereas any strategy affecting homeless animals is not within the EU remit of responsibility, under the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU has a Duty of Care to protect human health. Licensing slaughter on the streets will expose children to health affecting stimuli and would be inconsistent with EU policies. One would expect Bosnia to postpone application for EU Membership until the last animal is killed.
We urge the EU to please remind the Bosnian Government of their obligations to comply with EU-standards on animal welfare, including the humane control of stray animal populations, and to tell them to immediately drop the idea of killing all homeless animals two weeks after capture.
Thank you very much, in advance, for the time taken to read our message, and for taking the necessary measures regarding the matter that we have raised.
Yours respectfully,
[signer's name]
How to help the Bosnian stray animals
and their advocates
In addition to signing OFA's petition (above) you can also send a personal message to the email addresses below. Simply copy & paste the entire email block into the address box of your mailing program.
Email block
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],
To stay up-to-date about actions to take, please check these pages regularly:
- and the website In Memory of Vucko
Thank you very much in advance, for speaking up for
Bosnia's homeless animals
December 30th, 2013 - EXTRAORDINARY NEWS!
T
he Constitutional-Legal Committee of the House of Peoples for Bosnia Herzegovina were in session today, and in this session they refused the kill-law amendments to the animal welfare act! Instead they insisted that the Council of Ministers, the BiH Government, prepare an action plan for the implementation of the existing law.
PLEASE NOTE that this is not the final vote on the law. The House of People’s first reading of the amendments will happen at the end of January. There is hope, however, as the delegates for the House of Peoples rarely legislate a law for which the committee has given a negative opinion.
We are in a good position, but this victory is only one step in this next part of the legislative process, and we need to keep campaigning and we need to loudly express our hope that the delegates will respect the decision of the Constitutional-Legal Committee, and that if the amendments are not legislated, then we must still keep pressure that the existing animal welfare act (which is a very good one, for a full translation please download this PDF) be implemented as per the Constitutional-Legal Committee’s recommendations.
I am awaiting further instructions from the activists in BiH. But for now, all I can say, is a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone involved and of course to the members of the Constitutional-Legal Committee.
Details of the further process of the law is as it follows:
Once the Collegium of the House has received opinions from the Constitutional-Legal Committee on the proposed draft law which establish that the committee has not achieved harmony with the BiH Constitution and the legal system, or has not accepted the principles of the draft law, the Collegium shall put the proposed draft law and the opinions of the committees on the agenda for the next House session. If the House accepts the opinions of the Constitutional-Legal Committee, the proposed draft law shall be considered as rejected. If the House does not accept the opinions of the committee, the House shall request that the committee provide a new opinion which will be based on new guidance provided by the House, within the deadline set by the House.
Please keep writing to your MEPs, Embassies, media etc. Please join the protest in London on January 11th. All information is in the related posts listed below. If there is anything further we can do I will keep you updated. The situation in BiH has been bad for so long, including numerous and continued transgressions of the existing animal welfare law. We just have to keep at it, keep uncovering illegalities and keep campaigning.
As stated in other posts, the activists need our support with donations to help them campaign. Even if the law goes through, there is much they can do: all shelters need to be closely monitored to try to ensure that any ‘euthanisation’ as required by these proposed amendments is humane and that all other aspects of the Animal Welfare Law are implemented. Any amount will help, no matter how small.
There is a YouCaring fundraiser especially for this: https://www.youcaring.com/kill-law. Activists in BiH are doing their best to campaign against these amendments and to educate everyone in their country to the truth of what is happening. (Text: Sandra)
Please sign and share the petitions and join the FB-event-page to stay up-to-date on how YOU can help!
Thank you!
he Constitutional-Legal Committee of the House of Peoples for Bosnia Herzegovina were in session today, and in this session they refused the kill-law amendments to the animal welfare act! Instead they insisted that the Council of Ministers, the BiH Government, prepare an action plan for the implementation of the existing law.
PLEASE NOTE that this is not the final vote on the law. The House of People’s first reading of the amendments will happen at the end of January. There is hope, however, as the delegates for the House of Peoples rarely legislate a law for which the committee has given a negative opinion.
We are in a good position, but this victory is only one step in this next part of the legislative process, and we need to keep campaigning and we need to loudly express our hope that the delegates will respect the decision of the Constitutional-Legal Committee, and that if the amendments are not legislated, then we must still keep pressure that the existing animal welfare act (which is a very good one, for a full translation please download this PDF) be implemented as per the Constitutional-Legal Committee’s recommendations.
I am awaiting further instructions from the activists in BiH. But for now, all I can say, is a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone involved and of course to the members of the Constitutional-Legal Committee.
Details of the further process of the law is as it follows:
Once the Collegium of the House has received opinions from the Constitutional-Legal Committee on the proposed draft law which establish that the committee has not achieved harmony with the BiH Constitution and the legal system, or has not accepted the principles of the draft law, the Collegium shall put the proposed draft law and the opinions of the committees on the agenda for the next House session. If the House accepts the opinions of the Constitutional-Legal Committee, the proposed draft law shall be considered as rejected. If the House does not accept the opinions of the committee, the House shall request that the committee provide a new opinion which will be based on new guidance provided by the House, within the deadline set by the House.
Please keep writing to your MEPs, Embassies, media etc. Please join the protest in London on January 11th. All information is in the related posts listed below. If there is anything further we can do I will keep you updated. The situation in BiH has been bad for so long, including numerous and continued transgressions of the existing animal welfare law. We just have to keep at it, keep uncovering illegalities and keep campaigning.
As stated in other posts, the activists need our support with donations to help them campaign. Even if the law goes through, there is much they can do: all shelters need to be closely monitored to try to ensure that any ‘euthanisation’ as required by these proposed amendments is humane and that all other aspects of the Animal Welfare Law are implemented. Any amount will help, no matter how small.
There is a YouCaring fundraiser especially for this: https://www.youcaring.com/kill-law. Activists in BiH are doing their best to campaign against these amendments and to educate everyone in their country to the truth of what is happening. (Text: Sandra)
Please sign and share the petitions and join the FB-event-page to stay up-to-date on how YOU can help!
Thank you!
September 11, 2014
The Government of Canton Sarajevo has issued a decision
to "clear" the streets of stray dogs
via 'In Memory of Vucko' - The Government of Canton Sarajevo has issued a decision ruling that the dog catching service of P. E. “Rad” be formed on 11th September, 2014, with the aim of removing aggressive, ill and elderly strays from the streets of Sarajevo, and “euthanising” them.
This particular dog catchers’ service was active until 2009, using catching, torturing and killing methods similar to those that had been used in concentration camps that had existed in Bosnia during the war (1992 – 1995).
The Animal Protection and Welfare Act of Bosnia and Herzegovina came into force in April 2009, and it was then that this dog catching service was shut down: the Veterinary Inspection of Canton Sarajevo issued a decision ruling that the dog catchers of P. E. “Rad” must stop working immediately, because its methods were illegal and contrary to the provisions of the Animal Protection and Welfare Act.
However, while this dog catching service and the people enacting the crimes were criminally responsible for crimes, no charges were ever brought.
The recent decision to restore the dog catching service of P. E. “Rad” means that the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina has abused the official authority because they have breached the Animal Welfare and Protection Act of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
What will the restoration of this dog catching service mean for stray dogs and for citizens?
If dog catchers start working, many of the stray dogs will be killed in Sarajevo, using inhumane methods that are cheap: untrained dog catchers, wire nooses, ‘euthanasia’ by crushing skulls, injections of bleach (cheaper than the prescription drugs used in other parts of the world for this purpose) and other torturous methods. Hundred thousands of Euros for this ‘programe’ will be allocated, but you can ask yourself where this money will, in fact, be used.
If these activities proceed, citizens will meet dog catchers and witness their activities. Many people who have already witnessed the atrocities committed by dog catchers were traumatised, especially children.
This situation is illegal, it is against the constitution, it is a criminal offence.
Animal welfare activists want to use all legal means to end this horror, to save stray dogs and to make sure the government implements the existing Animal Protection and Welfare Act.
They will bring legal action against the illegal activities, they will document the activities and will petition against the decision. They are also trying to educate everyone in their country to the truth of what is happening.
This article was originally posted on the website of 'In Memory of Vucko'. Please bookmark and follow 'In Memory of Vucko' for future updates and to find out how YOU can help.
Thank you!
Sources & references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_War
http://www.novosarajevo.ba/stream/press/index.php?sta=3&pid=3748http://www.avaz.ba/vijesti/iz-minute-u-minutu/sdp-bih-jedan-djeciji-zivot-vazniji-je-od-svih-pasa-lutalica
http://atlanticinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=299
http://www.animal-kind.org/bosniaanimalfoundation.html
http://ansamed.ansa.it/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2013/01/24/Bosnia-press-stray-dogs-increasing-threat_8128745.html
http://www.amicizie.tv/eventi.php/134675260017919/online-help-for-bosnian-dogs/
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/bosnia-stray-dogs-safe-haven-082055743.html
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/12/11/nightmare-for-stray-dogs-in-sarajevo/