Novi Grad Municipality: Alleged stray dog protection has become a business for many people

On the occasion of peaceful protests by stray dog protection associations held today in Sarajevo, the Novi Grad Sarajevo Municipality issued a press release, which the Patria News Agency relays in full.

-Everything that the Hygiene Service and Veterinary Station Novi Grad do is fully in accordance with the law and other valid regulations in this area, which has been confirmed on several occasions by competent authorities authorized to control the legality and legitimacy of work. Unlike the Hygiene Service and Veterinary Station, animal protection associations are fictitious and do not adhere to any valid norms in this area.

The Municipality of Novi Grad has repeatedly informed the public about the problems encountered by the Hygiene Service for catching stray dogs and the Veterinary Station Novi Grad, caused by interference from members of stray dog protection associations and individuals who call themselves "activists". To date, approximately 50 physical assaults by association members on Hygiene Service employees have been recorded, and the police have intervened 29 times, with official records and reports filed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the competent Prosecutor's Office.

Hygiene Service employees, who were performing their duties as officials, have suffered minor and serious physical injuries on several occasions, and have received various threats, both to them and their family members, for which association members have been deprived of their liberty multiple times, and court proceedings are underway in these cases. It is precisely these activists who are organizing today's gathering.

In 2009, the BiH Parliament adopted the Law on Animal Protection and Welfare, which does not exist in any other European country, and which is the main cause of the problem of a large number of stray dogs on our streets, as it repealed the previous method of solving this problem, which was part of the communal activities of every city, and at the same time did not offer adequate solutions or a transition period, so the problem escalated to unprecedented proportions.

According to data from the Sarajevo Canton Emergency Medical Service, the number of people who sought medical assistance after being bitten by stray dogs in the last three years is close to 3,000, and it is assumed that a large number of people did not report the attacks. Due to problems with stray dog attacks on children, the operation of kindergartens, primary schools, and health institutions in Sarajevo Canton has been jeopardized. Claims for damages from citizens due to dog bites filed against the Municipality of Novi Grad Sarajevo have so far exceeded 200,000 KM, although it would be more logical to seek these damages from the BiH Parliament and the representatives who passed the said law.

Due to the large number of citizens' requests for action on this issue, the Municipality of Novi Grad, through JP Lokom, launched the Hygiene Service for catching stray dogs, which is the only one in Sarajevo Canton, and subsequently the Veterinary Station Novi Grad, in order to combat this problem in accordance with valid laws.

However, after these institutions began to work in a serious and legal manner, it was observed that behind the problem of stray dogs there is an entire system of individuals and groups who constantly produce this problem. The alleged protection of animals and street dogs has become a business for many people, a way to easily make money, which has attracted a large number of people with very suspicious backgrounds and known to investigative bodies.

After the public company Lokom approached the competent inspectorates, it was determined that most animal protection associations are fictitiously registered and are not present at the addresses where they are registered. Due to all of the above, as well as much more, inspectorates, police, and judicial bodies must get more decisively involved in this problem if we do not want Sarajevo to become the largest stray dog shelter in the world.

If the members of associations and individuals advocating for animal rights are sincere in their intentions, we propose that they unite in building one or more animal shelters that they would finance with their donations. The Municipality of Novi Grad is ready to offer a location for the construction of a shelter, which would operate legally and under the supervision of competent veterinary institutions, but we are not prepared to accept that our streets, parks, playgrounds, schoolyards, and home yards become the natural habitat of stray dogs, as proposed by the Dogs Trust foundation. This foundation is the main sponsor of all animal protection associations, illegally carries out alleged sterilizations of animals on our streets, and illegally creates records of street dogs, as no one has authorized them to do so.

As animal protection associations, through media campaigns and various lobbying efforts, managed to halt the amendments to the Law initiated by Nermina Zaimović – Uzinović, a representative in the previous convocation of the BiH Parliament, which were intended to enable a more effective solution to the stray dog problem, they are now using the same methods, through media campaigns, protests, and lobbying, to try to stop the work of the only institution dealing with this problem in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was announced from the Municipality of Novi Grad.