Serbia struggles to handle stray dogs
Source: Agencies |
March 25, 2011, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SMALL and cuddly or looking like wolves, curled in filthy makeshift cages or roaming in packs: Stray dogs are everywhere in Serbia, a country where even people struggle with hunger and can hardly have sympathy for animals.
The numbers are staggering, fueled by years of war, poverty and the lack of any government strategy to neuter or control strays.
In the capital Belgrade, strays have doubled in recent years to about 15,000, according to government estimates - a huge burden for a city of only 2 million. In contrast, Moscow has five times more people and about 26,000 stray dogs.
"There are more and more dogs out there every day," said Jelena Jankovic, whose Center for Mixed Dogs group has run a small shelter in Belgrade since 1996.
While there are no exact figures for the rest of Serbia, officials estimate there could be 50,000 dogs out there, many facing hunger, cold, diseases, harassment and even unimaginable cruelties.
Officials who had been preoccupied with postwar and global economic issues have been forced to announce urgent measures to try to deal with the problem of strays.
"We must attack this from all sides," said Predrag Petrovic, who heads the newly formed special commission addressing the issue in Belgrade. "We have a difficult task ahead of us."
"We are all responsible for such an immense number of abandoned animals," said Budimir Plavsic, senior official at Serbia's agriculture ministry.
Belgrade's chief veterinarian, Vladimir Terzin, said Serbs still have a long way to go in accepting the idea that dogs can live side-by-side with humans.
The numbers are staggering, fueled by years of war, poverty and the lack of any government strategy to neuter or control strays.
In the capital Belgrade, strays have doubled in recent years to about 15,000, according to government estimates - a huge burden for a city of only 2 million. In contrast, Moscow has five times more people and about 26,000 stray dogs.
"There are more and more dogs out there every day," said Jelena Jankovic, whose Center for Mixed Dogs group has run a small shelter in Belgrade since 1996.
While there are no exact figures for the rest of Serbia, officials estimate there could be 50,000 dogs out there, many facing hunger, cold, diseases, harassment and even unimaginable cruelties.
Officials who had been preoccupied with postwar and global economic issues have been forced to announce urgent measures to try to deal with the problem of strays.
"We must attack this from all sides," said Predrag Petrovic, who heads the newly formed special commission addressing the issue in Belgrade. "We have a difficult task ahead of us."
"We are all responsible for such an immense number of abandoned animals," said Budimir Plavsic, senior official at Serbia's agriculture ministry.
Belgrade's chief veterinarian, Vladimir Terzin, said Serbs still have a long way to go in accepting the idea that dogs can live side-by-side with humans.
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