In a resounding victory for animal rights activists, Romania's constitutional court has dismissed a law allowing the euthanizing of stray dogs as unconstitutional. In November, Parliament had voted for the law that would allow local authorities to relocate strays to shelters for 30 days where, if not adopted, they would be put to death. Strays are commonplace in cities such as Bucharest, Romania's capital. Estimates of the number of stray dogs range from 40,000 to 250,000. The pups tend to roam in small packs and even utilize public transportation. It is speculated that today's abundance of stray pooches can be blamed on communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's leveling of existing towns and cities to rebuild apartment housing. Relocated families were unable to keep pets in their new cramped quarters and thus, abandoned them to the streets. Many Romanians view the strays as a reflection of poverty and poor community management. Dog bites appear to be a serious problem for residents in places such as Bucharest with some statistics claiming as much as one dog bite per hour. After a woman was mauled in January 2010 by stray dogs, many citizens were in uproar over the situation. “Nobody wants to see a mass killing of dogs, but we do want them off the streets. I would be happy for them to be kept in pounds somewhere, just as long as they are off the streets. Alas there appears to be no money for such pounds, so killing is the only real option,” Craig Turp, Bucharest resident and author of the website Bucharest Life told Bikya Masr. Nancy Janes, founder of Romania Animal Rescue, is one of many who see a different solution to Romania's population of stray dogs. Her program has helped find homes for hundreds of stray pooches as well as spay and neuter over 12,000 homeless animals in Romania. “Mandatory spay and neuter with well trained and skilled veterinarians,” she told Bikyamasr.com. “The Veterinary Universities need to train more skilled vets on spay and neuter. Many vets do not know how to spay and neuter in Romania. “Universities need to get highly qualified vets to come and train their professors on spay and neuter skills. These vets then need to travel Romania and train every vet in the country on how to spay and neuter dogs. Ideally the government or the EU should pay the expense of spay and neuter, or at the very least have a regulated fee structure that the average Romanian citizen can afford to pay. Education needs to be at the schools about how to train a dog, how to handle a dog, how to see the signs of aggression. Aggressive dogs should be reported and removed from the community,” she continued. “They are the very small percentage of dogs that are giving all the others a bad name. Adoptions should be made easier and cheaper for the people and no animal should leave a vet's clinic or a shelter without being spayed or neutered.” Castration has proven to reduce aggression as well as dogs' preference for packs. The bill has been sent back to Parliament for revision. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/8Elx1 Tags: Romania, Stray Dogs Section: Animals, Europe, Latest News
