SOS ROMANIA
Give our children a chance to live safe from stray-dog attacks!
Call on Prime Minister Victor Ponta to support the law which allows Romania to solve its stray-problem and protect children from their attacks!
Fiti alaturi de noi!
In September last year the tragic death of a child who was attacked by stray dogs has lead to the introduction of new legislation in Romania which promotes the capturing, spaying/neutering, putting up for responsible adoption and subsequent putting down of unadopted dogs. Thousands of stray dogs are being finally gathered from the streetd and sent to shelters where they are given 14 days to be either claimed by an owner or adopted. Since this long-awaited law was introduced numerous attacks on the autorities and legislators have been launched by extremist animal rights groups, either by protests, petitions or legal actions.
In April 2014 a 7 yo child was bitten in an unprovoked attack by a stray dog while playing in a park under the care and supervision of his mother. The stray dog and the pack he belonged to was shown to be fed and reared by individuals in the vicinity of the park. According to witnesses the pack of stray-dogs was driven away by individuals who wanted to prevent the dog-catchers from catching them. Later, the aggressive dog was captured and revealed to have been spayed/neutered, adopted and then abandoned back on the streets by the animal protection NGO Cutu-Cutu.
The only man who has the power to address this situation and support the stray-dog control law is the Romania Prime Minister Victor Ponta. IREC is campaigning tirelessly to protect children from stray-dog attacks in this country. We urgently wish to meet with the key stakeholders in Romania to agree on protecting the life and limb of citizens, especially of children, by supporting the current legislation which complies with international recommendations for animal populatin control. The current legislation will promote a humane and long-term solution to the problem and must be supported by the Prime Minister.
Dear Prime Minister Victor PONTA,
I am writing to you because I am extremely distressed to hear that children are still becoming victims of stray dogs because the new law dealing for stray-dog control is aggressively contested by extremist groups and thus local authorities have a hard time implementing it.
I am fully aware that coexistence of stray dogs and people is basically just another stray-dog attack waiting to happen. However vocal extremist groups for animal rights may be it is necessary to protect this law that complies with every relevant European and international standard and recommendation. It is a solution which has been long awaited by Romanian citizens and foreign vistors who have been terrorized by stray dogs long enough. The recent mauling to death of child by stray dogs has only been the catalyst to the growing public outrage about this unacceptable situation. In the long-term the new law, provided it is applyed firmly and timely, will control the stray dog population and prevent future incidents from taking place, just as similar laws have done in over 30 western countries.
There have been many attempts by the Romanian Government to reduce the stray dog population in the past including the spay/neuter-and-return of tens of thousands of dogs in Bucharest alone, which was unsuccessful and proved a complete waste of public funds. Moreover, the very dogs that were returned proved to be aggressive and made human victims.
The spay/neuter-and-return strategy is not the answer for Romania, despite extremist groups promoting it aggressively. The current Romanian legislation (Law 258/2013) can and will deal with the stray dog population in a rational and humane way which will promote the welfare of both the dogs and the people at the same time. Capture, neuter and release schemes have been proven inneffective in Romania and are not used by the vast majority of European countries. On the other hand, schemes based on the capturing , spaying/neutering, promoting responsible adoption for a defined period of time, followed by the humane euthanasia of unadopted dogs are used by many countries world-wide and are endorsed by the OIE-World Organisation for Animal Health.
It will be very disturbing if the Romanian Government does not support the current, sound legislation and decides to revert back to schems that allow stray dogs to roam free the streets continuing their attacks, some fatal, on citizens and especially on the most vulnerable of them, children. The decision of the Romanian Parliament was long due, rational and finally provided a realistic solution to the problem.
Mr. Ponta, the future fate of all Romanian citizens and especially, of all children in Romania is in your hands along with Romania’s international reputation. I am urging you to support Law 258/2013 and to continue to support local authorities in their effort to apply the law for the protection of human life and humane management of stray dogs. This is the most effective way to keep the streets safe and to stop any further unnecessary maulings.
Sincerely yours,
(sign your name)
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