Romanian city promises to end needless killing of dogs after our global petition
News
60,622 people around the world have successfully urged Mayor Decebal Făgădău of Constanța to stop the city’s cruel ‘catch and kill’ policy for dogs, and introduce a humane dog population management policy instead
This week, along with Romanian organisation, Save the Dogs, we met with Mayor Babu Dumitru and Vice-Director Cristina Itoafa from Constanța’s dog population control team to hand over the signatures, and discuss how the city can implement more humane methods.
We launched the petition in June, after being made aware of the unnecessary suffering and death that was being inflicted on dogs in Constanța, Romania.
Leaving the ‘catch and kill’ policy behind
The policy was launched in the year 2000 in an attempt to reduce the number of dogs on Constanța’s streets. Every two hours a stray dog is killed in the city, and over 4,000 are killed each year. The policy is not only cruel, but ineffective. Despite the large number of dogs killed, population numbers have not reduced.
Thanks to our supporters, the policy will end soon.
A big step forward for stray dogs
The Vice-Mayor promised to develop a dog population programme that would include:
- implementation of our responsible pet ownership education programme,
- free sterilisation for owned dogs,
- the promotion of micro-chipping among the citizens of Constanța,
- to prolong the current period a dog should stay in a shelter before considering euthanasia from 14 to at least 30 days,
- and to re-open the public shelter with an adoption programme.
Two dogs that we met at Footprints of Joy dog shelter, Romania
Sabine Zwiers, Campaign Manager Europe, World Animal Protection said: “We are happy that Vice-Mayor Babu Dumitru will now start to implement more humane dog population control policies in the city with the help of the local NGOs. We asked for these commitments in writing, so it is possible for the citizens of Constanța to hold the Mayor accountable.”
Thank you to all of our supporters and petition-signers
We would not have been able to show Mayor Decebal Făgădău the importance of protecting the city’s dogs without the 60,622 voices behind this petition. People from Brazil, Australia, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, and more, have been integral in our mission to protect the dogs of Constanța.
This great success is another reminder of the strength we have in numbers.
We are happy that Vice-Mayor Babu Dumitru will now start to implement more humane dog population control policies in the city with the help of the local NGOs. - Sabine Zwiers, Campaign Manager Europe, World Animal Protection