06/26/12 Urgent Reopening of Shelters!
Animal Friends on watch tomorrow with banners in front of the Ministry of Agriculture and Veterinary Department and seek urgent reopening of the shelters!
- One dog destroyed was vaccinated against rabies three weeks earlier and was not in contact with other dogs; one dog was killed without anesthetic, he suffered and died in pain
On Tuesday, June 26, 2012, Animal Friends will be on watch from 7 A.M. the whole day with banners in front of the Ministry of Agriculture (Ulica grada Vukovara 78) and the Veterinary Department (Planinska ulica 2). They will demand the urgent reopening of the Zagreb City Shelter for abandoned animals in Dumovec and shelter of Noah's Ark association, which were closed by the inspection on the grounds of alleged risk of rabies. They will ask the Minister Tihomir Jakovina tu fulfill his promise of reopening of both shelters, which he gave back last Tuesday, and will continue demanding from the Ministry of Agriculture to take responsibility for the pointless killing of 46 healthy animals by the veterinary inspectors, harassment of citizens, illegal actions and the damage caused by the unreasonable closure of the two shelters for abandoned animals.
Closing the shelters has already done a huge damage, and every day it gets bigger and bigger. The summer holidays, during which the number of abandoned animals is increased in comparison to the rest of the year, have started. There is no reason for shelters to be closed and they must urgently be reopened!
From the pictures of the shelters that are waiting to be reopened and dogs awaiting their caretakers it is obvious even without the investigation announced by the Ministry of Agriculture that even if rabies existed in the shelter in Dumovec, which is not the case, there was no possibility that animals in enclosed shelter of Noah's Ark association, where the animals were placed in separate boxes, could get diesase too. The animals were killed illegally and pointlessly!
Animal Friends constantly receives new information from caretakers of killed dogs, which confirm that veterinary inspectors entered people's home like bullies, refused any civilized communication, and violated their fundamental human rights. People did not agree to killings of their dogs, as it is claimed by the Ministry of Agriculture, but fought for their dogs instead, while inspectors threatened and intimidate them until they signed the record. How violently inspectors acted shows information given by one of the caretakers who vaccinated his dog against rabies a day earlier, and to whom a veterinary inspector said: "I am writing here, while others will kill!" Then he left to the car while another veterinarian killed his dog. Inspectors lied to the most of the caretakers that their dogs were in the same box with a dog Rea, who was found to have rabies, and insisted they have to kill the dogs, ignoring caretakers' pleas to put dogs in a quarantine and that they will cover costs for all the necessary tests.
One of the shocking information is that the inspectors have killed a dog who has been vaccinated against rabies even more than three weeks ago. To make matters worse, the dog has not even been placed in Dumovec, but was already in care someplace else, and in Dumovec he received two vaccines against canine infectious diseases and was vaccinated against rabies by his caretakers exactly on the agreed date of the vaccination plan!
One caretaker testified that the inspectors have killed his dog with only one injection, without anesthesia, and the dog was writhing and dying in pain.
Animal Friends is of the opinion that this affair is a climax of scandalous acts of veterinary inspections and resolutely seeks notices and severe punishment of those responsible for the irreparable damage caused to the animals, citizens and shelters, urgent reform of the veterinary inspection and establishing of inspection for the protection of animals, as well as a repeal of the provision of the Animal Protection Act, which allows killing animals in shelters after 60 days.
Killings of stray animals happen all over Croatia, as well as significant omissions of veterinary inspection that does not stand in defense of their lives, which they are obliged to do by law and ethical principles. One shameless example is the "shelter" in Sisak, which kills animals and where, after reports of associations, the inspection did not find any irregularities. On the other hand, at the same time, the State Attorney's Office in its indictment found as many as ten points of violations of regulations.