Outraged Humans, Canines Target Bulgaria's Agriculture Minister over Stray Dogs

A major protest rally of animal rights NGOs, Sofia residents, and pets has been staged in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, targeting the latest regulations on the stray dog issue initiated by Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov.

The problems with the several dozens of thousands of stray dogs roaming the streets and outskirts of Sofia has become especially acute after several recent incidents, prompting Agriculture Minister Naydenov to amend an ordinance, thus allowing municipalities to construct dog shelters fasters and more easily.

Back then the minister explained that "risky" stray dogs will be collected and euthanized, while the rest will be taken to shelters and people willing to adopt them.

These amendments, however, were protested in downtown Sofia on Friday, in a rally entitled "Game Over", with banners demanding "zoo police" and blaming the authorities for violating the legislation for four years.

The outraged protesters tabled a declaration against proposed amendments to the Animal Protection Act, claiming the changes would bring "medieval measures" for resolving the stray dog problem.

They insisted on drafting a "national strategy" for managing the population of unattended dogs with the participation of the NGOs that will provide for castration and returning the dogs to the spots where they live.

"Sofia Municipality is one of the few municipalities that is doing its job. We are witnessing how Minister Naydenov is not doing his job because dogs from other regions are brought to Sofia," stated Nadya Stancheva from Animal Rescue Sofia, who also manages a dog shelter in Gorni Bogrov, a Sofia quarter.

She said there are stray dogs with implanted chips roaming the Sofia streets but there is no way of finding out who there owners are since there is no data base of the microchips.

"If Minister Naydenov doesn't want to do his job, he must be replaced by a person who is not lazy. None of us here wants aggressive packs of dogs in the streets. I manage a shelter and I know how hard it is but not single dog that got out of our shelter has become aggressive," she added.

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