However, as this disturbing accident did not remain ignored by the media, a peculiar debate kicked off in the Bulgarian society.

The animal rights cause was ridiculed in most "man-on-the-street" interviews, with the argument that the Bulgarian society and authorities should focus on "more important issues instead."

There is still a widespread notion that improving animal rights is insulting for the average Bulgarian citizen, since humans in this particular country do not possess a great deal of rights as it is.

The public opinion seems inclined towards the thesis that the potential imprisonment of animal abusers would be an outrage, since the Bulgarian judicial system is rarely capable of dealing adequately with cases of manslaughter.

While the latter is unfortunately true, the "human vs. animal rights" debate does not feel right for me. But what has caused this antagonism in the first place?

First of all, I would like to point out that Bulgaria is not an animal-hating nation. The fact that its society does not oppose animal rights infringement too passionately is the deep life frustration the vast majority of its population feels for one reason or another.

The mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, has mentioned several times that the problem with the stray dogs population is one of the most difficult she has to face. It has been pretty difficult for some two million Sofia citizens, too.

According to data from the municipal "Ecobalance" company, there are about 10 000 registered stray dogs in Sofia. Some 70 000 dogs have been registered wandering the streets of Bulgaria as a whole. The actual numbers are most certainly much higher.

The street is apparently not the appropriate environment for all these abandoned animals - I will not elaborate on the reasons why. However, there is a particular breed of dog-lovers, who do not see anything wrong with homeless dogs roaming the streets. In fact, they have the habit of throwing them leftovers from their kitchen windows.

This is the same sort of "animal care" which has obviously pushed thousands of Bulgarians towards throwing out their unnecessary pets - the "animals are just fine, as long as one does not need to look after them responsibly on a daily basis" mentality.

I have not forgotten the "human" cause - we do experience some problems too. While packs of stray dogs have rarely killed people, I can hardly think of anyone who has not been at least once attacked or chased by them.

An average of 800-900 cases of tapeworm infection are registered in Bulgaria each year. This number constitutes as much as 54% of the total instances per year in the whole EU.

Needless to say, the stray dogs can not be held responsible for the above mentioned health risks. Their presence on the streets is the result of human neglect in the first place.

This year, a new shelter for 1 000 dogs is planned to open doors in a Sofia district.