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Circulating letter sent to Members of the European Parliament (year 2005)
WORLD'S REPROACH FOR THE POLITICAL PROTECTION OF SYSTEMATIC PET ABUSE IN BULGARIA During recent years a practice of systematic, illegal exploitation of the populations of cats and dogs was established in Bulgaria. In Bulgaria there is no system for identification and registration of the cats and dogs, and there is no data for their quantity and increase per year. At the same time, the public discussion of the problem with the total increase of both populations is fully avoided. Among the pet owners the delusions that breeding is healthy and must-do for the females, and that there are enough serious candidates for their offspring, are still widely spread. The rehoming of the adult pets stays very unpopular. Furthermore, there is no established practice of sheltering of the abandoned and loosed pet animals. There is no practice of purposeful sterilization. There is no practice of legal population reduction. These conditions maintain an extremely dynamic process of unrestricted reproduction and illegal reduction of millions of healthy cats and dogs. In fact, in Bulgaria there are only few asylums for dogs, with capacity for about 20,000 animals per year. At the same time it is obviously that anual population increase, consisting of houndreds of thousands of healthy cats and dogs, undergo an systematic reduction. The unregistered animals are collected as an inexhaustible prey. Most of the cats, including owned ones, are free-breeding animals, living in the yards. Furthermore, the amateur breeding and offering of unregistered dogs and cats became a traditional, encouraged amusement. The market is constantly flooded by young cats and dogs, which attract the impulsive candidates. When they are grown up many of them doesn’t go to the shelters, but they are offered for secondary adoption to doubtful candidates. For example, in Sofia a popular group of "animal defenders" have been collecting grown up dogs for many years, claiming, that they will be adopted in Switzerland. The collection of the booty also includes systematic thefts of owned animals, illegal catching of the cats, and misuse of the dogs in the shelters. I'm informed about cases of arbitrary practice in 1999, 2000 and 2004 in the municipal dog shelter in Sofia. For example, in August 2004 Bulgarian media announced another abuse in the Municipal Dog Shelter in Sofia. Representatives of the shelter claimed that 13 healthy working dogs, given to them with hopes for adoption, have been "immediately killed", because of their hopeless physical condition. For many years a parallel crisis has been maintained in Sofia, and cover the described general one. This local crisis has been supported by systematic abandonement of hundreds of grown up, unknown dogs in the streets. These are tame, cross-breed animals, obviously born at family and industrial yards. Most of them wear collars of the organizations "AFA" and "Tierhilfe Sueden". A noisy campaign for their sterilization and protection has been conducted, but then many of them have disappeared or have been taken by Municipal service. But society have been told that this is a separate "street" population, which have been constantly reproducing in the streets, and the main pet problem. For the last seven years Municipal services and "Tierhilfe Sueden" have been financed with about 7,000,000 leva commonly. In Bulgaria there is no practice of any legal control in this area, despite actual national legislation. In fact the NATIONAL VETERINARY-MEDICAL SERVICE does not control the activities, concerning cats and dogs, and there are no educational programs for the owners. The Ministry of Agriculture does not control the NVMS, and the Parliament does not control the Goverment. I have no information for any cases of application of administrative penalties. Upon my signal in only the Suprime Administrative Prosecutor's Office started investigation of the activities of the NVMS. Furthermore, Bulgarian institutions neglect the obligations, derived from the signification of the European Convention for the Protection of Pets Animals, and from the requirements of Regulation 998/2003 of the European Commission. Bulgarian politics continue to avoid the discussions of the general crisis, and the initiatives in this direction. There is urgent necessity of worldwide reproach for this political protection. That is why I give below addresses for correspondence with political leaders in Bulgaria: Mr. Georgi Parvanov Former Leader BSP/BULGARIAN SOCIALIST PARTY President of The Republic 2 Dondukov blvd. 1123 Sofia, Bulgaria Tel: (+359 2) 923 93 33 Fax: (+359 2) 987 56 01 press@president.bg Mr. Simeon Saxe-Coburg Leader NDSV/NATIONAL MOVEMENT SIMEON II Prime Minister of The Republic 1 Dondukov blvd. Sofia, Bulgaria Fax: (+359 2) 980 20 42 primeminister@government.bg; ndsv@ndsv.bg; centrala@ndsv.bg Mr. Ivan Kostov Leader DSB/DEMOCRATS FOR STRONG BULGARIA Former Prime Minister of The Republic 10A Graf Ignatiev str., fl. 5 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria Tel: (+359 2) 980 53 34 Fax: (+359 2) 987 17 51 ikostov@dsb.bg Mrs. Nadejda Mihailova Leader SDS/UNION OF DEMOCRATIC FORCES Former Minister of Foreign Affairs 134 G.S.Rakovski str. 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria Tel: (+359 2) 930 61 02 Fax: (+359 2) 930 61 22 iac@sds.bg Mr. Stefan Sofianski Leader SSD/UNION OF FREE DEMOCRATS Former Prime Minister of The Republic Mayor of Sofia in the last Decade 91 V. Levski blvd. Sofia, Bulgaria Tel: (+359 2) 989 89 99 Fax: (+359 2) 989 59 99 office@ssd.bg; press@ssd.bg Mr. Sergei Stanishev Chairman BSP/BULGARIAN SOCIALIST PARTY 20 Pozitano str. 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria Tel./Fax: (+359 2) 981 57 08 foreign@bsp.bg Mr. Ahmed Dogan Leader DPS/MOVEMENT FOR RIGHTS AND FREEDOM 45А Alexander Stamboliiski blvd. PoBox 1301 Sofia, Bulgaria Tel: (+359 2) 986 44 54 Fax: (+359 2) 988 15 81 dr.ahmeddogan@mail.com Mr. Volen Siderov Leader ATTACK COALITION 1 Kniaz Alexander Batenberg sq. National Assembly 1169 Sofia, Bulgaria |
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