| The existing Animal Welfare and Protection Act of Bosnia-Herzegovina is in fact a good and enforcable law. The only reason the law is not being enforced is because certain political and professional circles do not want to do it.
The law makes euthanising stray dogs illegal, – except a) when the animal cannot be cured and keeping it alive would only cause unnecessary pain and further suffering; b) the animal has reached such an old age, its vital bodily functions are terminating; c) the animal suffers from an incurable and/or infectious disease, or such a disease can represent a threat to humans; d) the animal is dangerous; e) the animal is in agony.
(The truth is, dogs are ‘euthanised’ randomly and seriously disregarding the above laws).this is how the problem of abandoned dogs in Bosnia is being solved, in contravention of all laws and regulations:
You load dogs into a van, using the method “as many as you can cram in”, and you throw them out in a hunting ground and inform the local hunters’ association about the “problem”. After the animal activists come, authorised persons suddenly become “unauthorised”: when activists find out about killing dogs, people, who are responsible for this and who are authorised to prevent and punish those who kill dogs, pretend that they are not in charge of investigating actions such as killing dogs. |
