After Occupy For Animal's internet onslaught and criticism against the Animal "welfare" Eurogroup, they have produced yet another limp"appeal". Its a typical love letter with no guts or backbone.
They write this
"We are aware that a lot of unsubstantiated ‘evidence’ of perpetrated cruelties has been circulating during the last weeks and that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between reliable information and invented horrors."
Invented horrors eh... why don't you go and look at the dog corpses around Romania and tell us what was "invented". Did the dog who got his top jaw chopped off make it up then? Did the dogs in numerous shelters who are bones and skin make it up then? Did Bostosani's hundreds of dead dogs pretend to be dead? Did you overlook the Brasov's leading dog killer's admissions? What is this MEP talking about? Any reasonable authority goes and investigates allegations. This Eurogroup just sits around and procrastinates.
This appeal is like writing a love letter to "Hitler" and expecting reasonable behaviour. Now, we want action, we want the EU to instigate investigations against all the shelters, against the illegal use of Furadan, against the dog mafia plus we want investigations on the unlawful waste of funds and the cruelty meted out on the dogs of Romania and much much more. The public hires you to uphold the law - its important that you do it EU. This is an emergency - it means the EU needs to take action not sit around debating what is evidence and what is not. If you question evidence - go to Romania and find out. Live in Bostosani or Bucov shelter for a day and see if you think its fair to leave dogs starving hungry with no water. These dogs were forced to eat other dogs in desperation and to survive [ filmed by local TV]. Does the EU believe this is reasonable? If not, take action - we want to see a plan of action. We want to see it now.
Love letter to Romania's resident dog killing machine.
08/10/2013
Dear President Băsescu,
EP Animal Welfare Intergroup Members regret that no reply has been given so far to our correspondence of last month which would be very helpful for clarifications.
The recently adopted law amending and supplementing the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 155/2001 on the approval of a stray dogs management program stipulates a range of conditions and standards relating to the capture, transport, housing, identification, vaccination, sterilisation, registration, adoption and euthanasia of strays.
If the decision to euthanize a dog is taken, it must be carried out by veterinary personnel and in accordance with established and accepted practices. The law also specifies that the process of euthanasia must be quick and painless. It also confirms that shelters with the capacity and resources may continue to house strays for an indefinite period of time, and the animals may be returned to their owners (if they are identified) or adopted at any time.
These requirements don’t differ very much from what is practiced in other EU Member States but there remain concerns whether the law is enforceable as such under the given conditions.
- Will the municipalities have the sufficient means to respect all requirements of the law?
- Will it be possible to apply still neutering and release campaigns?
We assume that a lot will depend on the decisions taken by the municipalities. It seems that several mayors of Romanian cities have already stated publicly that they will avoid the euthanasia of strays, if at all possible. The Mayor of Bucharest expressed his commitment to urgently increase the capacity of dog shelters and to actively encourage adoption by promoting more education and a culture of adoption. We hope that these commitments will be held and that those authorities that will apply euthanasia campaigns will be obliged to operate within the strict confines of the law.
For the correct enforcement of the law it will be unavoidable to carry out inspections and to apply deterrent penalties for all those who infringe it. We hope that this will be foreseen to avoid cruelty to the dogs as much as possible.
We hope as well that the actions taken will be part of a comprehensive and humane, long-term population strategy.
As a member of the OIE, Romania is also responsible for implementing OIE recommendations. The OIE rules foresee that the killing of stray dogs should not be the only method of controlling the population and if killing is the last option, then it has to be done in a humane way along with other measures. This is also highlighted in Commissioner Tonio Borg’s letter to the Romanian Minister for Health.
We are aware that a lot of unsubstantiated ‘evidence’ of perpetrated cruelties has been circulating during the last weeks and that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between reliable information and invented horrors.
It remains though the fact that Romania, as several other EU Member States, has massive problems with stray dog populations and that everything has to be done to promote and implement humane management measures for strays as it was expressed in the European Parliament’s written declaration 26/2011 on dog population management in the European Union.
We urge you not to push for the euthanasia option, and to encourage the Mayors to choose the best solution for their municipality which avoids animal cruelty and takes dogs off the streets.
In your role as President you can act as mediator and work towards reducing the current polarization in Romanian society which exists around the issue of dogs, especially by promoting a responsible model of dog ownership in order to encourage a long-term solution to the issue of stray dogs in Romania.
Please rest assured of our solidarity for the handling of this difficult situation.
Sincerely,
Dan Jørgensen MEP
Cc: Gheorghe-Eugen Nicolăescu – Romanian Minister for Health
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