Despite promises of investments of millions of euros for several years now for the removal of stray dogs, they continue to pose a problem for citizens. In public spaces, where thousands of people circulate during the day, stray dogs continue to cause fear among citizens. The latter complain about the attacks by the dogs, while the plans for their removal seem to be not so successful. The Animal Rights Foundation emphasizes the importance of increasing the number of veterinary inspectors and criticizes the local authorities for the poor management of the situation with this type of animal.
From January to the beginning of October, about 130 citizens have sought help at the Emergency Center near the University Clinical Center of Kosovo (UCCK) who were bitten by stray dogs.
Citizen Xhemajl Dakaj, while telling the story of how the dogs attacked him, points out that the promise to remove them has not been fulfilled.
Enver Neziri says that he often encounters a group of stray dogs.
The Director of Emergency at UCCK, Naser Syla in a statement for KosovaPress mentions that the number of attacks by dogs has increased compared to last year. He adds that a significant number of cases that have been bitten by dogs without an owner are health staff.
And in the capital, the center for sheltering dogs without an owner is expected to be operational very soon.
The Director of Public Services in the Municipality of Prishtina, Bekim Brestovci, vows that by March 2025, up to 1,500 stray dogs will be removed from the capital.
Whereas, when the KosovaPress team visited the center in Hajvali last week, there were only four dogs.
Meanwhile, in relation to the reports in the UCCK about attacks by stray dogs, Brestovci promises that they will voluntarily remove the dogs from there, but emphasizes that it is not the municipality’s responsibility.
He says that so far about 300 dogs have been adopted.
The leader of the Animal Rights Foundation, Elza Ramadani, says that municipalities spend thousands of euros to solve the problem with stray dogs, but their projects are short-term.
In addition to these, Ramadani emphasizes that more inspections should be done in this direction and that, according to her, punishments should be imposed for those who abandon dogs.
Meanwhile, the prime minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, in the last meeting with the mayors of the municipalities of Kosovo, declared that the government is ready to co-finance the construction of shelters for stray dogs. He asked the municipalities to analyze the spaces and determine the place where they should be built. /Z. Zeneli/
