BOSNIA ABOUT TO IMPLEMENT KILL LAW!
BOSNIA IS ABOUT TO IMPLEMENT A KILL LAW THAT REPLICATES WHAT IS HAPPENING IN ROMANIA. TO STOP THIS LAW COMING INTO EFFECT THE NEXT TWO WEEKS ARE CRITICAL.
It is crucial that everyone, especially in Europe, lobby their embassy and MEPs. We need to keep the momentum, with press, meetings, lobbying and letters.Those opposing the change in the debate (local representatives from Dogs Trust, various pro-animal NGOs, ordinary citizens, veterinary experts from the Veterinary Faculty, professors, lawyers) took more room and were in all ways more articulate. See this article on Klix.ba (Serbo-Croatian, you can google translate The problem of street dogs in Bosnia and Herzegovina: The solution is in registration, sterilization, and Punishment.)
However, the government representatives and in particular SDP representative Nermina Zaimović Uzunović (who originally presented a Bill on changes and amendments to the Animal Welfare and Protection Act at the assembly on July 6 2013) behaved as if they heard none of the facts, explanations of the cause of the problem and how to remedy the problem.
It will be hard to keep the law as is. The next 2 weeks are critical.
We are drafting a new petition on change.org but cannot post final up until early next week. There are existing petitions you can sign below.
But what is important right now is to lobby your embassy representative in Bosnia and at home and your EU Member of Parliament.
Write a PERSONAL, POLITE LETTER asking them to strongly urge the Bosnia-Herzegovina government to not change the law but instead to start actually implementing it! (For a full translation of the existing law, please download this PDF.)
See here to find your Embassy in Bosnia-Herzegovina:
http://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-in/bosnia-and-herzegovina
There is also a listing of some of the Embassies on the ACTION TO TAKE page.
Find your MEP and write a personal letter to them as well.
See here to find any MEP in Europe – ‘Euromap’.
Also on the ACTION TO TAKE page there are further links and suggestions of particular MEPs to write to. Make sure to end your letter with your name and contact details.
THE NEXT TWO WEEKS ARE CRITICAL.
We need to keep the momentum, with press, meetings, lobbying, letters.
A key member of the animal welfare lobby has stated:We need to keep the momentum, with press, meetings, lobbying, letters.
“We need to play this smart, plan good timing for every action and save some ammunition for the days and weeks to come!”
If you are from the UK, you can mention in
your letter an incident concerning SDP representative Nermina
Zaimović-Uzunović, the Member of House of representatives of
Parliamentary Assembly who proposed amendments to the law. Nermina
Zaimović-Uzunovi said she was disappointed the discussion focused on
Dogs Trust and their project (spay-neuter of 3000 strays in June 2013 in
Sarajevo) which was financed by “the Queen” – and that Dogs Trust only
worked in their own interest and this interest was financed by the
“Queen”. Instead of acknowledging the good work done by Dogs
Trust, and at great expense, she dismisses it, and certainly does not
acknowledge that if her changes come into effect, the 3000 dogs
sterilised by Dogs Trust will probably be killed. What a waste!
If you have been reading this blog (see in particular this post, and this)
you will know that to reverse or change the existing law (which,
although not implemented, has an excellent basis for a humane management
programme) for a kill law will be a disaster for a number of reasons,
not least of which:
- It will damage Bosnia-Herzegovina’s international image
- It will fail
- It will allow wholesale murder of stray dogs and cats
We already have documentation of how ‘shelters’ tend to ‘euthanise’ animals: by clubbing, injections of bleach
and so on. So you can be sure that if the existing animal welfare law
is changed, such means of ‘euthanisation’ will become commonplace.
Also, the studies
on management of stray dog and cat population are unanimous in that
euthanisation is NOT the most effective way to control populations. Euthanasia
deals only with the symptoms and not the cause of the problem. It is
expensive, inhumane and will not provide a permanent solution. Studies
have shown that TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) and CNR (Catch-Neuter-Return)
programmes are far more effective (and far more humane) than euthanasia
to reduce the street animal population. Please read this post for more information.
Please join the Facebook Event for latest news and updates: STOP BOSNIA FROM IMPLEMENTING KILL LAW
PLEASE SIGN THE EXISTING PETITIONS (AND CHECK BACK NEXT WEEK FOR THE NEW PETITION).
RELATED POSTS ON THIS BLOG:- THE HORROR SHELTERS OF BOSNIA – SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!
- Bosnia Killing Dogs – No Different to Romania!
- BOSNIA! IMPLEMENT HUMANE STRAY-DOG AND CAT POPULATION CONTROL AND TREATMENT
- Dog Shelters in Bosnia: A Complex Situation
- Horror Camps for Animals in Bosnia
- Concentration Camp for Man’s Best Friend
- Concentration Camp for Man’s Best Friend PART TWO
- Mass Graves Found Near Dog “Shelter”
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DONATIONS
Funds are needed not only to help individual rescues and to help us keep safe the rescued dogs we are sponsoring but also to continue our advocacy work in Bosnia, uncovering the truth about what is happening there.
Funds are needed not only to help individual rescues and to help us keep safe the rescued dogs we are sponsoring but also to continue our advocacy work in Bosnia, uncovering the truth about what is happening there.
On our sister site, Animal Welfare Advocates for Bosnia,
you can set up a monthly donation via PayPal, or if you want to make a
one-off donation, please go to your PayPal account (or set one up, it’s
very easy) and send the money to: donations@awabosnia.org as a ‘gift’. Click on the image below to be taken to PayPal’s home page.
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