Today, we regretfully heard news that the Romanian Constitutional Court is upholding the “stray-killing” law, consigning thousands of stray dogs to death after 14 days of detention in public dog pounds.
We wrote to all members of the Constitutional Court urging to rule against the law. However, the plea went unnoticed and the court decided to uphold it after less than four hours of discussion. President Traian Băsescu is expected to sign the new law immediately, meaning stray dogs will be legally killed in a matter of days.
Beryl Mutonono-Watkiss, Campaign Director at World Animal Protection says:
“The Constitutional Court ruling for dogs to be culled in Romania is both inhumane and ineffective. The World Animal Protection (WORLD ANIMAL PROTECTION) has urged the Court to consider a more effective, sustainable and humane solution to manage the stray dog population. It is imperative that the government adopts a rational approach to address this problem.
World Animal Protection calls for the new law to be frozen and for the Romanian government to work more closely with animal welfare organizations, such as World Animal Protection, to implement humane and sustainable solutions, for the benefit of both people and dogs”.
The euthanasia law comes four weeks after a four-year-old boy’s alleged mauling in Bucharest prompted the government to rush through the legislation allowing the killing of strays. Doubts have since been cast over the exact details concerning the boy’s tragic death.
Our extensive experience of working on dog management programs around the world shows clearly that this legislation is neither practical, humane or effective and will not provide a long-term solution to Romania’s long-standing issues with stray dogs.
More updates coming soon as we prepare to mobilize our supporters into action.
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Image © REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel
