03/22/22 The veterinary inspection began to control Roma settlements!
The number of dogs living in the Roma settlements of Međimurje County is three times higher than expected
- The systematic work of the veterinary inspection is required to control the breeding of dogs
When four years ago the Minister of Agriculture initiated the dog castration project in the Roma settlements of Međimurje County, funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, everyone hoped that the horrible scenes of neglected, seriously ill, wounded, and dead dogs would finally cease to be a daily occurrence in these settlements. By 2018, 1400 dogs had gone through the castration project. After that, in the next three years, the Shelter rescued another 300 dogs from the settlement. When the project was finally resumed at the end of last year, the shelter "Prijatelji" from Čakovec faced the need to take care of, treat, and castrate three times more dogs than expected!
The Animal Friends Croatia association explains that many residents of the settlement did not surrender their dogs. Thus, in 2018 only the dogs that the residents wanted to surrender were neutered, even though the Order stipulated the castration of all dogs in the area. Unfortunately, since then the number of dogs has increased significantly due to a lack of control. It is commendable that the veterinary inspection has started to monitor the area. As a result, in the Roma settlement of Kuršanec, all adult dogs that the residents did not have castrated, as well as puppies, were temporarily confiscated.
The goal is for all dogs to be castrated, microchipped, vaccinated, and then returned to the settlements or placed in a shelter for treatment and adoption. The veterinary inspection has announced that they will take the same measures in other Roma settlements to make sure that every dog is castrated, microchipped, and vaccinated. All the financial and human resources invested in the project do not make sense if the number of unneutered dogs is not reduced to almost zero. It is possible to achieve this only if the project is completed with detailed supervision by the veterinary inspection, and if after the end of the project, they continue to insist on regular supervision as well as react as soon as a few unneutered dogs appear in the settlements, and not when there are several hundred of them", Animal Friends Croatia point out.
They state that it is possible that the project will last the whole year. Namely, most dogs require care in a shelter and treatment because they are malnourished, have old bone injuries, and suffer from internal and external parasites. In the first three months since the implementation of the project started again, the costs of treatment, food, and care for the dogs exceeded 200 thousand kunas, and the Ministry of Agriculture finances only the cost of castration. Therefore, they plead with everyone to help by donating and adopting dogs from the overburdened Čakovec shelter that is trying to solve the alarming situation with unneutered dogs. Animal Friends Croatia requested help from the City of Zagreb asking the city shelter to accept a certain number of dogs.
They note that the complex situation in the Roma settlements of Međimurje County cannot be solved by the shelter and the local veterinary inspection alone, since this is a problem at the state level. That is why it is good that more veterinary inspections from other parts of Croatia are going to systematically visit all settlements with the assistance of the police, to ensure that the population surrenders every dog for castration.
They also appeal to all local communities, regardless of whether they have Roma settlements or not, to prescribe permanent sterilization as a way of controlling the reproduction of dogs and cats, with recorded exceptions, and to subsidize castrations in order to stop the influx of newly abandoned animals. "Unwanted animals are often dumped in Roma settlements. Please, be responsible, castrate your animals and save many lives", says Animal Friends Croatia.
![neglected dog [ 259.96 Kb ]](/data/image_3_15643.jpg "neglected dog [ 259.96 Kb ]")
