Sofia
Corruption and shady practices hinder
the management of stray animals population


During her past partial term in office between 2007 and 2011, Sofia's Mayor, Jordanka Fandakova, just did little to nothing to curb the local stray dog population. In recent months, she reiterated repeatedly her intentions to "reduce the street dog population mainly through opening extra animal shelters, and registering owned dogs".  

Following an incident in March, in which a man had been attacked by stray dogs in the Malinova Dolina District and later succumbed to his injuries, mayor Fandakova came under huge pressure and critics from the citizens of Sofia. In an attempt to correct what she had failed to do over the last years - to get the stray dog population under control in Sofia -  mayor Fandakova had given order to hunt and kill all stray dogs who happen to inhabit the district in which the old professor had been mauled. 

Fortunately, this crazy plan could be stopped with international pressure and the help from animal rights activists and animal lovers from all around the world who had signed petitions calling on Mayor Fandakova to solve the problem in a more human and reasonable way. 

Sadly, a second, fatal attack happened, bringing it to two fatal attacks in a period of just eleven weeks. "The municipality will open new shelters for animals in three months, 4,000 stray dogs will be collected for one year. Parliament should approve the euthanasia of stray dogs," said Mayor Fandakova to the media immediately after the death of the second victim. Later she confirmed plans to increase the number of dog-catcher-teams to up "at least 10".  To calm and ease off the citizens and satisfy the masses, the Minister of Agriculture and Foods, ex director of "Ecoravnovesie" (municipal society responsible of the control of stray dogs in Sofia), Miroslav Naidenov, affirmed the decision to take serious measures to solve the problem of strays, such increasing of the controls and creating a stray dog registry.

The Minister also announced modifications to the national law of animal protection, considering the law in force not helpful and resolving. However, local NGOs affirm that the problem isn’t the national law but rather the absence of controls and punishments of owners who abandon their un-neutered pets daily, letting them free to copulate and thus increasing the stray population. 

The modifications to Regulation 41, proposed by the Minister of Agriculture, permit to keep up to 15 dogs in only 45 square meters (3 m2 per dog). This overcrowded condition will lead to constant fights and diffusion of illness that degenerate into death. On 17 April this Regulation has been officially adopted.

On 14th May, the European Parliament’s Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals sent a letter (see next document) to the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Mr Boyko Metodiev Borisov, to express concerns about the planned amendments to the Bulgarian Animal Welfare Law, which could legitimize a massacre of strays. 



According to the BSAPP, Sofia (and the whole country) faces four major challenges in dealing with the stray animal overpopulation problem:

  • Pet owners do not sterilize their pets and throw out unwanted litters on the streets;
  • Lack of education about the overpopulation problem and spay/neuter;
  • Legal and illegal puppy mills abound;
  • Taxpayer money is wasted on ineffective municipal programs and not enough stray animals are sterilised to reach the impact threshold percentage of 70% of animals sterilised for TNR (trap-neuter-release) to start showing a tangible effect.*

* Statistical studies indicate that in order to fully control a stray population, you need to achieve a 70 percent sterilization rate of the animals within a particular community. Once you reach the 70 percent threshold, the probability that an unsterilized female comes into contact with an unsterilized male is sufficiently small, and the population stops growing.   

At the present, there are four dog pounds working officially (gross capacity 1000 dogs), and six dog catcher teams in Sofia. A new dog pound that will house more than a thousand animals is currently under construction. It is planned, that starting from November 2012, dog catchers can begin to collect dogs to fill up this pound, and if mayor Fandakoya's recent plans and actions might dazzle many - namely the potential voters for the next mayoral elections - and when this might look like a serious and honest intention to solve the stray dogs issue in Sofia to some, local and international NGOs can not be fooled so easily.

As a matter of fact, Bulgaria is the most corrupt country in the European Union and it should be no surprise that a document entitled "A Strategic Report on Animal Shelter Operations in Bulgaria" issued by the Bulgarian Animal Programs Foundation (BAPF) and sent to Prime Minister Bojko Borisov, revealed a bleak business with stray dogs in Sofia.

If there ever was a real and honest intention to curb the stray animals population in Sofia (or anywhere else in Bulgaria for that matter), how comes that the Sofia municipality has never even done one step towards imposing measures to prevent the further growth of the pet population? Why does the Sofia municipality solely focus on treating the effect - by supposedly neutering and releasing the unwanted animals - instead of treating the cause of the problem by introducing compulsory sterilization of pet animals and by outlawing breeding and puppy mills?

The answer is simple: no more dogs, no more related business! 

By intentionally not taking the necessary measures to reduce the stray animals population, the Bulgarian government supports the prosperity of a dirty industry in which many people profit from :

  • the collecting of dogs
  • the construction of unnecessary shelters (including research and design) 
  • the housing of animals, including supposedly feeding and caring of the animals
  • the incarceration of the deceased animals

When Bulgaria ratified the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals on July 20, 2004, it seemed as if Bulgaria had serious intentions to take the necessary measures to ensure that pet animals - with and without owner - would be given some kind of protection, and that the stray animals issue would be tackled seriously. 

The next eight years, however, have been wasted from the point of view of animal welfarists, given that the stray animals population has not declined and that animal abuse in Bulgaria is still more than a phenomenon - it is a daily fact of life.  

The construction of the new so called 'shelter' also gives reason to serious concerns. It is expected that the new shelter will just be another Seslavtci-shelter, a horrible place with no light, no food, no care, no love. A place where the animals will be left to starve to death, or left to die as a result of diseases and injuries that are not being treated.

Bulgaria's shelters are nothing less than dog-concentration-camps where the animals rarely walk out again, once they have entered one of these hell holes. Especially the puppies stand no chance at all to survive. 

The following two videos will give you an idea about what life looks like in Seslavtci-shelter run by  "Ecoravnovesie",  the company hired by the Sofia municipality.


An emailed letter to the Members of the European Parliament 
sent 28 May 2012 by Emil Kuzmanov 


Anime Programs urges international organizations to oppose the implementation of Decree 41 * 


Dear Sir / Madam, 

I would like to draw your attention to the following matter of urgent importance for Bulgaria's European integration. 

Bulgaria, the most corrupt Member State of the European Union, is remarkable for the consistently your problem with humanity. This is a particularly high mortality among companion animals, which is the usual consequence of excessive breeding among the population of approximately 2,000,000 dogs and cats. Local and national government and the usual contingent of aides NGOs consistently demonstrate the blending of inability and unwillingness to define any task to understand and offer adequate strategy for dealing with overpopulation of pets. All previously announced initiatives do not actually affect the steady trend towards mass trapping of dogs, followed by possible mass animal abuse. Despite the release of thousands of individuals to survive outside for some period in the care of people, most of stray dogs are ultimately subject to routine capture and disposal services from animal control without protocol and report on those affected, more , lost dogs are also affected. Statements of officials to justify hunting dogs in each municipality are "conducting a program for neutering and return in accordance with the law." 

Recently, the Bulgarian authorities and the nearby non-governmental organizations have agreed to unacceptably low standards for opening shelters for animals defined in Ordinance № 41/2008 of the Council of Ministers, which deals with the requirements for special facilities for holding pets. This was done only for two days - 24-25 April 2012 - as a representative of a limited working group gathered by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov. Changed requirements were hastily promulgated on April 27, 2012. 

On 25 January 2011, Article 47, paragraph 4 of the Law on the protection of animals allows opening "temporary shelters animals outside the settlements." New members is 128, 128 g, 128 h, and 128 and Decree 41 Handle new concept - "temporary accommodation" - this may refer to the concept in the law or not. Temporary accommodation must meet very few requirements, including be enclosed by a fence, to have "a place for preparing food", "Medical Case", "shelter to protect animals from adverse weather conditions," and "container bodies ". Unlike the other two types of treated animal shelters, namely those with massive buildings and individual houses for dogs (called "open"), to the places of temporary accommodation will not explicitly stated requirement for public access, return of animals to farmers adoption, eating, cleaning, medical care, adequate separation of perhaps hundreds of animals in the number and / or types, even the existence of a standard floor. 

Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova emerged as a key proponent of the upcoming model of large-scale open animal shelters. She made a quick next step May 10, 2012, when the approval of the municipal council for its program for the control of dogs in 2012-2016 most important features of the program are to: increase the number of teams catching dogs to "no less than 10 ", construction of new shelters for dogs and the granting of land 'organizations to protect livestock sharing the objectives of the municipality" to build their own shelters. During his term partially passing control between 2009 and 2011, Fandakova just did anything to curb the dynamics of the local population of dogs. In recent months it has repeatedly reiterated its intention to "reduce the population of stray dogs primarily by opening additional shelters for animals and registration of domestic dogs". Currently, Sofia has four official working dogs (dogs total capacity of 1,000) and six teams of hunters dogs. 

Document entitled "Strategic Report of the animal shelters in Bulgaria", published by the Foundation Programs anime and sent to Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, established in Sofia dirty business - at least 43.000 unwanted, abandoned and lost dogs have actually caught the municipal enterprise "Ecoravnovesie" from September 2006 to December 2010, while the captured animals reported by officials were twice less. 

It is unclear what happens to capture dogs. Inexplicably high number of stray animals have been reported by officials or municipal contractors as neutered and placed outside. Media statements show a total of 19.000 dogs released in Sofia (1.3 million zhit.) From September 2006 to December 2011, 14,020 in Varna (330 thousand zhit.) (2000-2010) 5200 in Dobrich (95 thousand . zhit.) (2002-2010); 4000 in Shumen (99 thousand zhit.) (2003-2010). But the number of animals requested is not available.By law, all released animals must be marked and traceable through an entry in the municipal registry.In fact, the last stray dogs in Sofia, wearing collar with an identification number, were seen around 2008 (Isolated cases: http://www.indymediascotland.org/node/3971; So there is no logic or evidence confirming mass release of animals back out as state officials. Logic and evidence dictate that most of the best friends of man rather are routinely transferred to private contractors than castrated and put out to die a few months. 

Anime Programs report indicates the possibility to dispose of unreported cash stray animals as a decisive factor for failure to overpopulation of dogs in Bulgaria. On this basis, the government offered a special legislation requiring reporting of animal shelters. This was supported by the best examples of mandatory reporting of shelters in Northern Ireland, Michigan and Virginia (although also included dozens of examples of voluntary reporting). But the response from the Prime Minister's team did not come. 

Behind the recent agreement to unconditionally increase the capacity of shelters for dogs can be seen next monstrous idea in favor of continuing commercial trend. The accumulation of stray animals ("farm dog") is likely to be moved from public areas to remote property facilities. In fact, plans for development of Industry unaccountable accommodate a new stage, and improving the welfare of the pet population Edo are not the same. Moreover, NGOs are accommodating more control agencies feral animals (often financed by municipalities and / or using municipal property) than any independent movement to protect animals. Thus, institutionalized animal abuse, and the need to prioritize the issue of population dynamics pet neglected by widespread public opinion. 

Therefore I urge representatives of international organizations to oppose policies that worsen problematic area promoted by the Bulgarian government. European official persons must personally ask Prime Minister Boyko Borisov what has happened to tens of thousands of dogs collected each year by the Bulgarian organizations to control animals. Should be sought explanation from the Prime Minister for the total number of animals collected, neglected basic obligations under the European Convention for the Protection of pets, and the discrepancy with the welfare status of the animals izdiskvan the Lisbon Treaty. 

PM Borisov should be persuaded to suspend ugly Ordinance 41. And last but not least, the European institutions should call him to commit to a committee of various stakeholders, including international expertise (eg OIE, ICAM Coalition), to be commissioned Management Act and dogs cats based on best international experience. This new legislation should provide the following: 

- Introduction of a standard procedure for reporting on acceptance of shelters and distribution of animals; 

- Setting up of control animals ("Inspectors dogs"), whose obligations to impose responsibilities in raising a dog, especially in the case of yard / gate dogs are left to roam freely and give birth; 

- Introduction of a readily available, inexpensive service for neutering cats and dogs owned, funded by the government / municipalities in accordance with Article 12 of the European Convention for the Protection of pets; 

- Take appropriate measures to reduce deliberate / commercial breeding of pets in accordance with Article 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of pets. 

Emil D. Kuzmanov 
CEO 
Anime Foundation Programs 


* Letter sent out from 28 May 2012 to multiple recipients, including representatives of the Council of Europe, European Commission and European Parliament. 



22 drowned and even beheaded dogs found near the river Iskar 



The sad sad story of beautiful, little Nelly

The following post, published on the Facebook-page Adopt a Dog from Bulgaria- Seslavtsi Shelter explains what happened to little Nelly:


Hello friends! 

We have a horibble news! Today we did as much as possible to take away from Seslavtzi one dog with large wounds in the stomach area. It's name is Nelly. 

The dog is socialized, the government company Ekoravnovesie took the dog because of an order of the Mayor of the city - Iordanka Fankukova and the order says the space around subway stops in the city must be clear of homeless dogs. Nelly was taken away of the area near National Palace of Culture on 30th August 2012. 

We already know that Seslavtzi is full with dogs, the number of dogs reach nearly 400 when the shelter capacity is only 200 dogs and Ekoravnovesie still take dogs from the streets of different neighborhoods in Sofia and put them in the public shelter. This is the reason Nelly was put in a box with around 10 other dogs. It looks like the higher number of dogs in each box made them nervous and stressed, so they attacked Nelly in the area of her stomach and the result are her wounds. 

Volunteers from the non profit organization Dara saw the bitten area on 06.08.2012 and they spent hours to beg Doctor Petkov to let them take Nelly away of the shelter and visit a private clinic with her. The good doctor responsible for the health of all animals in Seslavtzi, doctor Petkov, rejected and said he will take care of the dog, but not in front of the eyes of volunteers. His words were: "I will take care of it when you leave". Because of the national holidays we have in Bulgaria right now, we know that the administration of the shelter doesn't work. During our holidays the two people in the shelter are Doctor Petkov and one of the guards in Seslavtzi.

We had to call Dr. Neikov who is in charge of the shelter to let us help Nelly. After few phone calls we had his co-operation and we took Nelly to the vet clinic Amivet. At the first moment Professor Aminkov was shocked seeing the condition of Nelly! Heavy and horibble! The wounds were deep and in very bad condition, so bad that the anesthesia didn't help the vets to start treating the bitten place. The smell was awful because of the decaying flesh. 

We had to decide what to do - medical treatment or euthanasia? Nelly has 40% chance to survive. The wounds are 4th last stage. We couldn't make another decision than giving Nelly a chance to live. At this moment Nelly is connected to systems, she is on pain killers and vets are giving her antibiotics. She is feeling very bad, so bad that even the anesthesia couldn't help really much. We are waiting news for her condition tomorrow. Until then we only may hope and pray her condition to get better in the next 24 hours.. 
But little Nelly is just one of many many victims of Bulgaria's cruel shelter system...

Thousands upon thousands of dogs die of starvation, diseases and injuries left without medical treatment. Many die of thirst during the hot summers, and many freeze to death during the winters. 

Thousands upon thousands enter the shelters and disappear mysteriously...


Stories from Seslavtci...


This boy had contact dermatitis. The doctor from the shelter said they don't have the medicine to treet him, 
so the volunteers took him and healed him. 


This poor baby was not so fortunate. The picture was taken when he was already at te vet clinic. This poor boy was in horrible condition and after endless discussions,  the volunteers managed to bring him out of Seslavtci . He stayed a few days at the clinic, but unfortunately it was too late to safe him. He died. Like so many others at Seslavtci.

Sterilized in  Seslavtci...

Diarrhea with blood.. something common there in Seslavtci. Many dogs died and still die from horrible diseases. Some can be rescued by the volunteers. Those are the few lucky ones, most of them die there, in the Seslavtci-hell.

This baby had scabies. The volunteers were NOT alowed to cure him! The municipal company "Ecoravnovesie" aid that the dog was involved in the incident where a man had been mauled by a pack of dogs. 
Тhat's why the poor creature won't be healed!

But the dogs they had catched were not from the incident - they weren't even from the same district! This poor baby and three more from the same cage were euthanized later...
 "They have been such a good doggies" says one of the volunteers.


This is how the volunteers found one of cells at  Seslavtci. With blood on the wall and a dog's tooth on the floor...

This mom was brought in by the dog catchers for a castration while she was obviously nursing! She was in a cage with two other female dogs, who had just given birth. 

Here's how the volunteers explain the story: "We wanted to know why they were taken for castration, being in such condition. We were told that they were voluntary given by their owner - a gypsy from a camp. We were also told that there were no babies and that the dogs were taken for castration in order not to give birth anymore. On Saturday the dogs’ condition was disastrous – they were stressed out and in pain due to their swollen breasts, full of milk. A lot of people were touched by the pictures that we showed. That’s why we went to Seslavci again and accompanied their car to the gypsy camp to leave the dogs back. The dogs were in vomit all over and when they were let from the ropes they ran away. It turned out that they had babies there, waiting for them. The puppies were very happy to see their mothers. Unfortunately, due to their condition the mothers had no more milk to feed them. 

We asked the owner to catch Jina when she comes back and to call us. So, this afternoon we went back to the camp and picked up Jina and her puppies. She is still stressed out and trembling. Ivan – the gypsy, who took care of the dogs, told us that the other two dogs are still missing and he was very upset from seeing them in such bad condition, being scary, even for him. 

We took Jina to Amivet clinic to be examined. If her condition improves we will take her and her puppies to a dog’s hotel until we arrange their travel to a new home in Germany." 

Sometimes they return the dogs immediately after castration on the street -  while they are still under anesthesia. 

A dog who died at Sevslatci was left on the floor, next to the entrance doors, for several days. The smell of the decaying body was unbearable.



The Petition

This petition is a joint action of Occupy for Animals, Ärzte für Tiere, ETN Europäischer Tier- und Naturschutz, and Million Actions for Animal Rights. 

The petition has been started on September 11, 2012 and Occupy for Animals has submitted this petition to the European Parliament for official registration at the same date. 

By signing this petition using the widget below, or directly at change.org, the following message will be sent instantly to the addressees listed below.

Bulgaria: start sterilization campaigns in Sofia and all Bulgarian municipalities immediately!

TO: 

The President of the European Council
EU-Commissioner, John Dalli
Chair of the Committee of Petitions at the European Parliament, Mrs Erminia Mazzoni
Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Boyko Metodiev Borisov
Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water, Nona Ivanova Karadjova
General Director of the Bulgarian National Veterinary Service, Yordan Voynov
Director of the Bulgarian Veterinary Inspection, Damyan Iliev
Bulgarian Minister of Agriculture and Food, Miroslav Naydenov
Mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova,  


Ladies and Gentlemen,

Bulgarian citizens and local NGOs inform us again and again about serious welfare problems of stray animals in Bulgaria, in particular in the city Sofia, and in the so called 'shelters' run by the Sofia municipality. 

Among the reported abuses in the city of Sofia are poisoning of stray animals and deliberate killings of animals, left without prosecution by the authorities. We also receive reports, backed by picture evidence, of animals left to starve or to die as a result of inflicted injuries during catching, or as a result of diseases left without treatment in the so called shelters, especially in the Seslavtci dog pound. All of these being clear violations of Article 13 of the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals as well as of WD 0026/2011.

In addition to the abundant animal cruelty in Bulgaria, and in particular in the city of Sofia and their so called shelters, it should also be noted that the Sofia municipality seems not interested in resolving the stray animals issue once and for all. Although pointed out and suggested again and again by local NGOs and even by the European Parliament's Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals, the Sofia municipality has not even taken one step towards imposing measures to prevent the further growth of the pet population by educating their citizens about the importance of spay and neuter, by providing low-cost or free sterilization of pet animals and by outlawing breeding and puppy mills. Instead, taxpayer's money is being wasted for the construction of unnecessary shelters where the animals are left to vegetate. 

On 14th May, the European Parliament’s Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Mr Boyko Metodiev Borisov, to express concerns about the planned amendments to the Bulgarian Animal Welfare Law, which could legitimize a massacre of strays, and reminded Bulgaria about the importance of, and the excellent results that can be achieve with "Catch, Neuter & Return' programs. "Building temporary shelters will not solve the problem without a primary reduction of the number of stray dogs through mass neutering. The overall strategy on the management of stray dog over-populations is highlighted in Chapter VII of the Bulgarian Animal Protection Law. It is proven to be effective and we would strongly recommend its enforcement", stated the Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals 

Since Bulgaria has ratified the European Council's Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals, the Sofia municipality (like all other municipalities in Bulgaria) has a binding obligation to take measures in this field, and Bulgaria being a member state whose MEPs have signed Declaration 0026/2011 in promoting humane treatment of animals including their population control, is therefore legally bound also by these statutes. 

But - as a matter of fact - Bulgaria is the most corrupt country in the European Union and it should be no surprise that a document entitled "A Strategic Report on Animal Shelter Operations in Bulgaria" issued by the Bulgarian Animal Programs Foundation (BAPF) and sent to Prime Minister Bojko Borisov, revealed a bleak business with stray dogs in Sofia, which might explain their unwillingness to take appropriate, effective measures.

By intentionally not taking the necessary measures to reduce the stray animals population, the Sofia municipality (and the Bulgarian government) supports the prosperity of a dirty industry in which many people profit from:

  • the collecting of dogs
  • the construction of unnecessary shelters (including research and design) 
  • the housing of animals, including supposedly feeding and caring of the animals
  • the incarceration of the deceased animals

That said, we would like to know if the European Union gives money for animal welfare to Bulgaria and the exact amount; if that proves to be the case then an independent commission should be assigned to do a complete investigation as to the appropriation of these monies.

What could perhaps be happening is that money slated for animal welfare could very well be used for purposes other than it was intended, maybe even for the personal gains of those people who fail to take the right decisions regarding stray animal population control. Misappropriation of money and falsification of documents to coverup such misappropriation is nothing new and has been uncovered in other countries of the Eastern Block. 

However, Bulgaria being a member state of the European Union since 2007, and a signatory of the European Council's Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals since 2004, Bulgaria MUST respect the signed treaties and conventions, and we are calling on the EU and the European Council to send a strong message to Bulgaria reminding them about their obligations in terms of animal welfare and stray animal population control, and to start a Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return program immediately in Sofia and all other Bulgarian municipalities.

Sincerely, 

[ Your name ]