IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED TO SAVE
** VERY URGENT – WE NEED E MAILS TO BE SENT IMMEDIATELY ** from International supporters everywhere !
In short, this is the current situation, and things are very desperate.
We need to get e mails flooding in to the Serbian authorities immediately.
UPDATE – 9/6/2013 -
Please look at the following post for current information on Serbian animal welfare legislation:
http://serbiananimalsvoice.com/2010/05/04/serbia-temerin-city-their-animal-shelter-death-after-3-days-and-a-national-public-attorney-who-says-all-is-ok/
This is also repeated at the end of this current post.
In short : THE SERBIAN STATE VETERINARY INSPECTION ISSUED A DECISION TO BAN THE WORK OF THE DOG SHELTER “ALEX” – please look at shelter Alex under our main header on this site – ‘Shelters’.
http://serbiananimalsvoice.com/serbian-shelters/
The story has been as follows.
In 2003, the first stray dog entered the premises of the “Alex” dog shelter at Titogradska 53 street in Subotica, Serbia.
From that day on the shelter took care of more than 1,000 dogs, because there was no other choice given that the policy of this state and this town was as it still is today, and that is to kill and only to kill.
This irresponsible were never punished. A regulation for a humane way of resolving the problem of abandoned animals was never issued, such as neutering and responsible ownership (chipping), the easier way has always been to steal from the citizens and to kill the animals.
In the last two years there have been major changes in the dog shelter (Azil Alex). The shelter was taken over by a group of citizens who were joined together by the same idea – to change the killing policy and to show and prove that there is another way.
Every day a group of volunteers – activists receive numerous calls from the citizens about wounded and abandoned animals, and they go out and find these animals and help them. This group of volunteers also works efficiently on education (on animal ownership, neutering, etc.), and has been helping the town in the last months since the town pound was closed down.
The shelter responded to the calls of the Communal Police, took in the injured dogs from the streets, cured them and sought homes for them … and two days ago the shelter now receives the government / authorities answer to this help for all these years:
THE STATE VETERINARY INSPECTION ISSUED A DECISION TO BAN THE WORK OF THE DOG SHELTER “ALEX”, IT PROHIBITS THE TAKING IN OF NEW ANIMALS AND THE EXISTING (SHELTER) HOME FOR DOGS MUST BE DISPERSED WITHIN 90 DAYS.
WE HAVE 8 DAYS FOR COMPLAINTS
8 days for complaints – so we need to ask people to act IMMEDIATELY and tell the authorities that they are completely wrong to attempt to close down this shelter.
People who run shelter Alex are aware of the fact that the dog shelter as a facility does not meet all of the items from the rules on dog shelters, but they also know that THERE IS NO SHELTER IN SERBIA WHICH DOES MEET ALL THE REQUIREMENTS.
Shelter Alex knows that it is one of the shelters that sadly, even in these scarce conditions, is one of the few in Serbia that has humane conditions and at the time it was founded it was the only humane one.
During the last two years, the shelter has found a home for a large number of animals, neutered many animals, found and returned lots of lost pets to their owners; returning animals and showing the right way to operate and willingness to work.
Update ** The authorities are saying that the reason for closure is they stated that the shelter doesn’t comply with new regulations . In fact none of the shelters (maybe 1 or 2 that were financed by state) in Serbia do and shelter Alex is one that is probably in the best state of all of those. **
This shelter is now being persecuted by the authorities of Serbia because they are doing the correct thing and the Serbian government / authorities have NEVER acted correctly regarding control of stray animals and shelters under their operation.
Shelter Alex is showing the government how to operate a shelter correctly, and the government does onto like it.
Shelter Alex therefore asks all the people and organizations everywhere in the world who/that can and are willing to support their work to be with them now, since it is a matter of literally life and death for the animals at the shelter.
THERE IS VERY LITTLE TIME TO ACT – JUST DAYS
- SO PLEASE ACT IMMEDIATELY.
Astra, Piti, Rea, Sergej, Bambi, Pepita, Zevezdana, Muki, Zoki, Marina, Marinko, Momo, Lulu, Hana, Dona, Dark, Sime, Mila, meadow 1, meadow 2, meadow 3, meadow 4 – Bagremar, Beogradska street, Emotivni, Vasington, Gerontoloski – these are the names of some of the 600 dogs and the names of the shelter parts, who all received their names from the heart…the shelter will never stop fighting for them!
Please help us!
Send e mails immediately to the authorities and Serbian media at the following addresses:
** UPDATE ** New Additions – these are probably the most important.
kabinetpremijera@gov.rs eu.integracije@gov.rs press@gov.rs www.mrrls.gov.rs kabinet@mpravde.gov.rs kabinet.min@merz.gov.rs kancelarija@kornrp.gov.rs
budimir.plavsic@minpolj.gov.rs zoran.ivanovic@minpolj.gov.rs
maja.andrijasevic@minpolj.gov.rs
s.celebicanin@minpolj.gov.rs zoran.marinkovic@minpolj.gov.rs ombudsman@subotica.rs office@ombudsmanapv.org zastitnik@zastitnik.rs info@mup.gov.rs zivotnasredinasu@gmail.com office@rtvcity.com gukomunalno@subotica.rs
Addresses published earlier:
vetinsp@eunet.rs,
CTRL + Click to follow link” href=”mailto:muprs@muprs.gov.rs”> muprs@muprs.gov.rs
office@seio.gov.rs,
CTRL + Click to follow link” href=”mailto:kabinetpremijera@gov.rs”>kabinetpremijera@gov.rs,
omr@srbija.gov.rs,
CTRL + Click to follow link” href=”mailto:info@mup.gov.rs”>info@mup.gov.rs, kabinet@mtt.gov.rs,
CTRL + Click to follow link” href=”mailto:press@mfa.rs”>press@mfa.rs, vetks@EUnet.rs;
CTRL + Click to follow link” href=”mailto:nacelnik@beograd.gov.rs”>nacelnik@beograd.gov.rs,
dragan.djilas@ds.org.rs,
CTRL + Click to follow link” href=”mailto:press@sns.org.rs”>press@sns.org.rs,
info@sps.org.rs, office@minpolj.gov.rs, stanislava.nol@minpolj.gov.rs;
CTRL + Click to follow link” href=”mailto:vetuprava@minpolj.gov.rs”>vetuprava@minpolj.gov.rs,
CTRL + Click to follow link” href=”mailto:zoran.ivanovic@minpolj.gov.rs”>zoran.ivanovic@minpolj.gov.rs,
CTRL + Click to follow link” href=”mailto:slobodan.sibalic@minpolj.gov.rs”>slobodan.sibalic@minpolj.gov.rs, s.celebicanin@minpolj.gov.rs,
CTRL + Click to follow link” href=”mailto:branka.stosic@minpolj.gov.rs”>branka.stosic@minpolj.gov.rs,
CTRL + Click to follow link” href=”mailto:vesna.topalovic@minpolj.gov.rs”>vesna.topalovic@minpolj.gov.rs, vetinsp@eunet.rs, ns.vet@eunet.rs,
CTRL + Click to follow link” href=”mailto:slavoljub.stanojevic@minpolj.gov.rs”>slavoljub.stanojevic@minpolj.gov.rs,
beogradski_program@rts.rs,
CTRL + Click to follow link” href=”mailto:tvprogram@studiob.rs”>tvprogram@studiob.rs,
redakcija@politika.rs,
CTRL + Click to follow link” href=”mailto:redakcija@blic.rs”>redakcija@blic.rs, EU – If you live within the EU, please contact your MEPs immediately and ask them to write to the Serbian authorities about this criminal act of attempting to close down shelter Alex.
You can find access to your MEPs via the following:
Finding any MEP in Europe – a ‘Euromap’:
Link: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/public/geoSearch.do?language=EN
Finding any MEP by the alphabetical name list can be done via the following link:
Link: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/alphaOrder.do?language=EN
To find MEPs by individual Member States and their associated political group (7th parliamentary term), use the following link:
Link: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry.do?language=EN
Also contact the Eurogroup and ask them to take action against the Serbian government for their open abuse of animals which IS AGAINST EXISTING SERBIAN LEGISLATION. http://eurogroupforanimals.org/
Contact them at info@eurogroupforanimals.org or at +32 (0)2 740 08 20
You can also use the form on the site via the above link:
A requirement of EU Accession (membership) is that a member state wishing to join the EU proves that it is implementing its own national legislation. With regard to animal welfare for animal shelters, the SERBIAN Government IS NOT DOING THIS.
As a result, Serbia should NOT be allowed to become an EU member state until it shows it is doing the right thing. Please remind your MEPs of this if you are a European.
Shelter Azil Alex is attempting to do everything right wuith its work – and the government is trying to shut it down for what ? – because it is a embarrassment to the government because it is so good and because it has the right approach to stray animal welfare and legislation in Serbia !!
The lives of over 600 dogs are depending on action from us all – PLEASE ACT IMMEDIATELY AND SAVE SHELTER AZIL ALEX.
Thank you – SAV.
Please crosspost to all your national and international contacts and MEPs.
TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY – SAVE SHELTER ALEX
The following text relates to the following link, but also gives an overview of current legeislation
Reference:
http://serbiananimalsvoice.com/2010/05/04/serbia-temerin-city-their-animal-shelter-death-after-3-days-and-a-national-public-attorney-who-says-all-is-ok/
Serbian LAW – Some very Important points to be considered:
After three days at the ‘shelter’, dogs are taken to Novi Sad city where they are killed by ‘euthanasia’, using Pravilnik 29/94 legislation.
Prior to the new Serbian Veterinary Law of 02/10/2005, there was an old law dating from 1991 for the health protection of animals. In agreement with the old law of 1991, the authorities produced their own other ‘underlaw’ (extra law) regulation – named ‘Pravilnik 29/94’, which was intorduced to allow the killing of animals after they were held in pounds for 3 to 7 days.
** From 02/10/2005, the new Veterinary Law Article 168 effectively destroyed everything that was written in Pravilnik 29/94, ** because the 2005 law demanded the care of animals.
Pravilnik 29/94 was overwritten by Article 168, the result being that all killing of animals was forbidden apart only from cases for Rabies infected areas, which were covered by application of Articles 64 and 65 of the Veterinary Law.
By continuing to undertake the killing of animals after 3 to 7 days in accordance with regulation Pravilnik 29/94, the authorities were then in a situation where they were working in opposition to the actual existing law.
But it is very much the case, even up to the present day, where authorities are still using Pravilnik 29/94 as a reason for the killing of animals. But in reality, Pravilnik 29/94 became nonexistent on 02/10/2005 with the introduction of the new Veterinary Law (Article 168).
Hence there should be no killing, but animal care instead.
Pravilnik 29/94 is only an ‘underlaw’ (extra law) regulation, has very less power than the actual law, and most importantly, must be in agreement with the existing law. Pravilnik 29/94 was valid originally (1991 on) to protect animal health but is now in opposition to the new and current animal law – the new Veterinary Law Article 168 of 02/10/2005.
Serbian campaigners have written to the Constitutional Court saying that it is unlawful for Shinters (Dogcatchers) and also veterinarians to kill stray dogs and cats only after they have been held for three (3) days, as this is now old and outdated legislation. Killing is forbidden under the new Veterinary law.
Campaigners have now heard from the court in writing, and they say that no analysis of the case is necessary for Pravilnik 29/94 as it has been replaced by the new Veterinary Law Article 168 (02/10/2005).
This is exactly what the campaigners had said, ie. that the old ‘underlaw’ (extra law) of Pravilnik 29/94 was still being used when it fact it has been overwritten by the new Veterinary Law Article 168 of 02/10/2005.
In addition, Article 46 of the new Veterinary Law (02/10/2005) states that the killing of stray cats and dogs is forbidden and that instead they should be provided with care.
The word from the Serbian Constitutional (law) Court is that from 2005, animals should be provided with care and not be killed.
It would appear that all of the public firms responsible for garbage collection in Serbian cities are still working to, and effectively using Pravilnik 29/94 rather than Article 46 (168) of the new Veterinary Law.
In effect, by still working to this now non existent law, these public firms who collect and kill strays are UNDERTAKING ILLEGAL WORK– they should be working in accordace with the new Veterinary Law Article 46 (168) of 02/10/2005 which demands care for the animals.
Unlike the Temerin ‘shelter’ dogs which are illegally killed after only 3 days, Cats which are taken to the ‘shelter’ do not even live three days – they are killed immediately.
A detailed explanation of the legislation is given in our past SAV Link:
http://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/serbia-constitutional-court-of-serbia-says-that-the-killing-of-stray-dogs-and-cats-in-serbia-is-forbidden-from-02102005/
Serbian campaigners have now taken this case to the court of human rights in Strasbourg – an EU court. The case – Garbage collectors in Serbian cities are still working using the (now) non existent Pravilnik 29/94 rather than Article 46 (168) of the new and current Veterinary Law of 02/10/2005 which demands care. In addition, campaigners have requested justification be presented for all the animal killings by the authorities from 02/10/2005 right up to the present day.
Serbian authorities and officials are responsible for ensuring the correct laws are implemented are:
- Mrs. Sanja Čelebićanin -Chief of Veterinary Inspection
- Mr. Zoran Mićović - Director of Veterinary Department
- Mr. Radivoje Kaurin - Chief of Hunting – Forests Inspection.
So the situation is that many Serbian authorities are not implementing the most recent and current legislation which would give protection to animals in shelters, but are instead using old and outdated, non existing legislation (Pravilnik 29/94) as justification for the continued killing of animals held in shelters.
Another very important factor here is that what has been happening since 02/10/2005 is that existing Serbian law (legislation) has not been implemented throughout the country in relation to animal welfare.
Probably the most important point:
And the proof of the implementation of the ‘Rule of Law’ is a paramount requirement for any nation wishing to become a future member of the EU !
And so what about the ‘Shelter’ for animals at Temerin ?
We declare that the alleged ‘shelter’ at Temerin is NOT shelter but a terrible, unlawful place being funded by Serbian taxpayers to the tune of many millions of Dinars.
Is this facility simply a place that takes in public money allegedly caring for animals, whilst at the same time killing them immediately (cats) or after just three days (dogs) using outdated legislation which was replaced in 2005 ? – we think so.
Animals such as these dogs and cats which are taken from the streets by shinter teams, are not marked or identified in any way. There is no way that the authorities can provide details of the animals taken by the shinters, be it 10 dogs or 100 dogs captured. In effect, with no accountability of their work, these public firms can ask for as much public money as they wish – and very often / always they are provided with it !!
Can this be called ‘organised crime’ ?
If a full sterilisation, vaccination, identification and care system was established for all stray animals taken by the shinters, then the facilities such as the Temerin ‘shelter’ would be very much more accountable (ie. Record keeping) of all animals which enter the facility.
As it is, by using old, outdated, self created (mass killing) legislation such as Pravilnik 29/94 rather than working to what should be current animal protection legislation, (ie. Article 46 (168) of the new and current Veterinary Law of 02/10/2005), the authorities and those involved with it appear to in a situation where they can request, and are provided with an endless supply of public money – public money for killing animals – WHICH IS ILLEGAL (since 2005).
Filed under: Animals Requiring Adoption or Homes - Worldwide, CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, GLOBAL PETITIONS - Anything Animal, Anywhere !, LETTERS, SERBIA (Central Serbia: Capital - Belgrade) and (Serbia, SHELTER - Information, The "Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) ALLIANCE | 13 Comments »
