Update 2130hrs GMT 27/5/15 –
We have no official answer of the events of today, but the unofficial information is that there will be public hearings during the next two weeks, commencing at the start of next week.
The only way that this can be won is to continually keep up the pressure on the Serbian government and authorities. As they (Serbia) are currently applying for EU membership; major pressure must come from within the EU onto the Commissions and the MEP’s who answer to the EU citizens across the EU.
Please contact your MEP’s using the following links and ask them to demand that the EU does NOT allow Serbia to become a new member state if it going to go back to animal legislation that was outlawed over 10 years ago. The EU must be looking at progressive animal welfare regulations; not back tracking to the past as the Serbian government require.
Keep Serbia out of the EU until they adopt no kill policies for the stray animals of Serbia. Demand sterilisation to reduce animal numbers – not killing.
The Serbian government and the EU Enlargement Commission must take note of the citizens of the EU and do as they wish – not simply what Commissioner Hahn and his cohorts require.
Keep Serbia out of the EU until it adopts modern animal welfare standards – sterlilise – not killing.
** Find and contact your MEP’s using the following links:
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Here below are just a few of the comments which have been sent to the outdated Serbian government regarding the issue below. There are more and we will include these later – SAV.
They enjoy their work because it is in their nature to be sadistically cruel ,they are thugs and bring shame to their country,Karma.
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Stop and prevent this horror – please!!!!
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Why… Why killing all these innocent animals !!!! What they do to you all !!! There are a lot of criminals, drug dealers, murderers and pedophiles on this bad world. Why not killing these criminals instead of innocents animals ??????
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Please stop the torturing of these poor helpless animals please.
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You will be so Black Listed for your heartlessness and cruelty that you will be relegated to the lowest of low murderers. Find your compassion for the innocent babies or the next time your country is ravaged you will be left to suffer the fate of heartless morons,.
Shame for the cruelty we can see you inflict on mans best friend. I say rot in hell to all of you. Shame..shame to you!!
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I don’t understand why this world cant just leave alone animals…if we started spaying and neutering years ago we wouldn’t have this problem…if everyone would just listen to all the animal groups and peta and organizations to neuter and spay ….animal populations would be and get better with time…but this time depends on our world complying with rules and to stop abuse…these animals do not deserve this torment or torture…you don’t allow this on humans if it does happen you put them in prison…these are our pets and they serve a purpose just as you and I do…please stop this inhumane treatment…
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Serbia you will never be considered with any respect if you cannot respect the lives of others. Get with the program.
This us the 21st Century. No place for animal cruelty
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Cruel disgraceful .. you and your govermant should be ashamed of yourself s .. why for why reason?
And why so cruel shame on you all disgusting cruel hidious stop stop.srop .. you are worse than any animal ..All they want is love all you want is money ..disgusting
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Dear All,
This is a late but very important and desperate plea for the animals in Serbia.
**** The current government plans – by tomorrow Wednesday 27th of May – to revert the present animal welfare law into a barbaric law that would go against virtually all animal welfare regulations that are standard in the EU. ****
Although Serbia is not yet a member of the EU we cannot allow this to happen.
PLS SIGN AND SHARE WIDELY AND IMMEDIATELY. Thank you. Lisa
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ENGLISH PETITION TEXT
Say NO to the CRUEL amendments to Serbia’s Animal Welfare Act
we’ve got 5,133 signatures, help us get to 6,000
Serbia currently has an Animal Welfare Act that is strongly worded, but rarely enforced. The government is trying to amend this act for monetary reasons, seeking financial gain in exchange for animal suffering. We are strongly opposed to these archaic and cruel amendments. They render the Animal Welfare Act worthless and put Serbia back into the dark ages in terms of compassion.
We are appealing to the government to consult with welfare organisations to find a viable and compassionate way forward that benefits Serbia, all its animals and, most importantly, its citizens.
The amendments to the act that have been proposed include (but are not limited to) the following;
1 – No shelter animal will have guaranteed safety. Over 80 000 dogs and cats are in danger of being euthanised because amendments are ambiguous and have left it open to interpretation.
2 – Repealing the fur farming prohibition that was due to come into force in 2019, thus assuring the horrific deaths and brutal torture of thousands of animals including rabbits, chinchillas, foxes and ferrets. The government hopes to compete with China in the cheap fur market.
3 – Removing the wording in welfare law that specifies slaughterhouses MUST stun farm animals before death allowing slaughterhouses to do as they see fit. More than likely slaugterhouses will choose to increase productivity rather than stun, guaranteeing farm animals a barbaric death of agonising pain and fear.
We love Serbia. We don’t want Serbia to look backwards compared to the rest of the European Union.
PLEASE support us in asking that the President reconsider these amendments and take a stance on animal welfare that is representative of its caring citizens.
#ProtectSerbianAnimals
#TheWorldIsWatching
WE DEMAND:
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That the Animal Welfare Act is not changed without firstly liaising with voluntary animal welfare organisations that currently operate in Serbia.
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That the amendments to the Animal Welfare Act are not done in such a way that they WEAKEN existing welfare laws and thus endanger animals.
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That measures are put in place to enforce existing laws. So far this has not been the case and those abusing animals have gone unpunished. Animal welfare laws must be upheld in any decent society.
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That authorities start co-operating with voluntary animal welfare organisations in decision-making as well as during the implementation of regulations.
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That licencing and controlled breeding of pets be ntroduced to prevent the irresponsible breeding which is contributing to the alarmingly high stray population of dogs and cats.
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That under no circumstances may the prohibition of fur farms be overturned. This barbaric practice must remain illegal from 2019.
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That the law must be written clearly and not ambiguously. It must clearly state and explain that killing of healthy abandoned animals is prohibited and that euthanasia is only allowed if animal is deemed to be suffering, in pain and has no chance of recovery.
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That the city-run shelters immediately stop unlawful killing of dogs and cats in their care, and that they improve conditions in which these animals are kept as well as care they provide because at present, they all fall below the legal requirement. The cruelty within these shelters is internationally embarassing to Serbia and may jeopardize the possibility of being integrated further into the EU where animal welfare standards are far higher and, crucually, are enforced.
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That the change does not allow for the possibility of creating genetically modified animals.
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That the suffering of animals destined to be consumed for food be considered worthy of minimising through clear instructions to stun prior to slaughter.
Thank you for caring!!
Protest letters to be sent to :
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Sirs,
We are submitting a complaint regarding the procedure for the passing
of amendments to the Animal Welfare Act conducted by the Ministry of
Agriculture and Environmental Protection, Veterinary Directorate.
In the previous period, due to the same problem, we addressed the
Government of the Republic of Serbia but without any success.
The reasons for our appeal and filing the complaint are as follows:
1. Because we have the evidence that the Ministry of Agriculture
intends to proceed with the violation of the Aarhus Convention and the
Law on ratification of that Convention, because it formed a working
group which made draft amendments to the Animal Welfare Law without the participation of the concerned public, and only after we learned what they are doing, they have subsequently included part of the interested public. Behind the scene, they have a plan and that is to
either directly or through amendments arranged with certain members of the National Assembly of RS – whether with the deputies of the ruling coalition, or with some MPs of the opposition – who will, if
necessary, present the amendments in the form they agreed with the
Veterinary Directorate and Forest Administration, before the National
Assembly (people who work in both administrations of the Ministry of
Agriculture and Environmental Protection belong to the ruling
coalition as well), and then with the majority of votes, the ruling
coalition in the National Assembly will vote the amendments with no
problems. This way, the draft will certainly have the content and form
proposed by the Ministry, regardless of the suggestions of the
concerned public; and no matter if the proposals of interested public
(OCDs) are better or not, the suggestions of the concerned public will
definitely be disregarded, since this Ministry already decided to work
this way, and will only present a false image that everything is done
according to the Aarhus Convention.
2. Because so far the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental
Protection of the Republic of Serbia has not enforced the following
Laws: Veterinary Act, the Animal Welfare Act, the Nature Protection
Act, the Law on Wildlife and Hunting, but instead has tolerated
dereliction or completely formal action or even inaction of the
Inspection Service of the Veterinary Directorate and Forest
Administration, which to date have not acted according to these laws,
but rather protected the following stakeholders: veterinarians and
hunters with whom the police cooperates. In many cases the president
of the Hunting Association is at the same time the Chief of police in
that area, and almost all police officers or majority, are hunters as
well, so the police protects the interests of hunters in every way,
even when they commit crimes. Inspections of the Forest Administration and Veterinary Directorate cooperate with hunters in everything, just like they cooperate with local governments in violation of the law, all under the excuse that towns are poor, that they have to,
primarily, solve the issues concerning the welfare of people, that the
welfare of animals is not a priority to them and that the republic
inspections do not have jurisdiction over the cities. In contrary, our
law precisely states that the Ministry of Agriculture and
Environmental Protection, through the Republic Inspections, must
supervise the applying of the aforementioned laws and all by-laws
stemming from them.
3. This way, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental
Protection leads Serbia into a situation in which this country
violates the Copenhagen and Lisbon criteria, because it does not apply
its own laws and because the procedure for development and adoption of new laws and amendments to existing laws are being implemented in the interests of the ruling party, at the expense of general and public
interest. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental
Protection with all above mentioned actions violates the Serbian
Constitution and thereby human rights of Serbian citizens under the
guise of false democracy, and cherishes anarchy and corruption in the
area of life which is in the competence of the Ministry of Agriculture
and Environmental Protection. We strongly oppose all of this and our
opposition is in general and public interest of Serbia.
4. We oppose the harmful draft amendments to the Animal Welfare
Act itself. The draft was secretly made by a working group of the
Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, without the
participation of OCDs, and the heads of Veterinary Directorate and
Forests Administration of the Ministry of Agriculture and
Environmental Protection plan to counteract our subsequent involvement by the above-mentioned amendments, according to their initial plan, which brings back to our lives the regulation from 1991, which even then proved to be more backward and has led to the realization of a large number of failed investments and impoverishment of Serbia, all in the interest of the local rich people in Serbia, whose wealth is mostly created, not as a result of quality and quantity of their work, but as a result of bribery of government, and it exists in all levels of the horizontally and vertically networked corruption in the Serbian government, both in the area that is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, as well as in the areas of police, inspection and public prosecutor’s offices.
YOUR NAME AND NATIONALITY
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Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 