Pristina Spurns Petition to Pardon Stray Dogs

This year, like last year, the municipality of Pristina has already eliminated more than 190 stray dogs.

The director of public services, Agim Gashi, says the city hall will not stop getting rid of the hounds, in spite of having received a protest petition from a group called Animal Friends of Kosovo.

"If we asked citizens about this issue, 90 per cent would be in favour of elimination," Gashi assured Balkan Insight.

The NGO urged the municipality to stop killing stray dogs, calling for another solution to be found to the problem caused by starving and unhealthy dogs. "Shooting them does not solve the problem,” the petition read.

The animal rights activists say the elimination programme is ineffective as well as cruel, because "the vacuum is soon filled by dogs from other areas and remaining dogs are encouraged to have more puppies as resources are freed up".

They urge an alternative programme involving the capture of the dogs, the vaccination and neutering of the animals and then their release to another habitat. 

But Gashi said that if they did things this way, too many stray dogs would continue to pose danger to the public.

“Who can make sure that these dogs will stop biting people?" he asked. One eight-year-old boy had died after being attacked by a group of stray dogs in Kamenica, he recalled. 

Gashi said projects for the more humane treatment of strays were being considered, but he could not provide further details. In the meantime, the municipality will not stop getting rid of stray dogs. 

In 2007, French film star turned animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot wrote a letter to the then mayor of Pristina, Ismet Beqiri, asking him to stop the planned action.