A call on the Romanian Government to freeze 'stray-killing' law
Today, we regretfully heard news that the Romanian
Constitutional Court is upholding the “stray-killing” law, consigning
thousands of stray dogs to death after 14 days of detention in public
dog pounds.
We wrote to all members of
the Constitutional Court urging to rule against the law. However, the
plea went unnoticed and the court decided to uphold it after less than
four hours of discussion. President Traian Băsescu is expected to sign
the new law immediately, meaning stray dogs will be legally killed in a
matter of days.
Beryl Mutonono-Watkiss, Campaign Director at WSPA says:
“The
Constitutional Court ruling for dogs to be culled in Romania is both
inhumane and ineffective. The World Society for the Protection of
Animals (WSPA) has urged the Court to consider a more effective,
sustainable and humane solution to manage the stray dog population. It
is imperative that the government adopts a rational approach to address
this problem.
WSPA calls for the new law to be
frozen and for the Romanian government to work more closely with animal
welfare organisations, such as WSPA, to implement humane and sustainable
solutions, for the benefit of both people and dogs”.
The
euthanasia law comes four weeks after a four-year-old boy’s alleged
mauling in Bucharest prompted the government to rush through the
legislation allowing the killing of strays. Doubts have since been cast
over the exact details concerning the boy’s tragic death.
Our
extensive experience of working on dog management programmes around the
world shows clearly that this legislation is neither practical, humane
or effective and will not provide a long-term solution to Romania’s
long-standing issues with stray dogs.
More updates coming soon as we prepare to mobilise our supporters into action.
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