love is an animal: OVER 90 ANIMAL WELFARE ASSOCIATIONS JOINED FORCES TO STOP THE KILLING OF SERBIAN DOGS

The protest letter signed by 56 animal welfare associations from the world:

"A notorious kill shelter in Serbia has yesterday admitted on the news that last year they euthansed 1280 dogs out of 1350 that they captured and they also released a document giving their estimates for this year. They will aim to catch 1500 dogs out of which 1300 will be euthanised.

This is illegal under the Serbian animal welfare law but the government is turning a blind eye because it suits them. If we do not act now, and they carry on this murder, other pounds will do the same and there will be no stopping them.

The dogs are NOT humanly euthanised.

We are in possession of another document stating that euthanising a dog costs 60 RSD which is less than 50 pence which should be enough to tell you that they’re not doing it humanely.

In the past washing up liquid has been injected into dogs which then suffered for hours and hours and died a slow agonising death. Even poison is cheaper than 60 RSD!

What they’re doing is illegal and they must be stopped. No one is allowed access to the pound so we can only imagine the horrors the dogs endure. One of the rescuers we know broke in a few years ago and witness horrifying scenes. Dogs eating each other was just some of those horrific things. Mothers eating their dead babies because there was no other food. No water. Things have not changed. If anything, things have got worse; this government-run institution is now OPENLY saying that they will kill 1300 out of 1500 dogs.

This is why we are acting now before it is too late and we have another Romania on our hands. Serbia wants to join the EU. We cannot allow this to happen when they’re not respecting their own laws.

Over 50 organisations from abroad and 40 Serbian organisations have joined forces to STOP this planned massacre. We have been busy sending letters to government officials, institutions and the media. We are awaiting their response before taking this disregard for the law further and dealing with the proposed massacre of innocent dogs.

Whilst we have been busy with this behind the scenes, another emergency was brought to our attention.

The city of Nis has unofficially started rounding dogs up to be euthanised after an alleged attack on an elderly woman by a pack of unruly dogs. You can see one of these 'aggressive' dog looking as they take away her babies not daring to come any closer. Yes, they took the puppies away.

The dog catchers have been watched by our Serbian colleagues and a total of 69 dogs is now at the city pound. The media is reporting that these dogs are on the streets because they’re being released from private shelters due to lack of funds for sterilisation and food. This is not true. All of our dogs are neutered and all of our dogs are fed which is more than can be said for those that they take in.

The 69 dogs are now in the pound which is not equipped to even have 20 dogs safely. We have been to this pound personally and seen the conditions. There is NO room to house 69 dogs. The dog catchers will be out getting more tomorrow.

Our Serbian friends will follow them, just like they did today and ensure that the dogs are handled as humanely as possible and that every animal is photographed and documented so that the pound cannot murder them. All dogs caught today that were witnessed by activists were friendly and appeared in good health. This means by law they cannot be killed.

All 69 will be saved as soon as they’re allowed out but this is not the answer. We must end this ridiculous rounding up and culling of strays and must focus on CATCH, NEUTER, RELEASE (CNR) schemes. CNR is the cheapest, most humane solution for the stray situation in Serbia, or any country.

Once more, we have joined forces with various organisation and contacted various officials pointing out that the world is watching. We know what they’re doing. We know they’re breaking the law. They will have to change their plan.

We are awaiting a response from a few government officials and expect an emergency meeting to be called with Serbian NGO’s to resolve the situation once and for all. We will be acting accordingly.

For now, please have a look at the list of organisations who are on our side about Pozega's decision. Contact any organisations who you might think would like to join in on our fight for justice. Get them to contact us if they’re interested in being added to the list.

Together we stay strong, divided we fall. Tomorrow we will need your help but for now, we're waiting patiently for Serbia to do the right thing!

Spread the word! Share! Share! Share!"

‪#‎serbiadotherightthing‬

UK
1. Serbia’s Forgotten Paws – Jovana Ivastanin
2. Happy Endings Rescue – Terry Kemp
3. Safe Rescue – Kelly Hare
4. Rescue Me Animal Sanctuary - Steph Taylor
5. Alternative Animal Sanctuary – Tamara Lloyd
6. Action Aid for Animals - Kendra Pinder
7. Yappy Ever After Dog rescue - Louise Radford
8. Lucky Paws Rescue - Vicky Day
9. K9 Brave Hearts - Amanda Leask
10. West Yorkshire Animals in Need – Tommy Townsend
11. Save Ancas Dogs - Ally Burgess
12. Balkan Underdogs - Cheryl Reynolds
13. SOS for Serbian Animals – Linda Payne
14. Romanian Rescue Appeal - Lyndsay Church
15. Solihull Animal Aid – Yvonne Troth
16. Hungary Hearts Dog Rescue- Hilda Barabas
17. Scruffy Dog Rescue - Jinni Hugill
54. Hudggy dogs
55. SOS Balkan Dogs rescue and Fundraiser
56. SOS Serbian Pointers Rescue and Fundraiser

USA
18. The Harmony Fund – Laura Simpson
19. Smith Dens Dog Rescue USA - Maja Smith

Austria
20. Tierschutz Sonne - iris Hafele
21. Tierschutz Lassie - Ruzica Tiefenbacher
22. Animal Spirit Austria - Tanja Ecker
23. Tierschutzverein Mödling und Umgebung - Traude Gschwendtner
24. THINO - Tierherzen in Not - Nadine Tomberger
25. N & N Helping Dogs - Nicole Rechberger
26. Weizer Pfotenbrücke - Andrea Huber
27. Tierhilfe Kroatien, Wien - Meri Charalampidis
28. SOS Fellnasen Tierhilfe - Sabine Brandmaier
29. Fellkinder in Not e.v. - Angelika Patzak
30. Animal Life Tierschutz ohne Grenzen - Dolores Ozimic
31. 2ndChance4Cats - Renate Andermann
32. Animal Care International - Renate Grell
33. Verein Quadrupedes - Nadja Berger
34. Animal Care Austria - Claudia Böhm

Belgium
35. Straydogs Belgium – Nancy Dequeker
36. Puppy Rescue Belgie – Daphne Jacob
37. Vzs PAWer – Lily De Kegel

Germany
38. Tierjammer – Petra Pahl-Gerber
39. Dogo Argentino in Not e.V. Sonja Haamann
40. Rainbow Rescue - Mike Rehbehn
41. Verein zur Förderung des Tierschutzvereins Felix-Krk e.V. - Michael Blume
42. Rommys Tatzenteam e. V - Romana Nielsen
43. Bunte Schnauzen Tierschutzverein e. V. Franziska Barwicki
44. Tierheimleben in NOt e.V. Sabine Thümming
45 Pro Animals Deutschland e.V – Bianca Raabe

Spain
46. The Pointer Rescue Service- Claire stokes

Greece
47. FOS Thassos - Suzanne Ince

Bulgaria
48. Sanctuary Bansko - Nicole Hinds
49. Santerpaws – Justine Garratt

Romania
50. Eli for Animals – Claudia Dumitru

Holland

52. Stichting MyrSis – Ricky de Blaey

53. Hoffnungshunde e.V. - Conny Belz

Translation of the protest letter signed by 40 animals welfare associations from Serbia and also by the foreign associations from above:

To whom it might concern,

We strongly condemn JKP “ Naš Dom” Pozega for their behavior in terms of treatment of abandoned animals. The Animal Welfare Act in Serbia clearly stipulates that abandoned animals cannot be killed except in exceptional circumstances, but must be housed and cared for in the shelters, yet we learned that JKP “ Naš Dom” is planning to kill 90% of the dogs that they catch in 2016.

On the news tonight (16.03.2016 ), on the TV station B92, JKP “ Naš Dom” admitted that in year 2015 out of 1350 captured dogs, 1280 were killed!

We are outraged and appalled by such disrespect of the current law by an institution JKP “ Naš Dom” which is governed by the state! This institution, clearly feels they’re above the law! We will be notifying all competent authorities in the EU and beyond and will be looking into taking measures to prevent future illegal slaughter of animals in Serbia.

We also must add that we are aware of current lynch on street dogs in Nis which is almost announced publicly as form of revenge for the attack carried out on an elderly woman by a pack of dogs. We are also aware of all the unlawful poisonings and killings of animals which are happening in Serbia because the institutions governed by the state assigned to deal with the problem are not following the laws and therefore are failing to deal with the problem as well as not dealing with irresponsible owners who abandon their animals and are part of the problem.

So far we have pointed out how to humanely solve the problem of abandoned animals and for us it is devastating that Serbia does not actually apply these measures. Measures, which are prescribed by the Law.

We are disgusted with the way the law in Serbia is circumvented and we will be taking all measures in our power to stop the planned killing of 1300 animals by JKP “ Naš Dom” in 2016 .

1. Društvo Prijatelja Životinja "LJUBIMCI", Pančevo
2. Organizacija za prava i zaštitu životinja "ORPAK" - Kruševac
3. Društvo za zaštitu životinja i prirode "EKOLIBRIJUM", Pančevo
4. Društvo za zaštitu životinja "SPASKE", Kraljevo
5. Udruženje građana "KANIS", Sremska Mitrovica
6. Udruženje građana "ALFA", Beograd
7. Udruženje za brigu o životinjama grada Beograda „BETA“, Beograd
8. Udruženje za brigu o životinjama Banata „BETA“, Zrenjanin
9. Udruženje za brigu o životinjama Timočke krajine „BETA“, Zaječar
10. Udruženje za brigu o životinjama Timočke krajine „BETA“, Zaječar - ogranak Knjaževac
11. Udruženje za zaštitu životinja Novi Sad – „SPANS“
12. Udruženje za zaštitu životinja i razvoj građanske svesti "Feniks"
Beograd
13. DRUŠTVO ZA ZAŠTITU ŽIVOTINJA "LEVIJATAN" BAČKI PETROVAC
14. Udruženje ,,Pomoć životinjama-Help animals”
15. Udruženje za zaštitu prirode, prava životinja i prava ljudi * LUNJA* Loznica
16. Udruženje za zaštitu životinja Lina, Čoka,
17. Društvo za zaštitu životinja i prirode "Ekolibrijum", Pančevo,
18. Udruzenje za zastitu zivotinja i prirode Lesi Bac
19. Udruženje za zaštitu prava životinja ARC, Beograd
20. Udruzenje za zaštitu, odgoj i proučavanje životinja ZOO PLANET Niš
21. Društvo za zaštitu životinja -Prizorgo- Bačka Topola
22. Sloboda za životinje Beograd
23. Fondacija za zaštitu životinja u Srbiji - FAPS Niš
24. Udruženje za zaštitu životinja Šumadijskog regiona Crvena šapa
25. Udruzenje za zastitu zivotinja Opstanak, Obrenovac,
26. Udruženje za zaštitu prava životinja "BAK" opština Srbobran
27. Trag udruzenje za zastitu zivotinja ,Stara Pazova
28. Evropska inicijativa 17, Beograd
29. Udruženje Pro anima, Beograd
30. Udruženje za zaštitu životinja Pseća sreća, Niška banja
31. Udruženje za zaštitu životinja Niš,
32. Nada za životinje-Riska Beograd
33. Udruženje za zastitu životinja PRIJATELJ Ub
34. Društvo za zaštitu životinja Alex Subotica
35. Udruženje za zastitu i prava zivotinja "KLEMPA" Zemun
36. Solidarno za životinje i prirodu, Beograd
37. Udruženje za zaštitu životinja Prihvatilište Draževac
38. Udruženje za zaštitu životinja " Humano društvo Obrenovca"
39. Društvo za zastitu životinja "PROTEKTA" Vlasotince
40. Udruženje ljubitelja životinja "Magare" -Zrenjanin