The Ministry of Local Government Administration has decided to appoint a Working Group to analyze the policies regarding stray dogs, composed of members of the MLGA, representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development (MAFRD), Food and Veterinary Agency (FVA), Municipality of Prishtina, Representatives from the Association of Kosovo Municipalities (AKM) and representatives from our organization.

After many requests from our organization, to establish an inter-institutional group where all actors involved would create a strategic approach to resolving the issue of the stray dog ​​population in Kosovo, and most importantly, how to prevent the problem from its roots, now the MLGA has decided to form such a group, which will discuss all necessary measures to prevent the increase in the number of stray dogs in the country and the implementation of measures for stray dogs currently on the street.

Our organization has submitted a proposal of a national strategy for humane, effective and sustainable management of the stray dog ​​population. The same measures that we have proposed in the strategy in question, will be proposed during the Working Group meetings, because we believe that with the implementation of several measures in parallel, the serious situation of many dogs on the street, could be improved within the next 5-7 years. At first it seems long, but given that this has been ignored for 20 years now, such institutional processes should be welcomed and demanded as much as possible, that the life and welfare of stray animals be improved and that the number of dogs on the street is reduced humanely and sustainably.

According to the decision in question, the MLGA has determined that the drafting and finalization of the draft analysis of the necessary measures for the management and control of (stray) dogs in Kosovo, should be done no later than 31.03.2022.

It is also worth noting that the organization Animal Rights Foundation is also part of the Steering Committee of the EU project “Support to establishing disease surveillance and control programs and alignment with Chapter 12 of the acquis” that will be implemented by contractors of the EU office in Kosovo, in cooperation with the FVA. The project in question also provides for legal changes and support for the registration of dogs with keepers (owners). Our organization will engage to make its contribution to start as soon as possible with the registration of dogs with keepers and to amend bylaws which are very important to implement strict measures for the responsible keeping of companion animals and to prevent unrestrained purchases and certain abandonments.

We expect that the institutions in question will organize these inter-institutional meetings as soon as possible and will take concrete measures for long-term solutions to this problem, because for a long time, the topic of animal welfare in Kosovo has been constantly ignored and the promises remained only on paper.

We will let you know what will be done in the next steps.