The Basic Court in Gjilan has sentenced the former member of the QTK shelter staff (contractor of the municipality of Pristina for the CNVR project in Pristina) 👩‍⚖️, due to the anesthetic killing of a dog with keeper that was mistaken for a stray dog 🐕, during the action to capture stray dogs for castration / sterilization.

The penalty is very symbolic (120 EUR) and in case of not being able to pay this amount, 6 days of imprisonment could be enforced 🚫. We are not satisfied with how the Prosecutor’s Office and the Court have not considered Article 343 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo, which foresees punishments for providing veterinary aid in an irresponsible manner. Despite this, the Court has confirmed the actions of the accused/convict in this case.

This case proves once again that the staff of many veterinary entities contracted in public CNVR projects lack basic training for CNVR procedures (catch, sterilize, vaccinate, release).

Administrative Instruction (MBPZHR) 02/2023 for Shelters, foresees that every shelter or center for CNVR must have trained staff and certify these trainings at the KFVA (Kosovo Food and Veterinary Agency). We are waiting for KFVA to tell us whether all the legal requirements for licensing the licensed center have been met.

The lack of training and knowledge of essential processes of CNVR, such as catching dogs, leads to trauma and distress for stray dogs, and as is being observed in this case, to the death of dogs, due to the wrong administration of anesthetics.

Unfortunately, apart from not so many castration/sterilization trainings, trainings for other processes of CNVR, such as catching dogs, have never been held in Kosovo. Despite few training for castration/sterilization, and despite numerous public projects, there are still veterinary subjects and veterinarians who do not know how to perform a sterilization properly, as is the case with the other contracted veterinary operator “Goni” and his work in the Municipality of Pristina.

We expect that the KFVA and the Veterinary Chamber of Kosovo will actively engage in raising veterinary capacities, especially in the procedures of treating small animals such as dogs, since for many veterinarians, this remains a rather unknown field.

Our organization is ready to support KFVA and The Veterinary Chamber in organizing these trainings and has already offered this cooperation.