In the show “Express” on KTV, was invited Mr. Lamir Thaci, information officer at KFVA (Kosovo Food and Veterinary Agency), to talk about the topic of stray dogs.
First of all, we thank KFVA for its commitment to humane solutions to the problem of stray dogs, and as a result, KVFA policies have been oriented towards humane solutions to this phenomenon in our country, thanks to animal lovers in 2017, who have proposed CNVR method (capture, sterilization, vaccination and release) instead of mass euthanasia, as originally foreseen by KFVA.
We, as an organization, are involved since our establishment in 2018 in monitoring state projects for the management of the stray dog population through the CNVR method (capture, neuter, vaccinate, release).
Below are some KFVA statements that need to be completed:
1. “Engagement of professional veterinarians in the state project of 2018”
These claims do not stand. In 2018, but also in 2020, were contracted a large number of veterinarians who had little or no experience in treating small animals. As a result, we have had many cases of dogs being mistreated (badly operated), as well as cases of dogs reported to be neutered, who after returning to the streets gave birth to puppies. We as an organization, both in 2018 and in 2020 have called for professional and experienced veterinarians to be contracted in projects of this type in the treatment of dogs.
The selection of veterinarians for CNVR projects needs to be improved.
In 2018, 15 veterinary entities were contracted throughout Kosovo where 3 of the entities had professional veterinarians for small animals, one was moderately good and 11 were abusive, fraudulent and not at all professional veterinarians.
In 2020, 29 veterinary entities have been contracted for the whole of Kosovo, where 12 of them do professional work, 7 entities do moderately good work, while 10 veterinary entities have performed abusive, fraudulent and non-transparent work. At the end of the year, there will be factual reports on the work of these entities during the state project.
2. “2018 reports have been submitted to organizations”
This is true, but it was not done voluntarily. Although we as an organization have sent a formal request to the KFVA for access to public contract documents for the management of the stray dog population in 2018, this request was not accepted by the KFVA, and as a result, the organization addressed the Ombudsperson in which case the Ombudsperson has accepted the complaint of the Foundation. Only after the decision of the Ombudsperson, KFVA has submitted the reports of this project.
While in 2020, so far, we have sent directly to Mr. Lamir Thaci, 4 official requests for access to the reports of veterinarians who have already completed the work, but so far we have not received any response from Mr. Thaci.
3. ORGANIZATIONS involved in monitoring KSVL projects managed by KFVA
Several times during the conversation, both interlocutors mentioned several times that organizations (in plural) were authorized to monitor the work of contracted veterinary entities.
For the sake of clarification, apart from our organization, no other organization has been involved or authorized to monitor veterinary entities in these projects.
In 2018, our organization did not have an official (written) authorization to monitor these centers, but we insisted to visit them again, as this is foreseen also by the administrative instruction 04/2017 (MAFRD).
While in 2020, after many insistences (8 months), we are the only organization to be authorized by KFVA to monitor contracted veterinary entities, where as a result we have made more than 130 visits to temporary dog treatment centers.
4. “Professionals of the field”
During the conversation, Thaci says that KFVA hires professional veterinarians, who are also doctors of veterinary medicine. After more than 200 monitoring visits to contracted veterinary entities for the treatment of stray dogs, we can say with full conviction that this is not true.
As we have seen from our numerous visits, a large proportion of veterinarians have not done good treatment of stray dogs. This is due to the lack of experience of many veterinarians in treating small animals. So, in these projects there have been engaged veterinarians who deal with the treatment of large animals, while they have little or no experience in treating small animals such as dogs.
In addition to post-surgery problems, many centers lacked basic dog welfare conditions: fresh food water, proper hygiene and care.
However, it should definitely be noted that there were also engaged very professional veterinarians, who performed their work with the greatest possible dedication.
Unfortunately, these professional veterinarians in this project have been treated as ‘equal’ to inexperienced veterinarians in treating dogs.
5. “During 2018, 14,000 dogs were treated throughout Kosovo”
This statement has been made by KFVA since the completion of this project. While from the data that were submitted to us after the request for access to public documents, are listed only 7,000 treated dogs. In this case, either KFVA did not provide us with all the reports, or they do not have any data on the work in the region of Ferizaj and Gjilan.
6. “The mistakes of veterinarians have been isolated cases”
In this regard, it can be seen as just “isolated cases” but cannot be said with such certainty, because unprofessionalism and negligence of veterinarians who abused during the project, were not just coincidences but committed with intent and complete awareness by veterinarians.
If a misconduct has occurred once, how can we be sure it has not occurred more than once?
Also, there have been mistakes in project management, and we cannot say that they have been isolated cases. In many centers there has been an obvious lack of hygiene, lack of proper food and fresh water for a dignified well-being of dogs, as well as errors during surgeries. Also, there is very little evidence of dogs returning to the territory where they were caught. From the many informations we have received from citizens, in many cases the dogs have not been returned to the same place where they were caught.
* Again we mention it, not everyone has done a bad job. Fortunately, there are professional veterinarians throughout Kosovo who are dedicated to the dignified treatment of animals, so for the past 2 years we call on only veterinarians proven in this field to be involved in projects dedicated to the treatment of stray dogs.
7. Filing criminal reports against abusive veterinarians and supporting NGOs in criminal reports
Regarding our organization, we have no information that KFVA has filed a single criminal report against any veterinarian. This is made even more incomprehensible by the fact that abusive veterinarians have been ‘convicted’ by the KFVA with a 1-month work suspension (one 2-month case), and after 1 or 2 months, have resumed work without providing any concrete evidence of training in field of dog treatment, as required by KFVA. Moreover, the “suspensions” occurred at a time when most of the suspended entities were just at the end of the project.
Also, so far, in the criminal reports that we have filed as an organization against abusive veterinarians, not only we have not had any support from KFVA, we have not even been asked about this topic.
8. “We have raised concerns at the Veterinary Chamber”
The Veterinary Chamber is an NGO and does not have any power to take concrete action regarding the unprofessional work of veterinarians. KFVA is the competent authority to penalize abusive veterinarians.
The Veterinary Chamber, although an NGO, could do important work in the integrity and professional advancement of veterinary medicine, but it does not even do that.
After our many complaints and reports of inhumane and illegal work of veterinarians, the Chamber in question has established an Ethics Commission to evaluate the work of veterinarians in the state project (although this should have been done before the start of the project). The commission has done nothing and is no longer active.
9. “We have engaged other veterinary practices to re-treat abused dogs”
We have no information on any dogs being re-treated by order of the KFVA. Except for the cases which our organization has sent for re-treatment to veterinary practices that have not been contracted in this project, we do not know of any case where KFVA has requested the re-treatment of any dog.
In recent months, together with the KFVA and the office of the Deputy PM, Mr. Besnik Tahiri, we have worked on changing the two administrative instructions, which have to do with the identification and registration of dogs with owners, as well as the creation of a new administrative instruction for licensing dog breeders.
Lack of registration of dogs with owners and control of illegal breeders are the two main sources of the large increase of the number of stray dogs in Kosovo. The lack of legal basis has made it much more difficult to manage this situation, so together with KFVA we have submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture these two administrative instructions (we have almost finished the administrative instruction for breeders), which they believe will to establish a strong basis for serious treatment of this phenomenon.
Therefore, we take this opportunity to once again thank the KFVA for its cooperation so far, but we believe that there is still much room for transparency in stray dog treatment projects, and there is a need for strict standards regarding the humane and professional treatment of street dogs. But, we can all learn from the mistakes, therefore we hope that professional veterinarians will be engaged in the next projects of CNVR, since a good or bad job of a veterinarian, indirectly affects the well-being of citizens as well, as a dog mistreated by a veterinarian can be a potential risk to humans, both for health and safety. A dog properly treated by a veterinarian easily integrates into the community and poses no danger, provided it is returned by veterinarians to the same place where it was caught.