A few weeks ago, our organization was contacted by Kosovo Customs, to help shelter two confiscated dogs, since Kosovo Customs has no designated location to shelter the animals in a quarantine place, until the next steps are decided for the fate of the companion animals. The dogs were confiscated at the border after they were caught being smuggled from Kosovo to Serbia.

Although our organization does not have a center for animal shelter, with the help of DMV Albatrit Halili in Podujeva and now with the help of the shelter “Organization for Animal Care and Rescue” managed by Lulzim Prenku, we have provided temporary shelter for dogs, until a long-term solution is found. The burden of expenses that should have been borne by the state, as provided by applicable law, is again borne by our organization, for which we have no funds.

One of the dogs has been returned to its former owner, from whom the dog was stolen, before being caught getting smuggled at the border in Merdare.

It is not the first time that various institutions contact us for dog shelter, as the state has not yet established any infrastructure/center for rescue and shelter, at least for the confiscated animals, nor does it help the centers that already shelter animals and do good and transparent work.

The lack of state-assisted shelters, together with the lack of commitment to stopping the sources of the growing number of dogs on the streets, creates a situation where dog abandonments and other companion animal smuggling problems from one state to another, are common, and endangering the welfare of these animals has become a daily reality. In addition to poor animals, the general social welfare in our country is also endangered.

As we have proposed in the national strategy, a number of measures should be taken to manage dogs with keepers/owners and to control and reduce the number of dogs on the street, and one of these measures is the establishment of shelters for confiscated and abused dogs.

We helped in this case, but in other cases it will be impossible to help without a strategic and sustainable plan in cooperation with the responsible institutions.