Our organization has received with concern the news published on the “Insajderi” news portal, about the killing with 8 bullets of a street dog by police officers of the Kosovo Police.

While the legislation in force allows the use of force to protect the lives of citizens and other animals, for us as an organization it is an excessive act to kill a street dog in that way and shoot it with 8 bullets from the official firearm, with the excuse to maintain order and safety. Our organization has been dealing for a long with various complaints and denunciations in many police stations in Kosovo, and in any case, it should be noted that police stations and police officers are extremely in need of different training to distinguish an aggressive animal from an animal that is potentially afraid and may bark at people, as is the case with many street dogs. Barking does not give the green light for police officers to fire their weapons at animals.

Even if the dog was potentially aggressive and dangerous, how can 8 bullets be justified by the Kosovo Police? In the video after the first bullet the dog does not move at all and does not present any danger to justify 7 additional bullets in its direction. The eight bullets towards the dog even after neutralizing the potential danger and killing the dog show the lack of mercy and stereotypical rancor for street dogs by a large part of the community, including police officials.

While there may be dogs on the street that endanger public safety, and a solution must be found to remove them from the street, but not by killing them. It is worth noting that our organization has often come across dogs that have been described as aggressive by the community, but that have not been aggressive at all.

We have already sent an official request to the Kosovo Police to request more information about the police actions in this case, as well as to understand how the aggressiveness of the dog was assessed and whether the police contacted the municipality of Pristina or Kosovo Food and Veterinary Agency, to try the capture of the dog and treat it according to the Law on Animal Welfare and Administrative Instruction 04/2017 for the treatment of street dogs with the CNVR method, including the rules for aggressive dogs. After the information we receive, if there is no direct attack or bite from the street dog to justify the firing of firearms, our organization will take legal steps against the police officers involved in this case.

We are aware that dogs that are truly aggressive pose a danger not only to humans but also to other animals and must be removed from the street with humane methods, but actions such as shooting a dog with 8 bullets, are not the right way to handle situations with dogs on the street.