Last weekend, Kosovo Small Animal Veterinary Association (KSAVA), organized a conference on dog population control, with world-renowned veterinarian, Dr. Jeffrey Young (Planned Pethood International) as a guest speaker.
Dr. Young has more than 30 years of experience on dog population control measures in various countries all over the world, so it was a great opportunity to learn about dog population control from an experienced vet such as Dr. Young, who has seen countless situations and countless attempts at controlling the dog population using various measures.
It was very important that Dr. Young emphasized that shelters and euthanasia must not be used as a control measure, as firstly it is not humane, and secondly is not a sustainable way to reduce the number of stray dogs, without concentrating on the sources of the problem, such as abandonments.
Dr. Young showed us many examples in the world where killing of dogs and shelters have failed to solve the problem, and they ended up being failed projects who spent millions of taxpayer money. While sources of the problem are not addressed, inhumane and unsustainable measures such as sheltering and euthanasia by mafia/corrupted groups, lead to certain groups of interests profiting millions of euros of taxpayer money, who will lobby and pressure to keep the situation the way it is, as explained by Dr. Young that happened once in Ukraine. People earn quite some money from shelters and euthanasia.
Dr. Young also emphasized the importance of raising awareness of the people in relation to the keeping of the dogs. The situation with the stray dogs is 100% a consequence of human actions, therefore without changing the human behavior, the situation with stray dogs will not change soon. He repeatedly said that communication and awareness raising is something that also ensures the veterinary profession. The more people ensure welfare for their animal, it means more work for veterinarians.
It was great to hear Dr. Young emphasize these important points, which we as an organization have mentioned countless times already in the meetings with institutions regarding the stray dog situation. We have many examples of bad and good work from many countries all over the world, yet some state officials tried to ignore the advice of the experts and still insist on sheltering and euthanasia.
We have had public shelters in the past in two cities (Peja and Gracanica), and we have had private shelters throughout the years as well. And yet, the situation with the dogs on the street has not improved at all. Dr. Young convincingly said that shelters should be only run by professionals and qualified people.
He concluded his presentation by motivating the veterinarians by telling them that veterinarians help many puppies not to get born, abused, hit by a car and more. By spaying and neutering dogs to stabilize the dog population on the street, many lives are being saved even without them being born.
It is a pity that no state official was present in the conference, even though the urgency to act humanely and sustainably to address the situation with stray dogs. Hopefully the event organizers will share the knowledge from this conference with state officials who are responsible for managing the dog population in Kosovo.
We thank Dr. Young for his very insightful presentation, and KSAVA for organizing this conference!
