On 31.12.2023, the Mayor of Pristina, Mr. Përparim Rama was invited for an interview with KTV on show 038, where, among other things, the topic of stray dogs was discussed. Unfortunately, in this interview, Mr. Rama gave some incorrect statements, so we invite you to understand and be informed correctly:
1. Sheltering of dogs
Mayor Rama said that in Kosovo, the legislation does not allow the sheltering of animals, but only their taking for the procedures of castration, sterilization and releasing CNVR (catch-neuter-vaccinate-release).
The sheltering of companion (stray) animals is allowed according to the Administrative Instruction (MAFRD) 02/2023 for the technical conditions that must be met by animal shelters. In article 23, paragraph 5 of this Administrative Instruction, it is specified that a shelter can keep dogs even for a longer period if it has sufficient capacity. The Municipality of Prishtina itself is paying the shelter QTK with 50 euros (per dog) per month for 25 dogs that are being sheltered for the Municipality of Pristina, so it is surprising how it is said publicly that sheltering dogs is not legally allowed. The problem with sheltering lies elsewhere, as currently as a single measure it would not be sustainable at all (and would be very expensive) and would not solve the situation with stray dogs, but it has nothing to do with legal basis.
The same statement was made by Mr. Sadik Heta, Director of Animal Welfare and Health at the Food and Veterinary Agency, in an interview with RTV21: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO4BxFGWp84
We invite municipal officials and those at the central level to be well informed with the legal provisions in force regarding the welfare of animals and not to give wrong information to the public.
2. Criticism of civil society
Mayor Rama also said that “NGOs only have words and few actions”. Mr. Rama probably thinks that NGOs can solve the problem but they don’t want to. We remind Mr. Rama that dog population management (DPM) is the responsibility of state institutions and not of NGOs. NGOs can support this aspect in different ways, but institutions have the responsibility and authority for managing the population of stray dogs.
As a reminder for Mr. Rama, NGOs (local and international) have helped a lot so far, starting from: proposing humane and sustainable measures for DPM, organizing workshops for the presentation of measures and tools for implementing sustainable measures for DPM, monitoring of CNVR projects, collecting data such as the approximate number of dogs on the street, organizing awareness campaigns, supporting the legal changes for the Identification & Registration of dogs, hundreds and thousands of dog rescues and adoptions, etc. So, NGOs and activists are already doing a lot, but the main part belongs to the local and central institutions. If it weren’t for the civil society, the situation with dogs on the streets would be much worse.
NGOs can help a lot, but the Municipality should not limit access to civil society in the projects it undertakes, and must respect the promises made to civil society. In the first meetings in 2023 and during the protest that was organized by a group of activists, a lot was promised, but those promises are not being kept. Transparency and accountability are the foundations of a democratic society where the country’s institutions work for the good of society by including civil society and the community and not by organizing meetings just to say that they are working together with civil society or the community. Without the true and serious involvement of the community and without being serious and transparent in the implementation of the measures taken for DPM, this situation with dogs on the street will not improve even after spending millions of euros of taxpayers money. It is not only important how much money a municipality spends, but how it spends it.
We strongly ask the media and journalists to be more informed on this topic and to be more constructive and critical towards the institutions, asking them in detail how exactly public money is being spent, how many dogs are being neutered and vaccinated, how the situation is changing in the field during and after interventions of CNVR, and request statistical reports for the work they do.
Measures that are not evaluated and analyzed/assessed do not guarantee results and do not provide serious accountability. The issue of stray dogs, however, requires large financial resources, but also evaluation of the measures taken so that public money is spent effectively.