At the invitation of the Regional Animal Welfare Centre (RAWC), our organization is participating in the 4-day workshop organized by ICAM – the International Companion Animal Management Coalition, regarding dog population management.

Precisely based on the ICAM guidelines, our organization had drafted the proposal for a national strategy for the management of the dog population. Based on these guidelines, the national strategy is being drafted, led by MLGA.

Management of the dog population, consisting of a series of measures, and with a special focus on the sources of increasing the number of dogs on the streets, is a permanent commitment that requires dedication and resources from central and local institutions with a focus on human behavior change for responsible dog ownership/keeping.

In order to reduce the number of dogs on the streets in a sustainable way, only shelters and projects of CNVR (catch, neuter, vaccinate, release) are not enough if there is no focus on the sources of the problem, which are the abandonment of dogs from irresponsible and uncontrolled keeping/ownership, as well as uncontrolled import, breeding and sale of dogs as companion animals.

While the illusion can be created that only by building shelters it will be possible to remove dogs from the street, experiences from different countries show us that this is not a sustainable and effective measure at all and very expensive. However, shelters should be built when a proper survey of dogs and their dynamics is done so that systematic euthanasia is not at risk.

Our organization will continue to engage and support the country’s institutions to take the appropriate humane and sustainable measures, so that the public money dedicated for this purpose is not spent without any visible effect and that the welfare of the dogs is at the center of any intervention, as only in this way can we create a sustainable dog population management system.