Recently approved law to euthanize stray dogs trigger protest in Bucharest, dog lovers come with counter proposals

Protesters have taken to Bucharest’s streets to oppose a law permitting authorities to euthanize Romania's stray dogs. Approved this week by Romanian Parliament in response to the mauling of a four-year-old boy, the law sets a 14-day deadline for adoption once a stray is captured and taken to a shelter. Holding signs saying “Say no to crime,” “Don’t kill my best friend,” and “Dog catchers can’t kill as much as people can abandon”, some 200 people, including dog lovers, NGOs’ representatives and volunteers demonstrated yesterday (September 10) in the capital. When asked what solution they see for the estimated 64,000 stray dogs in Bucharest, people said the problem could not be solved in a week or a month, as it had been an issue for over 23 years. As a response to those who claim that stray dogs “must disappear”, dog lovers said that the animals didn’t “appear from nowhere” and everybody has to “assume responsibility,” according to local news agency Mediafax. In addition to sterilization, protesters proposed penalties for abandoning puppies on the street and coordinated efforts to boost adoption of stray dogs as long term solutions. The Romanian Parliament approved the controversial legislation on Tuesday (September 10). It passed by a majority of votes, with MPs from the Democrat Liberal Party (PDL), the Social Democrat party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL) all in favor of euthanizing stray dogs. The Mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, announced that the referendum for stray dogs euthanasia, which was initially scheduled for October, will not be organized anymore, following the Chamber of Deputies’ favorable vote for the law. The legislation, as well as several protests both for and against euthanizing stray dogs in Bucharest, was triggered by the recent death of a four-year old who was killed by stray dogs near the Tei park in Colentina neighborhood in Bucharest. Last year, the authority gathered around 3,500 dogs from the streets of Bucharest to sterilize them, out of which 2,000 were back on public property, 1,400 were adopted, and 46 were euthanized. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: Sxc.hu)