There are corrupt activities in the background

photo: private archive

"WEATHER" What are they, in your opinion, basic steps at the state and local level to reduce animal suffering and address the issue of abandoned and neglected animals?

PROF. VANJA BAJOVIĆ: The problem of abandoned animals could be easily solved if there was political will. The development of awareness among citizens that a pet is not a thing or a toy but a living being and a member of the family is a long-term process, which would have to be accompanied by stricter penalties for abandoning the animal and their consistent application. In order to establish in general who is the owner of the animal that abandoned it, it is necessary to insist more consistently on the obligation and control of permanent marking - chipping of the animal. Whether the animal is chipped or not is checked very easily, by simply placing the chip reader on the animal's neck, but the small number of veterinary inspectors makes it difficult to carry out this control in the field. The problem can be easily overcome by giving the Communal Militia greater powers in this area, among other things, to check whether the animal is chipped or not. Prescribing fines in a fixed amount of money for those who fail to permanently tag their dog would allow for misdemeanor orders to be issued in these cases, which would contribute not only to more consistent chipping of dogs by the owners, but also to a significant inflow of funds into the state budget. Therefore, if a dog whose disappearance was not reported within the legal deadline was found on the street, the microchip number could easily determine its owner, that is, the person who abandoned it and who should be punished for it.

Another problem is unregistered breeders and kennels that do not meet the legal requirements to engage in this activity or pay any tax on it, they often treat animals inhumanely, unsold puppies and "exploited" females that no longer bring profit are left on the street, creating new hordes of street dogs.

Veterinary inspectors can very easily find and punish an unregistered breeder, according to data publicly available on the website of the Kennel Club, but in practice they do not do so, which gives rise to suspicions that these actors are involved in corruption. A clear calculation shows that the Kennel Club, as a non-profit organization, profits about one million euros per year only on the basis of issued pedigrees, so the failure of the Veterinary Administration to sanction obvious illegalities and the conditions for issuing pedigrees with the official registration of the kennel can only be explained by the huge amount of money behind this "inaction".

The third problem is local self-government units that do not fulfill the duties that the Law on Veterinary Medicine and the Law on Animal Welfare oblige them to do. According to the data of the State Audit Institution, local self-governments allocated over five million euros for the performance of animal hygiene activities in a three-year period. These activities include, among other things, sterilization and chipping of abandoned dogs (CNR programs), catching and placing abandoned animals in shelters. The funds obtained are more than sufficient for the performance of these activities, but instead of establishing animal hygiene services and shelters in their territory, which the laws oblige them to do, many local self-government units conclude lucrative contracts with the notorious MB Avenue and other private companies and entrepreneurs for the performance of these activities. As the goal of companies and entrepreneurs is, logically, to make a profit, the problem of abandoned dogs is not solved but deliberately and deliberately prolonged - by not sterilizing females, transferring dogs to another location with the aim of new "engagements" and the like. Animals are treated extremely cruelly to the extent that, due to lack of food, cases of cannibalism have also been recorded in some shelters. It goes without saying that public shelters receive budget funds for food and other necessities, so the question arises here as well where that money ends up. Although in this way, in addition to the criminal offense of killing and abusing animals, the characteristics of a number of other corrupt criminal offenses are acquired, the institutions do not react to it at all, considering the welfare of animals as a secondary matter compared to a number of other "burning" problems.

Do you think that animal welfare is an issue that citizens should fight for in the same way that they fight for their own rights and justice? Can it become a topic on the basis of which we will also evaluate politicians, or are we as a society still far from that?

It is justified to state that the issue of animal welfare is correlatively related to the economic standard of a certain country - the richer and more orderly societies are, the more attention is paid to this topic, while in poorer and more rural communities it usually boils down to the statement that "people are more important than animals", without a cause-and-effect understanding of this connection that care for animals actually represents care for the weaker and weaker and the development of empathy of a certain society.

But I think that solving this problem is not really in the interest of certain key actors, because highly profitable corrupt activities are hidden in the background, to the detriment of those who cannot testify about it - animals and their well-being.

Do you think the killing of Donna the dog and the media reports of dogs at protests can help make this an important issue?

Donna's murder is a tragic event that caused strong emotions and public condemnation for a reason, because the cameras recorded it, but few thought that it is an everyday occurrence and that hundreds of dogs die in the same way every day. Dogs in shelters and asylums suffer in even worse torments, because their death is slow, long-term and painful, they die of hunger, thirst and disease, slowly and slowly... That is why many shelters are closed to the public, in order not to disclose those death camps on which budget funds are spent. The media attention focused on dogs at protests shows how much animals can become symbols of certain social events and conflicts. Their fate evokes empathy, but also raises serious questions about the responsibility of institutions and individuals in protecting these most noble beings.

If this topic initiates a wider discussion about animal rights, responsible ownership, the work of veterinary and communal services, as well as the necessity of systemic animal protection, then something constructive could come out of a tragedy. However, it is crucial that it does not remain only in the domain of current media attention, but that it leads to concrete changes in legislation, practice and awareness of citizens.

Why is Jackie at the head of the column?