Even though for years ChisinauCity Hall representatives promise construction of a shelter for stray animals, stray dogs ​​problem remains unresolved. In February 2010, by a decision of the Chisinau Municipal Council, Municipal Enterprise “Autosalubritate” was assigned a plot of 0.55ha where would be built a shelter with a veterinary clinic for stray dogs. Although municipal authorities claimed at the time that the project will be completed during a year, so far the shelter is not built, and stray dogs continue to be a menace to the inhabitants of Chisinau.

Vlad Cotet: “We have the land and the project, we are missing just the money”

Vlad Cotet, Deputy Mayor of Chisinau, says the shelter has not been built because the City Hall does not have the necessary funds: “A modern shelter, with a veterinary clinic, would cost at least 30 million lei. There must be arranged sterilization rooms and a quarantine area for sick animals to be euthanized. Shelter is not the most expensive, but the clinic. There are certain rules to be followed otherwise we can create a pest hole. It’s a great investment that can not be done anytime. It is clear that, from the budget of City Hall, there will never be allocated money for an animal shelter, we can not afford it. We have other issues, much more important, we do not have money for. We are trying to attract donors, to convince business people to get involved, but when they hear of dogs no one wants to help”.

On the other hand, representatives of animal protection associations say that in the middle might be, in fact, financial interests and therefore the construction of the shelter is delayed. “Every year are allocated a lot of money to those from the ” Autosalubritate ” to catch the dogs from the streets. With this money could have been built a shelter a long time ago. It’s not very difficult to do and doesn’t cost millions as say those from the City Hall. You just built a fence and some houses. But they probably find it convenient that the problem will persist to further be allocated money and someone to get rich from these funds”, says Valentina Dudnic, president of the Association for the protection of homeless animals ” Alga “.

What can not do the City Hall, do the citizens

Until the City Hall will find those 30 million, needed to build the shelter, animal lovers, organized into several NGOs, have arranged themselves shelters for stray dogs, caught by ‘Autosalubritate” workers and taken to the animal cemetery in Chisinau. Angela Topal, chief of shelter for homeless animals “Muhtar”, says that if not these NGOs, which save dogs from the necropolis, the animals would be simply killed by employees from “Autosalubritate”.

Now are opened six such shelters for stray dogs, but neither of them with contribution from the state. All are founded by individuals with money collected from donations. One of the largest shelters for stray dogs is in Bacioi, which was set a year ago and now houses over 60 animals. Valentina Dudnic, who takes care of the operation of this shelter, says that, besides being saved from certain death the animals taken to cemetery, dogs brought to Bacioi are vaccinated and sterilized: “Right now we are launching the campaign ” Give 10 lei for your dogs ” from which we hope to raise the money necessary to sterilize all animals here. After sterilization, the small and non-aggressive dogs may be left free on the streets again. We do not exclude euthanasia of aggressive dogs or those suffering from infectious diseases”.

Natalia Nasa, another defender of animal rights, says that after sterilization animals are no longer aggressive and pose no danger to the townspeople: “Dogs that are not dangerous should be released back into the city. That only once sterilized and vaccinated. To be able to monitor and distinguish them from unsterilized animals, we put them in the ear an earring with a serial number. Of course the biggest we can not let in the street. Even if they would not be aggressive, people can be scared just by seeing them around. Namely for these dogs is necessary to build a shelter, but unfortunately the City Hall does not progress”.

Moreover, it seems that the authorities are aware that long-term sterilization is the most effective solution for controlling the number of stray dogs in Chisinau and not their poisoning or destruction by other methods. Deputy Vlad Cotet says he will do everything possible to complete the construction of shelter and clinic, but avoids naming a precise date of completion of the project. Under these conditions the problem of stray dogs remains exclusively in the care of animal protection associations which, however, declare themselves impotent and say that they do not have sufficient resources to vaccinate and sterilize all dogs in Chisinau so that stray dogs will either remain a danger to Chisinau inhabitants, or will be killed by employees of “Autosalubritate”.

Anatol Eşanu