There are continued reports of dog catchers – ‘Hygiene Services’ –  brutalising and terrorising strays in Bosnia Herzegovina. Dalida Kozlic, lawyer and animal rescuer has filed charges against Hygiene Services  P.E. “Lokum” of Novi Grad for their activities in Sarajevo. You can read full details of these charges here.

The following is a summary of the charges:

The Hygiene Service does not have a licence. It is an illegal firm financed from the budget funds, which presents a criminal offence of money laundering. Stray dogs caught by the workers of this Hygiene Service have been disappearing under unclear circumstances.

Mustafa Mrkulić, a veterinarian in the veterinarian station “Stup” performs illegal euthanasia of stray dogs for his personal gain. Since euthanasia of stray animals without medical cause (which must be established by an authorized official veterinarian) represents murder of an animal with an intent, and in order to make financial gain, Mrkulic Mustafa has been committing a criminal offence of torturing and killing of animals.

The pattern of criminal activity is clear here: “hygienic service” of P. E. “Lokom” catches stray dogs and then takes them to be killed in C. P. E. “Veterinary Station Stup”. P. E. “Lokom”, which is financed from the budget of Municipality Novo Sarajevo, invoices catching of stray dogs through a legally non-existent hygienic service, and C. P. E. “Veterinary Station” invoices non-existent veterinary processing and diagnostic (in the meantime, dogs are not being veterinary processed but killed).

Kill and slaughter until the dog is no more!
The following is an excerpt of an article published on Taco.net on 15/06/2014. For the full English translation please see Journalists for Animals.

“I heard a great noise, and came out to see what was happening. What I saw was horrible: Hresa shelter employees and two employees of the Logavina local community had broken into the back yard of the “Mula Mustafa Baseskija” Elementary school, they had forced some dogs into the yard, and one of them was pulling a dog up the stairs by a noose. On the top of the stairs, secretary of the local community “Logavina”, Nermin Dzino, was waiting. He was beating the dogs with a metal stick. Bloody dogs were put into cages and then into a vehicle”.

That was the testimony of Alma Tefterdija, who witnessed Bosnian vision of the implementation of the Animal Welfare and Protection Act on June 9th 2014 on Toroman’s street in Sarajevo. Since she accidentally found herself in the back yard of the Mula Mustafa Baseskija Elementary that day, and dared to stand up to the people who were beating dogs with metal sticks, Sarajevo Canton PD issued a misdemeanour notification against Alma Tefterdija for public disturbance…..

…Since the problem of stray dogs exists in the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina and considering that the “stupid dogs” do not understand the entity borders, Mayor Hadzibajric has signed a contract for cooperation between Stari Grad municipality and the company “Glog” Ltd from Istocno Sarajevo who owns Hresa shelter.

“Glog” Ltd, run by Slavisa Jovcic, is apparently doing a great job “housing” the dogs in Hresa since the shelter not only has a contract with Stari Grad municipality, but also with the municipalities of Pale, Sokolac, Milci, Vlasenica, Srebrenica and the municipalities from Istocno Sarajevo.

The question is: How does a shelter that has, believe it or not, 18 stalls, solve the problems of thousands upon thousands of Federal and Republic of Srpska dogs of Bosnia?

Very easily.

As we would say, through orderly documentation.

Republic of Srpska has the original version of the Animal welfare and protection law in power, which allows for humane euthanasia of animals who are not adopted within 30 days of reaching the shelter.

You will no doubt ask how the process of humane euthanasia, which Mayor Hadzibajric pays 58 KM per dog looks in this shelter whose work costs the Congress of Istocno Sarajevo 130 000 KM of budget money.

According to testimonies of the animal welfare organizations who visited Hresa, dogs in the 18 stalls are starved, covered with water in sub zero temperatures, left without water for days, and the pups are humanely euthanized with clubs. As you can see, every problem has a solution, especially when the solution is performed by the veterinary inspector and if there is orderly documentation since the laws of this country must be obeyed.

As Jelena Paunović, activist and journalist, states in her blog, Bosnia: Floods and what comes next :

In most of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for no justifiable reason, the Animal welfare and protection act is not being carried out. The land is sodden with blood and mines spread across it, thanks to the butchers. Clearly as long as the inspections keep sleeping, blood is inevitable.

On the other hand, no matter what you read in the local media or on FB, there are few who report the breaking of this Act. They mostly don’t want to make their cousins, neighbours or brothers who are in one of the leading political parties mad.

In the meantime, rivers of innocent dog blood are flowing.

RELATED POSTS:

Hreša Shelter:
Horror Shelter Hreša – Back in Action
Earlier Investigations:
November 2012
Part One  – Part Two – Part Three
December 2012 – February 2013
Part Four – Part Five – Part Six – Part Seven

Shelters in Bosnia Herzegovina:
THE HORROR SHELTERS OF BOSNIA – SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!
Bosnia Killing Dogs – No Different to Romania!
Saving Lucia and the dogs of Foča and Gorazde
BOSNIA! IMPLEMENT HUMANE STRAY-DOG AND CAT POPULATION CONTROL AND TREATMENT
Dog Shelters in Bosnia: A Complex Situation
Horror Camps for Animals in Bosnia
Concentration Camp for Man’s Best Friend
Concentration Camp for Man’s Best Friend PART TWO
Mass Graves Found Near Dog “Shelter”

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DONATIONS
Funds are needed not only to help individual rescues and to help us keep safe the rescued dogs we are sponsoring but also to continue our advocacy work in Bosnia, uncovering the truth about what is happening there.

On our sister site, Animal Welfare Advocates for Bosnia, you can set up a monthly donation via PayPal, or if you want to make a one-off donation, please go to your PayPal account (or set one up, it’s very easy) and send the money to: donations@awabosnia.org as a ‘gift’. Click on the image below to be taken to PayPal’s home page.

Or if you want to use the customised PayPal form, click the link below. However, a transaction fee and a percentage (2- 5.4%) will be deducted by PayPal for any contribution made.

If you want your contribution to go to a specific dog or cause, please make a note in the PayPal comment box. If you wish to contribute via bank transfer or have other difficulties or questions, please go here.

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This site is dedicated to Vučko. Read his story and don’t let him have suffered and died in vain. Please help the stray dogs and cats in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The situation there is utterly dire, Vučko is but one amongst many horrifically abused animals. Go here to find out how to help them.  Money is needed for food, medicine and foster housing. Even just one dollar or one euro will help.