Please sign the petition: Ensure the safety and health of dogs at Gladno Polje “shelter”, refuse change of ownership to Novi Grad Veterinary station; allow access to the shelter by independent rescuers and activists
The agricultural cooperative responsible for management of Gladno Polje shelter in Sarajevo did not sign a new contract for the shelter yesterday. We are informed this means the shelter will close, or will be transferred to another company. Either way, the prognosis for the 200+ dogs at Gladno Polje is dire.
The veterinary station “Novi Grad Sarajevo”, owned by the public company Lokom, has offered to take over the shelter. PC Lokom is owned by the municipality of Novi Grad Sarajevo. This company has established a notorious group of dog-catchers known as the “hygiene service”. This is considered by activists and rescuers to be a criminal organisation that kills stray dogs as part of money laundering activities (stealing funds that are meant to take dogs off the streets and into dog shelters for care. However, there are in fact no shelters able to take in more dogs, so what happens to the dogs, to the money?)
Authorities of the municipality of Ilidza will shortly decide whether they will allow the veterinary station “Novi Grad Sarajevo” to take over the shelter, but the fact that the agricultural cooperative has not signed a new contract to continue management means it’s likely the authorities of Ilidza will accept the offer. Gladno Polje will then be under the control of the vet Mustafa Mrkulic who is widely known – as well as PC Lokum – as “the worst illegal dog killers in Sarajevo.”
Gladno Polje is a shelter established by local authorities which only works because of the hard work of a tiny group of independent rescuers and activists headed by Sanela Kotorić Etterle, who fundraise for proper food, who go in and clean the pens and do whatever they can to improve what are horrific conditions, putting straw down on the cold concrete, and even giving water which is often not available (or frozen in winter).
The shelter’s requirements should be funded by the government, but no one knows where the funds go. Nevertheless, the activists have managed to maintain the dogs and even find homes for some of them.
If the shelter changes ownership to the Novi Grad Veterinary station, there is a very real possibility that rescuers and activists who are taking care of the dogs will be forbidden to enter Gladno Polje and that the dogs will be illegally killed to make room for more, who will then also be killed and so on. Please note that the Animal Welfare Law of the country does not allow killing in shelters unless the dogs are suffering beyond help or are a danger to themselves or people.
It is extremely important influence the authorities of the municipality Ilidza to reject the offer of veterinary station Novi Grad Sarajevo and to insist upon the safety of the dogs currently living in the shelter and on improved conditions, and to allow access to the shelter by independent rescuers and activists.
Please write emails to Prof. Senaid Memic, head of the Municipality in charge of Gladno Polje:
kabinet.nacelnika@opcinailidza.ba
opcinski.nacelnik@opcinailidza.ba
And you can also write to the members of the council listed on these page: http://www.opcinailidza.ba/vijecnici.html
http://www.opcinailidza.ba/rukovodstvo.html
You can also write emails to your embassy in BiH:
Find your Embassy in Bosnia-Herzegovina:
http://embassy.goabroad.com/embassies-in/bosnia-and-herzegovina
Please sign the petition: Ensure the safety and health of dogs at Gladno Polje “shelter”, refuse change of ownership to Novi Grad Veterinary station; allow access to the shelter by independent rescuers and activists
Other ways to help:
Given the above photographs you might think the best thing is for the shelter to close; however what then happens to the dogs there? There is nowhere for them to go. Rescuers would need extraordinary funding and support to buy land and build and maintain a shelter for this number of dogs.
RELATED POSTS:
Shelters in Bosnia Herzegovina
Saving the Dogs of Gladno Polje, Bosnia
Veterinary Office of Bosnia: is it possible to solve the problem of stray dogs?
Another Horror Shelter in Bosnia
THE HORROR SHELTERS OF BOSNIA – SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!
Saving Lucia and the dogs of Foča and Gorazde
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”
Hresa Shelter:
Part One – Part Two – Part Three – Part Four – Part Five – Part Six – Part Seven
______________________________________________
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.
IN MEMORY OF VUČKO 
this is barbaric totally inhuman and disgusting. How can you government officials call your self human when you allow these majestic devoted animals be treated like plague and butchered and murdered for no reason other than to be alive. you are a disgusting race of politicians who allow your animals to suffer this way. We in hte western world will spread this abuse of dogs world wide until the human outcry demands that you care and support these dogs