BOSNIA: kill and slaughter until the dog is no more…

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Sandra Jensen

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.

Horror Shelter Hreša – Back in Action

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Sandra Jensen

We have heard reports that dog catchers from Hreša “shelter” in the Republika Srpska (one of two political entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina), with the help of local community workers are working every day in Sarajevo, outside of their legal jurisdiction.

“Two days ago they were in the old town, they caught a couple of dogs, there was blood all over the place. It all happened in elementary school yard,” said one activist.

Reports say dogs were chased and beaten with iron rods. “Police were called to the scene but did not intervene, instead they issued a sentence for disturbing public order and peace to the citizens who stood up in defence of the dogs and rebelled against the abuse of animals.”

We await further reports.

RELATED POSTS:
Hresa Shelter
Part One – Part Two – Part Three – 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 Frien d
Concentration Camp for Man’s Best Friend PART TWO
Mass Graves Found Near Dog “Shelter”

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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.

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THE HORROR SHELTERS OF BOSNIA – SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Sandra Jensen

Animal welfare activists have informed us that Hreša is ‘open for business’. If you have read the other posts on Hreša and other ‘shelters’ in Bosnia Herzegovina you know what this ‘business’ means.

And more ‘shelters’ in the country have been visited and documented, Bratunac and Trebinje. Like other shelters conditions are entirely unsuitable and contravene the existing animal welfare law in Bosnia Herzegovina which states that dog shelters have to provide proper care of the animals in the shelters, including proper vet care. For a full translation of the existing law, please download this PDF.

As always, the shelters are situated in out-of-the-way places, hard to find and on or near landfills and garbage heaps; the dogs are thin and hungry and without proper shelter or warmth for the coming winter. Generally there is no food or water seen, nor anyone to actually take care of dogs or to guard the shelters (remember dog fights are popular in Bosnia and ‘shelter’ dogs make nice ‘bait’ to train fighting dogs…).

Municipality ‘shelter’ in Bratunac:

A stray cat found in Bratunac…

And Trebinje ‘shelter’:

More photographs in the slideshow at the end of this post.

Just one “interesting” detail from Trebinje: on weekends dogs are without food or water as there are no workers there during weekends. Activists were told by a worker at the nearby landfill told them that often when they clean cages puppies end up in drain holes. The activists found one right in it… a puppy under a month old. They rescued it from certain death.

We recently made a post about the dogs at Foča shelter. 5 dogs were found in relatively clean conditions, although they only had white bread to eat. Activists were surprised about the shelter as they had seen so much horror elsewhere. The worker seemed to be kind towards the dogs. Funds were raised to release all five dogs into homes or foster homes or pensions in Sarajevo, and activists returned (it’s a long trip, about 80 kilometres) to collect the dogs. BUT ONLY TWO DOGS WERE ALLOWED TO GO! The worker seemed a different person, certainly not the animal-lover he’d portrayed himself as on the first visit. A new young puppy was in the shelter, and he kicked the puppy, right in front of the activists.

Activists left food for the dogs and they will do everything they can to get the dogs out, including the new puppy. This means making an appointment to meet with the local authorities and this could take some time unfortunately.

In the meantime these lovely dogs face an uncertain future… the lovely black and white one has an eye condition and may be going blind.

Without radical change in the how the authorities are dealing with strays, the only way to help the dogs in these shelters is for activists to visit them more often. For most of these “shelters” no one never visits. The activists are usually the first people after 3, 4 or even 5 years who express any kind of interest in the dogs in these hell holes.

Funds are desperately needed just to pay for petrol to visit the shelters, and for food to be brought to the dogs.

We need also must to ensure Bosnia and Herzegovina does not follow Romania and draft a new law at the next Parliament session on the 5th of October, paving the way for thousands of strays to be put down (and you can be sure if this happens it will be using the most brutal methods, which are cheaper and easier than any ‘humane’ euthanasia methods). Also please read this excellent piece by lawyer Dalida Kozlić, her analysis of the implementation of Animal Protection and Welfare Act as well as other issues of protection of animals in Bosnia. As she says: “Euthanasia deals with only the symptoms and not the causes of population problems. It will not lead to population management and must not be relied upon as a sole response.”

A stray dog found in Bratunac.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITIONS:

Demand Investigation into Horror Shelter in Hresa, Bosnia

BOSNIA! IMPLEMENT HUMANE STRAY-DOG AND CAT POPULATION CONTROL AND TREATMENT

Relevant articles from this blog:

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 Frien d
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

Other relevant information, links, websites:

Care2 Petition: Demand Investigation into Horror Shelter in Hresa, Bosnia

Thinktank Policy Brief on the issue of animal welfare in Bosnia Herzegovina November 2012 (PDF)

Making the Link – A study to identify psychological effects of children regularly exposed to uncontrolled community animal abuse and evaluation of efficacy of interventions.

Occupy For Animals
Occupy for Animals – Petitions to the European Union

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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.

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Update on the Nineteen Dogs Caged without Food or Water

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Sandra Jensen

For the first part of the story of the dogs caged outside a manufacturing company in Butmir, Sarajevo, go here.
Last night Jelena Paunović wrote and published an article about this situation: DIREKTOR PRAVI LOGOR ZA PSE (it’s in Serbo-Croatian).

Jelena reported the situation to Elzana Bećir the veterinary inspector. This is her response: “Dogs have food and water, I do not understand what you are complaining about! They do not have roof on their cage, so what? Do you know how many dogs there are in Sarajevo? You accused a man of wrongdoing for no reason, and you are those who should take care to solve this problem.”
The article goes on to talk about what is legally required from the veterinary inspector: The Law on the Protection and Welfare of Animals (Article 38) clearly defines the duties of the official veterinarian. In this case, the inspector is required to temporarily or permanently remove the animals and place them in another appropriate place. If the dog shelters are already full, the inspector would not be allowed to leave without ordering the director of the company to immediately improve the conditions of the suffering dogs.

The director of ‘Stigma Ltd’ was interviewed. He ordered to his employees to catch and put dogs into an improvised cage because the mayor of the Ilidža Municipality, Senaid Memić, said that the team from Gladno Polje shelter in Sarajevo would come for them.

(Please note that this is the SAME Municipality and therefore mayor of the horrific shelter at Hreša. For information on Gladno Polje and Hreša, go here: Horror Camps for Animals in Bosnia. Although Hreša was closed, we have still received no news of the ‘investigation’.)

Jelena followed up with Sanela Kotorić Etterle of Gladno Polje shelter and was told by Sanela that “The acceptance of new dogs in Gladno Polje is currently suspended. Our facilities are more than full. I would like to invite all citizens interested in adopting a dog, to visit us and choose your best friend. Only if dogs that are in shelters are homed is there an opportunity to accept new dogs. A permanent solution to the problem of stray dogs cannot be made by the existence of shelters. If this is a problem of the whole community, then that community should participate in solving problems, not adding more and more complications to our work.”

The article ends by saying that animal rights activists are doing all they can to help in this situation, but that they certainly cannot solve the entire problem. The director of the company has accepted this help, but it remains to be seen how the situation really develops. “Dogs will spend the night among the fences, under the open sky without any shelter. If the rain falls during the night, in the morning all will lie in mud and their own faeces. We left a bag of food for the dogs, that the workers poured over fences in the same dung and mud,” said animal activist Sandra Kenda.

The good news from today is that Sandra Kenda rescued the pregnant female dog. She’s now called Majkica.

Majkica

Also, after reading the above article, the director of Stigma Ltd made a roof on the dogs’ cage. He also told the media that Jelena and her animal activist colleagues were the only ones who offered to help with the dogs.

And, a generous sponsor offered to have all seven puppies vaccinated. A vet was brought this evening to do this.

Jelena feels that this situation is very important is it indicates the only way for such issues to be solved is if people work together. Most citizens of Bosnia think the only solution for the stray dog issue is just to put a dogs in shelters. Need I say more about those? I’m sorry to post this photograph from Hreša again, but it is typical of most shelters in this country…
hresadogforemail Please sign and share our petition regarding what happened at Hreša – we want to close it soon and hope to get to 20,000 signatures. Demand Investigation into Horror Shelter in Hresa, Bosnia.

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HOW TO HELP
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, 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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Horror Shelter in Hreša PART FOUR

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Sandra Jensen

68482_10200148693102854_1701633000_n Here is the earlier story of Hreša: Part One – Part Two – Part Three

I think you already know the shelter has been closed down, and that Dogs Trust Bosnia has promised to keep investigating what happened there (no news so far). I think you already know that of the rescues, 6 (surviving, one died shortly after rescue) puppies from Hreša shelter have died, probably from distemper.

WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW IS THAT AN ADDITIONAL TEN DOGS AND FOUR PUPPIES WERE ALSO RESCUED FROM HRESA ON THE LAST VISIT MADE THERE BY JELENA AND THE OTHERS.

Unfortunately 3 of the adult dogs and one of the puppies died shortly after rescue.

We could not make this news public until now as the threats made by the manager of Hreša shelter indicated he would take violent action against Jelena Paunović and the other animal welfare activists who went into Hreša. It is still dangerous, but we feel that there has been enough publicity about this case to protect the activists.

brownpuppy The 3 adult dogs and puppy probably died of the same illness that took the first set of rescued puppies, and infected Jenny, who was in the same pension as they were. Jenny is doing better, she’s in King Pension, has gained 3 Kg.

With the money donated so far for the Hreša rescues the remaining dogs (7 adults, 3 puppies) have been spayed, neutered, vaccinated against infectious diseases and rabies, and they’ve been microchipped (the puppies have just been vaccinated against infectious diseases as they are too young for surgery), and of course they are being fed.

73826_10200148695182906_1142702759_n Right now these dogs are in a safe, secret place, but the conditions there are not good, it is not protected against the plummeting winter temperatures. In fact sometimes we wonder if we have helped them as the conditions are so bad. BUT, they will not be murdered, they will not be used in dog fights, they will not be ransomed. And they will have plenty of food and water and some blankets.

However, they need to be found homes as quickly as possible. Jelena has many other rescues in pension (nearly 20, costing at least 1,500 EUROS – $2000 USD per month in donations not including veterinary fees) who have not been adopted in spite of best efforts by everyone, so this is a very worrying proposition.

45360_10200148677102454_736657858_n Or these rescues from Hreša can be moved into pension, but the fees for this would be huge: the pension that right now has availability for adult dogs costs 90 Euros a month (about 118 USD). King Pension is the only pension that takes puppies, and this costs 120 Euros (about 158 USD) a month.

This means: 630 Euros (820 USD) a month for the adult dogs, and 360 Euros (420 USD) a month for the puppies ( and this in addition to the cost of housing the rescues Jelena already has – 1500 Euros/ 2000 USD per month)

Other options are being looked into: perhaps Dogs Trust Bosnia and UK will help with funds, perhaps a shelter grant can be obtained from US or UK organisations for a new shelter that has proper facilities. But know that this kind of thing not only takes time – months, maybe years, but is fraught with difficulties.

76477_10200148696182931_525323923_n Susan Johnson of the US State department lived and worked in Bosnia as OHR Deputy High Representative and Supervisor of Brcko District, a special unit of multiethnic local self government under international supervised administration. She had the authority to stop the illegal shooting and poisoning of street dogs for bounty payments and she did all she could to implement an effective and humane animal control program. And she supported one NGO to set up a model dog shelter with extraordinary conditions for the dogs, a kind of heaven really.

In all of these efforts, in spite of her position, access to funds and so on, she did not succeed. During the 6 years plus this shelter was in operation it was subjected to sabotage, threats, abuse, theft and illegitimate lawsuits seeking to hold the operators financially liable for any and all dog bites in Brcko District. She had to close the shelter and re-locate the dogs to Serbia and then to the US, requiring an enormous amount of effort and funding. As she told me: “No local government, including the Sarajevo municipla authorities, understood or cared about managing this issue in conformity with EU standards, despite a law that was eventually passed incorporating EU standards.”

main little Sofie
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HOW TO HELP

If you want to sponsor a dog or a puppy rescued from the Horror Shelter in Hreša to be moved to pension, or if you want to contribute towards blankets, warm jackets (40 euros each) and food, you can use the Hreša ChipIn

OR:

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.

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If you are interested in adopting a dog or puppy, please contact us. See the slide show below for all photographs, and all photographs above are of these ‘secretly’ rescued dogs from Hreša.

Perhaps you live in a situation where you can’t have a dog… perhaps consider ‘virtually’ adopting one: paying for the dogs food and board. You will be sent photographs and videos of the dog every month and you can choose a name for it – contact us if you are interested.

45132_10200148675862423_2003346846_n 481477_10200148674862398_930202207_n

Jonny and Ricky, two of the saved adults

Of the first rescues who still survive, Grace is still in pension, doing better physically but still emotionally very damaged.

grace But the good news is that Clooney the lovely labrador has been adopted in Sarajevo!

clooneyadopted UPDATE: December 9 BAD NEWS. Clooney’s owner had to return him as the landlord wouldn’t let dogs in the apartment. I’m devastated for the poor dog.

Please keep sharing the petition:

Demand Investigation into Horror Shelter in Hresa, Bosnia

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Horror Camps for Animals in Bosnia

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Sandra Jensen

They are called ‘shelters’. I cannot call them this word. You know about Hreša.
If not, please read the following:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

The conditions entirely inhumane in most if not all state shelters. An animal welfare activist in Northern Bosnia states:

“There is a dog pound in another municipality that is really not better than Hreša and they kill anywhere from 30-80 dogs there every month. As of two weeks ago communal/municipal police banned activists from entering the dog pound and helping dogs there and they ordered that at least 30 dogs should be “euthanized” there every month. Dog pounds are used to launder money from public budgets and they don’t want activists to poke around and witness how dogs are mistreated or abused at the dog pounds that they dare to call dog asylums/shelters. Population control and promotion of spaying and neutering as well as implementation of the animal welfare law is not in their interest because they want and need constant flow of new dogs through the dog pounds so that they can justify the funds spent each month from the budget. This is common knowledge amongst Bosnian animal welfare activists”

In the case of the shelter in Hreša Jelena Paunović of Život BiH and other activists were not only prevented from taking a severely emaciated, suffering dog to veterinary care (see photograph above) but were violently threatened by the shelter manager. A Serbian friend who wishes to remain anonymous has stated she heard money had been stolen from the Hreša shelter funds during financial pre election manoeuvres.

I have access to images from the state dog shelter in Banja Luka, the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. These images show dogs that were killed by injections of bleach and a dog killed by other dogs and dead dogs left amongst the living.

Banja Luka Shelter

Here is a video of images from Banja Luka (text in Serbo-Croatian).

The smaller of two state shelters in Sarajevo is called Gladno Polje. Senaid Memić, one of the municipality mayors in Sarajevo (Ilidža municipality), signed a contract with the Agricultural cooperative (website http://upizzilidza.com/) to build a shelter on land owned by the Agricultural cooperative. It was to house about 120 dogs. The land for the shelter belongs to the Agricultural cooperative. The municipality supplied money for the construction work and volunteers were brought in to care for the dogs, however volunteers also provided their own funds for the construction and they were involved in cleaning up one of the buildings that existed on the land: a chicken farm.

The Director of the agricultural cooperative (Almir Džanković ) accepted the contract with the municipality without the agreement of the volunteers and employees who would be ultimately responsible for the dogs welfare. Essentially, the employees were ‘given’ 120 dogs to take care of, with minimal wages and no funds to take care of the dogs.

Jelena Paunović attempted to interview Almir Džanković, the agricultural director, but he refused to answer any of her questions regarding who is actually responsible for the dogs and why no proper provision has been made for their welfare.

Gladno Polje Shelter in Sarajevo

The municipality gives about 2 500 EUR every month to pay salaries for four full time employees and to pay water and other bills. The employees have no health insurance, their salaries are paid in cash, and they are not involved in the paying of bills so they don’t know what actually happens with the money.

There are about 200 dogs in and around the shelter. It’s impossible to know the exact number because people constantly leave strays in front of the shelter. There are big and small dogs, about 60 puppies, healthy and sick dogs.

There are several really big problems.
– There is no money for veterinary care
– There is no spay or neuter program
– There is no heating during the winter
– There is not enough dog food

The employees and volunteers at the shelter are actually beggars on social networks. If they collect donations, 200 EUR or even more – it means nothing. One vaccine for one dog for an infective disease costs 10 EUR, one basic veterinary exam costs 10 EUR, antibiotics 13 EUR and so on. Vets in Sarajevo will not see a dog without funds upfront, and thus many die.

Because there is no spay / neuter program, most of dogs are always in their cages and never go out.

When winter temperatures hit -20 to -30 degrees. In the Shelter, dogs sleep on the concrete or wet boards. Once they had beds made out of wood, but since the dogs are closed in for the most of the time, they have either eaten the wood or it has disintegrated due to the water used to clean the boxes. Volunteers and employees of the shelter constantly beg for old clothes to be donated to them. Dogs and especially puppies especially cannot live like this.

Jelena says: “We owe the greatest gratitude for the survival of the shelter and the dogs to Sanela Kotorić Etterle and Adnan Smailbegovic, who fight the most for everything dogs need.”

Gladno Polje

I have also seen images from the larger of two state shelters in Sarajevo, which show horrifically starving dogs. The situation is the same: no funds.

Regarding Hreša, the State Veterinary Office informed Dogs Trust in Bosnia a few days ago that the vet inspectorate responsible stated the shelter has been closed down by the local public utility company, even before the inspectorate had a chance to act, in an apparent effort to avoid possible legal sanctions.

Because there have been no prior inspection visits and because the shelter closed down before they could act now, the inspectorate couldn’t provide any more details.

Dogs Trust BiH state that they will continue following up on this, but as no result has, as far as I know, ever occurred regarding similar situations, I don’t hold up much hope.

In the meantime, the dogs in Gladno Polje desperately need food, veterinary care, and spaying and neutering.

The dogs rescued from Hreša need re-homing or sponsorship. Right now the monthly cost for the just the dogs rescued from Hreša is over 500 Euros (650 USD). And it is winter: there are over 10,000 strays in Sarajevo that Jelena and the other activists go out and feed or the dogs die – temperatures reach minus 30C.

Please help. I have drafted a letter for EU MEPs. I have a list of all EU MEPs email addresses. Go here for the letter and all information.

And please donate. If you have a specific issue you would like your donation to go to, please state it on the donation.

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HOW TO HELP:
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.

______________________________________________

Dogs at Gladno Polje

Horror Shelter in Hreša PART THREE

Posted on November 11, 2012 by Sandra Jensen

Jelena Paunović and the other animal activists returned to Hreša on the 7th of November. They found a completely deserted shelter. The dogs they’d seen there previously were no longer. However there was a large, locked container. Without police protection it was not advisable for the activists to investigate further.

So far we have had no response at all from emails and letters to the local authorities. I know many of you have also sent letters, without response. Nor have we had any useful response from international animal welfare organisations or any journalists that we have contacted, other than from Animal-Kind International who have a partner organisation in Bosnia, BAF, which is headquartered in the Netherlands. Animal-Kind have been very supportive in all kinds of ways, but we are all stymied by the lack of support and response on the ground from local authorities.

And please keep sharing the petition:
Demand Investigation into Horror Shelter in Hresa, Bosnia.

The Rescues

Seven puppies and two adult dogs were rescued from the Hreša shelter.

The Puppies
One of the puppies was too weak to survive. The others are doing well, but are quite traumatized.

Stella

Mia, Stella, Jimmy and Winnie

Johnny, Mia and Pug

Adult dogs
A lovely dog they’ve called Clooney…

Clooney is about 10 months old. They named him Clooney because he is such a sweetheart, such a stunning and handsome dog and such a heart-stopper to all women who see him.. He behaves beautifully on a leash, is very calm, he behaves beautifully with adult dogs, puppies and cats. As Mia Ožegović, one of the activists with Jelena says, “If you ever wondered what George Clooney would look like in doggie-world, THIS is as close as can get!”

But, one of the adult dogs is shockingly traumatized…

Mia says:
“I thought I saw everything…all the worst atrocities a human kind is capable to do to a living creature, especially a dog , whether in reality or on tv shows such as ASPCA on Animal planet etc. But this story …this case ….this female dog …. this is unbearable …. I’m trying not cry and trying to talk and describe her from a distance. I am trying not to let my emotions and anger and despair prevail …. I have never seen so many people cry after getting in touch with a dog that had such an abusive past as this lovely female had. Thinking of how to name her, one adjective was always coming to my mind … “It was a true GRACE that she ran out of that kennel at Hresa so we could pick her up and take her away from that hell …” I think it would be appropriate to therefore to name her Grace …. Grace was (with no doubt) heavily beaten-up over a long period of time, either by her previous owner or by the people responsible at the Hresa Shelter, but we will never know the exact truth. She is unable to walk, not because she is in pain but out of sheer fear. Each time someone makes a gesture or moves a hand quickly she immediately gets down and stays down because she thinks that we will hit her. She holds her tail as curled up as she possibly can. It took us an whole hour and a half just to make her do two steps on her own, or even to encourage her to get up from the ground and just stand. She has bite-marks all over her body, probably because the other dogs with whom she was sharing the kennel at Hresa, would fight or bite each other out of hunger. She is in such a poor psychological and physiological condition that for her complete recovery she will need a great deal of time to pass. She was brought to the very fine edge of starvation. She is a walking skeleton. You can’t call her “a dog” because she isn’t one. She is just an image of a dog, a vague and bleak image of something that people classified as “a dog”. This is a crawling, breathing, nightmare …. Soon we will post a video of her, just so you could see for yourself all this and much much more of all this that I’m trying to explain regarding Grace’s condition. she will be “a dog” one day, she will one day roam and jump and play like all dogs do. She will twinkle her tail when she sees a human being …she will …. we just have to help her become that.”

UPDATE February 22, 2013 Lovely Clooney has been adopted locally in Sarajevo.

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It strikes me that it was a year ago today that Vučko was so brutally tortured.

Horror Shelter in Hreša PART TWO

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Sandra Jensen

This from Jelena Paunovic, who just got back from Hreša:

“When I first published photos from Hreša shelter many people interested in adopting contacted me. I had probable home for ten dogs. Director of shelter, in our conversation two days ago, said he is interested in cooperation regarding helping him with food, public relations and adoptions of dogs.

Today we went to shelter with the idea to take few dogs and put them in pension until they could be sent to their adopters. Alas, when we got there all of this dogs were missing and shelter was half empty.

We were able to put seven puppies and two grown up dogs in a small car. We put them in pension aware that we saved them of eminent death. All of them will need sponsors for pension costs. First expenses will be covered with money gathered for food as we have almost no dogs left there to be fed. We found out that bodies of dogs were buried at local garbage disposal site and we went there to look for bodies. Employee of facility confirmed that bodies were buried there but said there is no possibility to see them as they dug them in deep. We looked for them but to no result. Later we tried to get few remaining ones out but run into a trouble as workers arrived so we had to flee!

There is probably six more dogs there but we are not capable to get them out as this could be very dangerous now when they expect us. Early this morning one of activists talked to shelter manager who claimed that he released dogs but witnesses and clues are telling another story.”

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PLEASE CONTACT ANIMAL WELFARE ORGANISATIONS AND TELL THEM WHAT IS HAPPENING IN HRESA.
(contact me for Jelena’s details to give them so they can verify the story)

Please sign and share the petition:
Demand Investigation into Horror Shelter in Hresa, Bosnia

Please contact the local authorities directly, see the post below. I’ll be redrafting a letter soon.

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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.

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Horror Shelter in Hreša, Bosnia

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Sandra Jensen

Jelena Paunović of Život BiH was contacted last night about a shelter in Hreša
district, on the outskirts of Sarajevo. She went there with volunteers and took photographs.

She went again this morning with food.This is what she discovered:

Over 50 dogs are being kept in entirely inhumane conditions, without adequate food or water or veterinary treatment, that numerous dogs are kept in tiny cages, that dead dogs are left amongst living dogs. Dogs have open wounds. Puppies are starving.

Furthermore, witnesses said that any non-purebred dog caught by the shelter is killed, and that purebred dogs are stolen from owners and only released to the owner if a ransom is paid.

One person said: “They only want purebred dogs because they can sell them. They just do not care about strays! They are killing them constantly! And also, they are stealing the dogs from people’s yards if they are purebred and selling them. One worker of the shelter I spoke to said that I have to pay 100 EUR if I want my dog back. When I arrived at Hresa shelter (it takes me about one hour!) they killed my dog in their car. My God I was ready to pay the ransom!”

Jelena was told by Slaviša Jovčić, the manager of the shelter and director of Glog, the company that built the shelter, that he was promised 130 000 KM from the local government municipalities for the shelter, but the full amount of the money was never paid by the municipality and therefore Slaviša Jovčić cannot ensure the care of the dogs.

What can be done? It will cost 20 euros a day to feed the dogs through the winter. It will cost animal welfare volunteers from Sarajevo 15 euros for each trip they make to check on the dogs and bring food. There is nowhere to release them to other than the streets. There are no foster homes for them, and ‘pension’ will cost at least 80 euros per dog.

Maybe we can a) raise funds for food
and b) bring international attention so the authorities are forced to do something. If you have any contacts with international animal welfare organisations please let them know. Sign the petition linked to below and send letters to the Mayor of the municipality.

I have started a petition, please sign and share:

Demand Investigation into Horror Shelter in Hresa, Bosnia

And please contact the Mayor of the district directly – by mail, email, telephone and fax. The dogs only hope is if we show the Bosnian Government that we know, and that we will not sit by and let these dogs suffer.

Bojo Gašanović
Opština Istočni Stari Grad
Hreša bb,
71144 Hreša, Istočni Stari Grad,
Istočno Sarajevo
Telefon: +387 (0) 57 265 117
Fax: +387 (0)57 265 114

E-mail: info@opstinaisg.net

You can also contact the local commissioner:
Snjezana Jovicic +387 (0) 57 265 117

Sample letter – better if you personalise it:

Dear Sir,

I request that the Government of Bosnian and Herzegovina, the Istocni Stari Grad authorities and municipality mayor Bojo Gašanović in particular, investigate the matter of the Hreša dog shelter.

We have reliable reports and eyewitness accounts substantiated by photographs that that over 50 dogs are being kept in inhumane conditions, without adequate food or water or veterinary treatment, that numerous dogs are kept in tiny cages, that dead dogs are left amongst living dogs. Furthermore, there are reports that any non-purebred dog caught by the shelter is killed, and that purebred dogs are stolen from owners and only released to the owner if a ransom is paid.

It is understood that Slaviša Jovčić, the manager of the shelter and director of Glog, the company that built the shelter, was promised 130 000 KM from the municipalities for the shelter, but the full amount of the money was never paid by the municipality and therefore Slaviša Jovčić cannot ensure the care of the dogs.

We demand that a full investigation is undertaken, that the municipality ensures that the facility is immediately provided with funds to care for these dogs. Modern practices must be implemented, giving food and fresh water and the facility be must kept sanitary and properly staffed with veterinary professionals so the animals are cared for and, ultimately, caring homes need to be found for these dogs.

This situation has sparked a global outcry and we look to the Bosnian and Herzegovinan justice system and authorities to conform with EU standards regarding animal welfare, and to apply the law that was passed in Bosnia Herzegovina incorporating these EU standards.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.

Yours sincerely,

[your name here]

And in Serbo-Croatian:

Dragi gospodine,

Zahtevam da vlada BiH, vlasti Istočnog Starog Grada i posebno gradonačelnik općine Bojo Gašanović istraže pitanje skloništa psa u Hreši.

Postoje pouzdani izvještaji očevidaca koji su potkrepljeni fotografijama da je više od 50 psa su držani u nehumanim uvetima, bez adekvatne hrane ili vode ili veterinarskog lečenja, da brojni psi se drže u malim kavezima, koji su mrtvi psi među živih pasa. Nadalje, postoje izvješća da bilo koji nečistokrvni pas je uhvaćen od strane sklonište je ubijen, a da rasni psi su ukradeni od vlasnika i otpušteni njim, samo ako se plati otkupnina

Podrazumiva se da Slaviši Jovčić,u voditelju skloništa i direktoru Glog, drustvo koje je gradilo sklonište, obećali su 130 ,00 KM od općine za sklonište, ali puni iznos novca nikad nije bio plaćen od strane općine i stoga Slaviša Jovčić ne može da osiguri brigu o psima.

Tražimo da puna istraga se provodi, da općina osigurava da objektu odmah se osiguraju sredstava takoda se brinu za te pse. Moderni postupci moraju da se provode, hranu i svježa voda moraju da se daje i objekt mora da se čuva u sanitarnom stanju, s osobljem veterinarskih stručnjaka, tako da su životinje zbrinute i, u konačnici, brižni domovi treba da se nadje za ove pse..

Ova situacija je izazvala globalnu negodovanje i očekujemo od i pravosuđe i vlasti skladanje sa standardima EU-a o dobrobiti životinja, te primenje zakona koji je bio donesen u BiH i uključuje ove standarde EU-a.

Hvala vam za uzimanje vremena da pročitate ovo pismo.

Srdačno vaš,

[your name here]

I have started a ChipIn, please donate.

Or contribute directly via PayPal:

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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.

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IN MEMORY OF VUČKO

raising awareness and funds to stop animal suffering in Sarajevo and Bosnia-Herzegovina

Tag Archives: Hreša

BOSNIA: kill and slaughter until the dog is no more…

Horror Shelter Hreša – Back in Action

THE HORROR SHELTERS OF BOSNIA – SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!

Demand Investigation into Horror Shelter in Hresa, Bosnia

BOSNIA! IMPLEMENT HUMANE STRAY-DOG AND CAT POPULATION CONTROL AND TREATMENT

Update on the Nineteen Dogs Caged without Food or Water

Horror Shelter in Hreša PART FOUR

Horror Camps for Animals in Bosnia

Horror Shelter in Hreša PART THREE

Horror Shelter in Hreša PART TWO

Horror Shelter in Hreša, Bosnia