Bulgaria: In the Animal Protection Bills discussed in the Parliament the main animal welfare problem - the exstreme instability of cat and dog populations - remains unsolved.
Please help our effort for improvement of the Animal Protection Bill discussed in BG Parliament.
Please re-send sample letter below with a personal statement to:
infocenter@parliament.bg >
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To:
Mr Georgi Pirinski
Chairman of the National Assembly
Mr Vassil Kalinov
Chairman of the Agriculture and Forestry Parliamentary Committee
Concerning: Effective Animal Protection Act
Honorable Gentlemen,
Please note that we fully endorse the letter below.
Best regards,
.........................................(name, city, country)
On 10 November 2006 we informed the Chairman of the Parlaimentary Comission of Agriculture, that the Bill for the Proterction of Animals presented by Vania Tsvetkova MP does not insure the hummane cat and dog population control. At the same time the bill prohibits killing of pet animals as a measure for reducing population number.
On 10 January 2007 the European Parlaimentary Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals sent letters to the Bulgarian institutions engaged in the process of approval of such Act, in which the need of garanties for successful "no-kill control", was stressed.
Despite of all these efforts, on 14 February 2007 a second bill was introduced by Evdokia Maneva MP, in which the needed measure were not provided again.
In both bills the main problem in this area - the exstreme instability of the populations - remains unsolved. The following objectives remain neglected:
- reduction of the unplanned breeding;
- restriction of the trade of animals;
- restriction of the irresponsible aquiring and possesion of animals;
- restriction of the movement of lost and unwanted animals.
On 15 March 2007 the both bills passed the first vote. According to the procedure of legislation, these must be united in a joint bill, before the second vote.
This procedure also gives serious chances for improvement and corrections of the complete text before the second vote, by written proposals from the MPs, followed by report by the Commission.
We insist and beg you to use all these possibilities and to propose additional texts which will ensure the solvation of the above listed objectives. These additions must clearly determin the measures, terms and responsibilities. The sample texts below may be used:
(1) "a dog owner must present the animal's passport for inspection, including whenever he is going out with the animal, or transporting it"
(2) "when a dog changes it's onwer, the former owner or the dealer must inform the RVMS and give data of the new owner"
(3) "an owner, who have lost his dog must inform immediately (untill the next working day) the Regional Veterinary Service/RVS"
(4) "the manager of a shelter, or any person who have saved a lost dog must immediately seek for the owner by data from the mark; if it is impossible, he must inform the RVS until the next working day"
(5) "for every female dog, not surgically sterilized until the age of 8 months, the owner must pay tax of 1,000 lv per year"
(6) "the manager of a shelter must inform the Mayor for every planned collection, or re-introduction of stray animals, including date, district, number; for every case of transportation of such animals, the manager of a shelter must provide a transport document, including the same data"
(7) "every month the manager of a shelter presents to the Mayor report for the present, in-coming and out-coming animals"
(8) "the SPCAs, taking care of the stray animals in the districts, must present to the Mayor a monthly report for the number and the identity of the supported animals"
(9) "the Mayors present monthly reports to the RVS for the registry control over animals in the shelters and districts"
(10) "RVS collects the registry data, given by the owners, dealers, veterinarians and Mayors; keeps a double registry of the dogs on paper; data for the in-scripted and out-scripted dogs must be permanently
actulized"
(11) "the paper registry in every RVS must be public accessable; every interested person must be able to obtain a payable copy of the wanted data of the paper and electronic registers of RVS or National Veterinary Service/NVS"
(12) "NVS inspects the passports of the dogs; controlls the supply and demand of cats and dogs, including by permanent cheking of the published advertisments; inspects the documents for registration of the dealers, municipalities, shelters and SPCAs, taking care of the stray animals; inspects the shelters and survey the stray animals; presents anual reports; instructs the Mayors"
(13) "NVS and Ministry of Interior commonly control the collection and transportation of cats and dogs"
(14) "a person who trades cats, but is not registered as a dealer must pay a fine of 500 lv; a person who trades dogs, but is not registered as a dealer, or has not payed a tax for non sterilized female dog, must pay a fine of 1,000-2,000 lv"
(15) "the sanctions determined in this Act must also apply to the violations of the registry regime, postulated in the Pragraf 174 of the Veterinary Act"
(16) "paragraf 429 of the Veterinary Act (fines for the violations of the Par. 174) must be removed"
We would like to thank you in advance.
Original: Urge a Complete and Feasible Animal Protection Act in Bulgaria