A very rare topic was posted on September 18, 2009 in Bulgarian vegetarian forum (*) as it considers cases of animal welfare standards broken by then-mayor Boiko Borisov's team. Two links to Youtube videos are provided.

First video includes short reports from the Sofia shelter of September 30 2008, November 5 2008, December 3 2008 and February 4 2009. Second video do not provide a time indication (this shelter was opened on February 28, 2006).

Author noted that lot of unwanted puppies were impounded almost every day. According to him, shelter personnel left them to die as neither food nor medical care were provided. He announced that some animal defenders taken raising funds to provide food for dogs and puppies three times per week.

In fact, funding is not a reason for those inhumane housing practices. Legal data show 4968 dogs impounded in 2008 and 1,219,484 leva budget provided for catching, housing and further treatment. That means nearly 250 leva average expense per animal impounded.

Current Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov was Mayor of Sofia between November 2005 and July 2009; and Sofia Municipal Animal Control (legally named "Ekoravnovesie Sofia Municipal Enterprise") was then managed by Miroslav Naidenov, current Agriculture Minister.

So far, those shelter practices were not considered by all Sofia-based member organizations of World Society for the Protection of Animals - Intimate With Nature Society (IWNS), National Foundation for the Protection of Animals in Bulgaria (NFPAB), Federation for the Welfare of Street Dogs (FWSD) and Bulgarian Society for Animal Protection and Preservation (BSAPP).

Four Paws Bulgaria, a branch of Austria-based Four Paws International (Vier Pfoten International), did not react too. Meanwhile, they taken noisy campaigns against cases of dog killing in a few local centers e. g. Haskovo, Plovdiv and Blagoevgrad.


* Source: www.vegebg.org/forum/index.php

Emil D. Kuzmanov
Animal Programs Foundation, Bulgaria
E-mail: animalprograms (at) abv.bg