The 'street dog' problem will not be solved until all animal owners in Bulgaria sterilise their dogs and cats, treat them humanely and don't throw them away like garbage! The money should go to education and sterilisation for all, as well as shelters. Further there needs to be more transparency in animal welfare in Bulgaria, especially for large companies that operate unchecked by public scrutiny.

Some great posts but where do some people think the dogs come from? Killing, een shelters, etc don't work and certainly whilst Bulgarian (and foreign) owners have such irresponsible attitudes and do not neuter or care for their animals. There are some beacons in some communities where dogs and cats are cared for (usually the better educated communities) but many uneducated just 'throw them out', not unlike their litter! The World Health Organisation and others have made many studies on these problems and irrespective of bigoted attitutes, the evidence shows that the only solutions are sterilisation and education to improve [...]

Read the full comment owners attitude. Shelters should be short term only to sterilise and nurse back to health. Some wise places have instigated regulations to ensure sterilisation and have stopped all pet shop sale of dogs to the public, insisting that people adopt the millions of unwanted dogs. So you could kill all the dogs on the streets now and they will / have been replaced by irresponsible owners' dogs. Sorry, but education on how to care for animals is a must here. Sterilise, walk, feed properly, train and DONT chain them.

Afterv reading all the posts here i've come to the conclusion (whether your for or against euthanasia) it's the governments lack of progress that really upsets everyone. Dog shelters may remove the some strays from the streets. Euthenasia may initially reduce the stray dog population. But with no education or support for low income families dogs will continue to be abandoned.
Neutering only puts more money into certain vets pockets. Resulting in these neutered dogs returning to the streets. Come on goverment sort it out.

It's more easy to teach the dogs in this country as it is to teach the government to keep their promises. Bal bla bla and nothing else over and over again.

And for the American expat, in case you haven't noticed they use LEVA in Bulgaria.

"It makes Bulgaria look like some third world backwater in Africa or South Asia. "

Bulgaria IS a thirld world income country only its prices and prententions are "european"

PC, unfortunately, in years past, mass culls have occurred in BG and also in several surrounding countries to no avail. The dogs always come back. You can thank your neighbor who dumps their dog or lets their dogs have puppies for this. It saddens me deeply to see their suffering on the streets.

I actually am shocked the municipalities are trying to tell people they spayed or neutered that many animals last year. And especially that they only put 500 dogs down.

If you want to thank any other organization for the [...]

Read the full comment rampant problem here, please thank your local municipality for collecting and spending your tax dollars and doing absolutely nothing. It is in their interest to continue to have a stray dog problem so they can keep getting funding while doing absolutely nothing. They are laughing at the taxpayers who continue to fund their thieving while we all suffer the consequences. Also, Mr. Kuzmanov is correct, as he always is in this matter, there is also a lucrative fur trade in strays and the municipal shelters.

Petrov just misleads the public. In fact, increasing shelter capacity cannot reduce the dog population over reproduction.

On the contrary, dog shelters in Sofia, Plovdiv, Shumen, Dobrich etc. are designed to "manage" uncounted number of lost and unwanted pets by illegal animal disposal only.

“Cat and dog fur is a cheaper option than other fur. I have spoken to traders abroad in countries like Bulgaria and Romania where there is a massive stray dog problem and their fur is routinely used. This fur is being passed off as Siberian fox or rabbit [...]

Read the full comment fur and people have no idea it is from dogs and cats” - Mike Hancock MP.

"I asked if [the cloth] was made with street dog fur, and the vendor said it was. I was pretending to be a dealer, and asked if it would be possible to have more. She told me she had 750 in a storeroom in Sofia," Jordanka Tcacheva of Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Animals told Sunday Telegraph.

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AE in Bg you've stated that killing them has failed before, when?? Humane management is what your after - yes? Well how can you condone the release of 1132 dogs back onto the streets whether they're castrated or not? Do you like seeing packs of starving; flea bitten; tick infested muts roaming the streets. Maybe your one of the misguided do gooders who feed them your table scraps. The only reason the locals don't shoot them is if they're caught they'd loose their hunting licenses!

Sadly people will NEVER learn. Start with chipping all dogs sold and register owners, that way you can always find out who is to be held responsible for letting the dog in the street. Fine the owners who think they can just do whatever they want. Put all strays to sleep and start over again. Shelters will cost a lot of money also to be paid by people who have nothing to do with the dogs let in the street by people just wanting to get rid of them. The problem will never be solved unless you reduce the number [...]

Read the full comment of dogs. All that happens in Bulgaria is bla bla bla without any results, as written in other comments. Again you can read the past is being blamed, when will people wake up and start thinking of the future? Like this there will only be more and more strays and the streets will be crawling with dogs and not to forget cats whose number is also increasing. Did anyone ever think that stray animals could be one reason for Bulgarian people to have such tired eyes? Could the dogs keeping them from sleeping at night be a reason or is it the PM doing nothing at it causing people to worry?

HOW ABOUT SHELTERS FOR ROMA GIPSYES FIRST, THEN PUT IN THE DOGS TO GUARD THE GIPSYES.THAT WOULD BE A GREAT COMBINATION??????

The dogs on the streets of sofia are stray dogs that live and breed on the street there are very few "domesticated dogs" running wild these dogs just survive as they can and are simply parasites to all. They of course should be eradicated as they are a danger for many children and old people HOE i do not know it is not a job i would like to do BUT it must be done

Ugh, here we go again, this "kill them all" mentality disgusts me and is extremely short sighted. This has been tried before and failed miserably. This is perhaps one of the more ugly "human" traits we have, if anything inconveniences us, kill it. Humans domesticated dogs, much to their eternal suffering. How sad that we domesticated them and now refuse to take any humane responsibility for the management of their populations.

But, there are several reputable non profit groups here, attempting anyway, to help neuter dogs...from what I have been seeing the resistance to large scale [...]

Read the full comment neutering is coming from the municipalities. The municipalities should really work more with private non profits to get the job done...the country doesn't have a lot of excess money laying around. So the smart answer is to work with the non profit groups who are here trying to implement sound and humane programs. Luckily, from what I have been seeing, the younger generation seems to be getting increasingly involved in helping others in a variety of ways.

Sofia, soon Europe's only capital city with more stray dogs than tourists.

2106 dogs captured - 200 adopted - 595 put down & 1132 released. i pity the 1132 who are on the streets uncared for; Sh**ing on the streets & pavements. The humane thing would of been to kill them all!!

Kill them ! What are you waiting for ??

send the animal rights hippies to the dogs !

kill 'em all

they are not to blame...we are the ones to find a correct solution but remember "we"often can't even lead a proper life.

I think you need to work through your man issues there, Diane ;)

If I made a similar remark about wimmin, I'd probably get banned.

Dogs scare the hell out of me and thousands others. Sadly, the only cure is euthanasia.

I think they killed most of the tray dogs in Plovdiv. And there are very few dogs there, in comparison to Sofia.

If we are talking of killing aggressive uncontrollable animals in Sofia then can we add half of the male human population to the list please. "Kill them all comes the cry", what do you expect from a pig but a grunt ?

Putting the 5-figure stray population (maybe it's even 6 figures?), in shelters is a cop-out.

It also won't work - as there is no *disincentive* for owners to throw the animals they've become bored with/can't afford to care for/whatever, onto the streets.

Furthermore, it is tantamount to an additional tax on responsible owners and non- dog owners alike.

Dog Shelters will only solve part of the problem. The world is in
recession, and people are often giving up their dogs. In parts of the UK dogs in shelters are kept for only a couple of weeks, and if not claimed or adopted are now being put down. Previously a healthy dog was not put down for months.
Of 2106 dogs captured only 200 were
adopted.

This is sad for all, but these animals can become dangerous. If
the animals are captured they should not be re-released. [...]

Read the full comment They could tear a child apart.

Also, this argument about licensing being too expensive is misleading. To some extent, *that's the idea*.

If you can't afford a license, you probably can't afford to care for the dog properly either (a bit like teenage chavs and babies in the UK). :)

I was just watching a French film called something "oncle" (1958) and Paris was full of stray dogs.
In fact the stray dogs and their overpopulation was used as the comic element.
I think that just like western Europe in her post war years, we too havesome post- Cold war pains we are going through.
Let's be realistic and recognize what we are dealing with here...

this cannot be allowed to go on something has to be done and quick,

Phillip, at least in Asia they enjoy the taste of a good dog, so I don't think you would see as many running around and affecting the safety of the people. Boyko is all talk regarding this issue, he said he would fix it when he was a mayor and now that he is a PM it's not his problem anymore. I agree with Phillip, neurtering is the only way along with euthanasia. Have you heard about the dog's that killed at least 2 children in the past 2 yrs? This is unacceptable. Get off your butt's BG and do [...]

Read the full comment something.

This is sad for everyone involved including the dogs.

So what *would* you suggest then, Mat?

This is one of my biggest beefs with BG. How on earth was this allowed to happen?

Humane euthanasia coupled with neutering for younger animals AND enforced dog licensing, is the only way forward.

It makes Bulgaria look like some third world backwater in Africa or South Asia.

Pay no heed to the Animal Rights hippies - just get it done, Boiko.

I'll start with the obligatory 'kill them all'.

Carry on