“On August 1, an infected wild fox attacked a home dog in the Vladaya suburb. All animals in Vladaya are now under quarantine. There is a danger of rabies spreading among street dogs in Sofia. Forty cases of rabies are registered annually in Bulgaria, and almost half of them are on the territory of Sofia and the surrounding region,” Darik News quoted National Veterinary Service (NVS) deputy director Dr Damyan Iliev as saying on August 11 2008.

“There is absolutely no danger of rabies spreading among homeless dogs in Sofia. There is no single case of a stray dog infected with rabies in Vladaya. Even more, during the past two years, we have been vaccinating all stray dogs against rabies. It is possible that this announcement is an attack from the Government aimed against the municipality,” Sofia municipality Animal Control Agency director Miroslav Naidenov told Darik News on August 11.

According to the Animal Protection Act, effective since January 31 2008, mayors are obliged to provide annual rabies vaccination of stray dogs.

The animals should wear a collar with an identification number that should be entered in a special municipal register. Non-governmental organisations and citizens that have taken responsibility for their supervision and care should be registered, too. These persons should possess a veterinary passport for each animal. But Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov’s team breaks the law by not complying with the measures set forth. Many of the stray dogs roam without collars; others may wear such, but without an identification number that unites them under a single control system.

We frequently face concrete cases that cast a shadow of doubt over municipal policy concerning healthcare of strays. On August 12, near Buxton Boulevard, I encountered a pack of three dogs. None was wearing a collar. One of them had symptoms of dermatological diseases around the eyes – probably demodicosis, which is completely curable. But the infection looked like it had been there for a while, and obviously had not been treated. It is very unlikely that a private person or an officer would be able to report the date of last and next vaccinations of these dogs.

At the moment, vaccination of stray dogs in Sofia seems to be almost impossible. For the past two decades, the shift in this animal population has been very dynamic. Not so long ago, most of the animals of the previous generations wore the red collars of Tierhilfe Sueden and yellow collars of Ekoravnovesie, the municipal Animal Control Agency. And despite the Animal Protection Act’s prohibition on euthanasia, they continue to disappear from the streets. And every day in their place new animals appear. Recently, if they have been wearing collars, they are green or blue.

The influx of unwanted dogs in Sofia does not stop, because the owned dogs remain unsterilised as a whole. In spite of the municipality’s sufficient resources, Borissov hasn’t done anything about increasing the ratio of sterilised animals in the owned-dog population. There are no educational programmes, low-cost sterilisation programmes, or active policy for saving, sterilising or re-homing the unwanted animals.

Obviously, a risky situation will not provoke positive changes in dog population management in Sofia. Furthermore, if dog pounds cannot continue to work, the insufficient shelter capacity may lead to a steep population reduction, supported by the fur factories.

Emil D Kuzmanov
Animal Programs Foundation
Sofia