04/10/24 Due to Abused Dogs, Split Urgently Needs to Build Temporary Shelter!
Meeting Held with the City of Split, Veterinary Inspection, and Representatives of Shelters and Animal Welfare Organizations
- The City of Split must take care of incompatible dogs by building a temporary and then permanent shelter on its own land
The alarming situation with more than 60 dogs being held captive by a psychiatrist from the Split Clinical Hospital at a hidden location in Split shows no signs of abating. The Animal Friends Association has filed a complaint against him with the State Inspectorate and a criminal report for neglect and abuse of animals, the criminal offense of killing and torturing animals, the criminal offense of destroying protected parts of nature, as well as engaging in unregistered breeding for the purpose of using animals for dog fights. The pressing problem is where to accommodate such a large number of dogs, for whom adequate care must be provided, considering they are highly traumatized animals subject to the provisions of the Dangerous Dogs Regulation.
Therefore, a meeting was held yesterday attended by representatives of the City of Split - Damir Babiæ, head of the Department of Traffic and Municipal Maintenance, Leona Grgiæ, head of the Administrative Department for Municipal Affairs, Olenka Dadiæ, head of the Administrative Department for Economic Affairs, and Nik¹a Maletiæ, assistant head of the Administrative Department for City Property; veterinary inspectors - Dr. med. vet. Milica Markiæ Katiæ and Dr. med. vet. Svjetlana Milin Radiæ; representatives of animal shelters - Ana Ivelja, director of the Shelter for Abandoned Animals Dubrovnik, and Zvonimir Filipoviæ, director of the Animalis Centrum shelter, as well as representatives of animal welfare organizations - Dr. med. vet. Svjetlana Prodanoviæ, head of the Animal Protection Network, Luka Oman, president of the Animal Friends Association, and Leticija Babiæ, president of the Association Paws From The Heart from Makarska.
Representatives of animal welfare organizations and the veterinary inspection stated that the dogs need to be relocated from the private location where they are forced to be tied to chains, exposed to upcoming heatwaves and other adverse conditions, as soon as possible. The organizations emphasized that their temporary accommodation should be provided at a suitable location in Split, organized and managed by a registered dog shelter, with qualified staff. Representatives of the City of Split have taken responsibility, which is commendable, and stated that Split has available land for this purpose. It was agreed that Split would start the construction of a facility on this land, where dogs will be temporarily housed, and a registered shelter will take care of them. As the care for the dogs will take time, and similar cases are possible, the City of Split should simultaneously start building an animal shelter, as Dubrovnik has done.
"Similar to the case of relocating dogs from ®arkovica two years ago, the relocation of these dogs cannot be resolved quickly. It is realistic to expect that dogs, especially those showing anomalies in behavior as a result of abuse, will need long-term temporary accommodation. Since these are incompatible dogs that can cause each other injuries or death when kept together, Split must provide individual kennels for each dog in temporary accommodation, and after treatment, socialization, and neutering, seek homes for them," the organizations said.
They explained that the City of Split is responsible for the problem that has arisen and must resolve it in the area of Split: "Split has so far failed to act in accordance with the Animal Protection Act and related regulations, thus failing to control the microchipping of dogs, not funding the neutering of stray dogs and cats, not prescribing permanent sterilization, nor using other legal tools to reduce the number of abandoned animals. Building a shelter is the least the City can do in this shameful situation, where dogs that have undergone horror are in the center of Split and need the best care."
At yesterday's meeting, representatives of animal welfare organizations and shelters offered assistance in the quick and affordable realization of temporary accommodation for dogs to get them off chains and moved as soon as possible. Everything Split invests will remain a quality foundation for a future registered shelter. Even nonprofit organizations have already built shelters for animals, so Split, as the second-largest city in Croatia with much larger resources, has no excuse not to start building a shelter immediately and avoid seeking shelter for dogs in shelters throughout Croatia, as it is currently doing.
The organizations call on citizens to write to the City of Split and urge it to use the land it has to build a shelter. By doing so, the City of Split will demonstrate its willingness to enforce the law and fulfill years of promises for the necessary construction of a shelter. It is unacceptable for Split to allow the illegal and inhumane keeping of animals for the purpose of cruel dog fights, organized by members of the criminal underworld, without having a solution for the accommodation of these dogs itself.
![dob in split [ 481.40 Kb ]](/data/image_3_16555.png "dob in split [ 481.40 Kb ]")
