About 100 stray dogs have been neutered at the Municipal Animal Sterilization Center since it opened in Chisinau four months ago. The animals are trapped in the streets by the Center’s employees following citizens' complaints or requests, IPN reports.

According to veterinarian Vlad Serghei, the Center has a capacity to neuter about ten dogs daily. When they get to the pound, the dogs undergo a 10-day quarantine. The sick animals are put down and the healthy ones are sterilized. After a recovery period, they are included in the adoption program. The doctor says people are not too keen to take home a stray dog, meaning that most remain in the care of volunteers. If no one adopts a dog, it is eventually released where it was caught after an ear tag is applied.

A team from the NGO Romanian Animal Rescue is now visiting the Chisinau center to share experience and help to neuter 150 dogs in three days for free.

Earlier, acting mayor Ruslan Codreanu said the Center would neuter about a thousand stray dogs in the Center’s first half a year. Also, its veterinary division would be extended and provided with modern equipment, and a digital register would be created. Currently the Center operates a small vet office. The municipal budget has so far allocated 400,000 lei to open and run the Center.