The municipality of Chisinau fails to deal with the problem of animals without shelter in the capital city, said Irina Yakovenko, specialist of the Animal Control and Protection Section. According to her, today there are no shelters where stray dogs can be taken to as there are no free places available, while the volunteers are tired and do not have financial resources to do the work of the responsible authorities.

In a news conference hosted by IPN, Irina Yakovenko announced her decision to resign and to this way protest against the cynicism of the authorities that block the work of the Animal Control and Protection Section. She said she had held the post for three years and in the period met with opposition and blocking of initiatives proposed to solve the problem of animals without shelter, including the aggressive ones, who can endanger the health and even life of people.

“The higher is the number of bites, the easier is to set public opinion against dogs. On the pretext of remedying the situation, they actually aim to create a new municipal enterprise outside control, which will allegedly solve all the problems of the city,” stated Irina Yakovenko. According to her, corrupt representatives of the local authorities make effort to show that the regulations on the keeping of pets and animals without shelter in the municipality of Chisinau, which were adopted in 2019, and the Animal Control and Protection Section are inefficient as they want to control the funds allocated for handling the problem of animals without shelter.

Irina Yakovenko also said that all the proposals and initiatives formulated by the Animal Control and Protection Section are rejected for the reason that a new municipal enterprise is to be founded to deal with the problem. But no progress was made.

The suburban localities should also become involved in the resolution of the problem of stray dogs. Without coordinated programs, the authorities do not make any headway. The dogs breed quickly and if they are neutered in the capital city, but are not sterilized in the suburban settlements, all the efforts are in vain. “Nothing has been done with regard to the suburban localities, to the temporary care center known as the necropolis. A sterilization center, an adoption center and a special place for aggressive animals weren’t set up there. But a sum of 20 million lei was spent on the necropolis during three-four years. These are public funds, of the taxpayers, which was wasted,” noted Irina Yakovenko.

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