Chisinau stray dog has rabies

The mayor of Chisinau ordered that the intervention groups of the sanitation company Autosalubritate step up efforts as a stray dog caught in Chisinau’s Centru district was diagnosed with rabies, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the company’s head Tudor Maniv, five intervention groups work in the districts of the capital city, while one group operates in central Chisinau and in the zone of the Airport. So far, the dogs have been caught at night and in the morning. Now the teams will work during the day as well. “The situation concerning stray dogs can increase tension in the society,” Dorin Chirtoaca said Monday at the meeting of the City Hall. He stressed that the dogs are not shot dead as earlier, but sterilized and taken to an animal shelter. Some of them are put up for adoption. About 6,000 stray dogs are caught in the municipality of Chisinau every year. But the situation remains tense as there are no conditions for neutering and looking after the dogs in shelters. As Autosalubritate does not have financial resources and personnel, it cannot keep the situation under control. Only one shelter for animals works in the municipality. The project of the second shelter was approved by the Chisinau Municipal Council, but the construction works have not started yet. Representatives of the Austrian foundation Vier Pfoten in Romanian have sterilized about 30 stray dogs during two weeks before Easter. They were to return to Chisinau after a short vacation, but could not owing to the visa regime imposed by the Moldovan authorities on Romanian travelers. The organization committed itself to spaying by 35 dogs a day during two months. The project was financed from European funds. Last week, an employee of the Green Spaces Association had a heart attack and died after bitten by a stray dog.