NGOs call on authorities to stop extermination of stray animals

The nongovernmental animal protection organization “Alga” and the Center of Initiatives and Public Authorities Monitoring made a call to President Nicolae Timofti, Prime Minister Vlad Filat and Metropolitan Bishops Vladimir and Petru, asking that they take measures to stop the extermination of animals. The call was launched in a news conference held at Info-Prim Neo on March 27. According to lawyer Ion Dron, the idea of making such a call appeared long ago, but the decision of the authorities of Leova town to kill over 1 000 cats and dogs served as an impetus to transmit the message. “The cruel method of exterminating stray dogs is used by more and more settlements that follow the example of Chisinau, where the animals are poisoned, and of Leova, where they are shot,” he stated. The NGOs called on the President of Moldova Nicolae Timofti to instruct the specialized commission to promote the bill on animal protection, to set up a working group involving representatives of civil society to finish this bill and to submit it for approval in final reading. Vlad Filat is asked to order the Ministry of the Interior to open an investigation to check if the hunters’ guns can be used in settlements to hunt stray dogs and cats and to recommend the local public authorities to refrain from adopting decisions similar to that taken in Leova. His Holiness Vladimir and His Holiness Petru are urged to remind those who go to church that the world was created out of love and the animals, as the humans, are beings created by God. According to the NGOs, the extermination of animals affects first of all society. The family education about the love for nature and everything that surrounds us has no value when the child goes out and sees bodies of killed animals. The NGOs suggest sterilizing the animals and taking them to special shelters and euthanizing them only when they are ill.