The neutering process at the Chisinau center for capturing and sterilizing animals without an owner was restarted after being suspended in the middle of last December owing to the absence of specialists. Veterinarians weren’t employed, but the General Public Amenities Division decided to sign a contract with a mobile veterinary clinic. The solution is yet temporary and can help a limited number of animals.

Contacted by IPN for details, Karl Luganov, senior specialist at the Division’s Animal Protection Section, said the contract signed with the mobile veterinary clinic envisions the sterilization of 160 dogs. Half of the dogs had been sterilized and 80 more dogs are to be neutered.

When the other 80 dogs are sterilized, the process could stop again. Therefore, a similar contract with a mobile veterinary clinic is needed, but for a longer period of time, of a year, for example. A tender contest to choose the clinic should be thus announced as soon as possible.

In Chisinau, there are about stray 5,000 dogs and approximately 3,000 of them are female dogs. The sterilization process should be massive and should be performed as swiftly as possible. The number of sterilizations should be higher than of newborn puppies or the sterilization process can last for 20 years.

To keep the situation under control, a sterilization rate of about 70% is needed. Some 20-25% of the stray dogs have been sterilized by now and this is not much, stated Karl Luganov

He noted the sterilization contributes to reducing the population of stray dogs. The animals are less aggressive and the attitude to them changes. The people know that they were serialized and vaccinated.

There are now about 870 dogs at the Chisinau center for capturing and sterilizing animals without an owner whose capacity is of only 600-700 animals. As the center is full, the stray dogs caught on the street are sterilized and vaccinated against rabies and are then set free if they are not aggressive.