In order to control the huge number of stray dogs the Tunisian Government ordered to kill all the stray dogs, Municipality and Police Officers shoot them on daily basis and leave them die a horrible and painful death.

Sometimes they even barge in peoples houses and kill their pets (they say they are aggressive but we all know that dogs are protective of their families and territories so it’s not their fault. There is no respect for animal rights, and even normal citizen keep harming defenseless animals and even torture them, decapitate them or set them on fire and more awful treatments that even the devil won’t think about it!

If the Government keeps killing and torturing animals, even regular persons feel free to do that and animal volunteers have very little options to protect them.

The dogs cull is happening on daily basis most of it late at night and sometimes Police even do it during the day in front people and kids, in front of schools.

This massacre is all over the country, help OIPA to stop it. OIPA asked to the Government to do spaying and neutering campaigns instead of killing them, but we haven’t received any reply.

Most of stray dogs are kind and lovable, the volunteers feed them and play with them and definitely they don’t deserve this. 

SEND A LETTER OF PROTEST NOW!

Recently, on social media networks have appeared images and videos of dogs slaughtered on Tunisian streets. This massacre is realized in order to “solve” the stray problem, which afflicts the North African State. Indeed, more than tens of thousands of citizens are attacked by stray dogs, each year. In 2015, just considering the city of Monastir, 2.175 were the people assaulted by stray dogs; while during the previous year, according to the Tunisian Ministry of Health’s published numbers, 47.000 people have been attacked at a national level. This is the reason which pushed the Government to approve the decision to begin a campaign of mass culls of the stray dogs, whose images caused the worldwide dismay and horror of both internet users and celebrities, expressly arrayed against these inhuman control methods.

Obviously, the main cause of the stray truble is due to the failure of pet-owners to spay their animals. Veterinarians all over Tunisia are aware that people throw puppies and kittens out in the streets, once their pets give birth, and this general accepted behaviour drastically increase the problem. Moreover, the issue is aggravated by Tunisia’s poor refuse collection system, which gave to the abandoned animals a constant and always ready source of food.                
Connected to this problem, there is the rabies one: every single stray dog can be infected by the rabies, and in parallel, has the potential to spread it, infecting other animals and humans, too. Since 2013, data reported that there have already been 14 cases of rabies related decease.

Spay is necessary: culling stray dogs is not just an inhuman practice, but mass killings are «a complete waste of time, money and efforts». Simona Farcas, one of the organizers of the 29^th May 2016 Tunis protest against the State’s practice of extermination of stray dogs, remind the uselessness of periodic “campaign of shooting”, which are «barbaric and inefficient methods to control the stray dog population». It is mindless to think that by killing animals it is possible to monitor the stray population. In fact, is enough just «considering that a single couple of dogs and their offspring can multiply into 50.000 dogs in five years».  
Nevertheless, despite the huge benefits compared to the little commitment of spaying, the idea of sterilization still finds many difficulties to root in Tunisians’ minds. Indeed, this concept is very little known, understood or accepted, and the absence of national spray campaigns and above all the lack of general awareness over the necessity to sterilize pet or, at least, properly take care of unwanted puppies is making the problem bigger and bigger.      

As for Romania, see http://www.oipainternational.org/campaign-romania/, OIPA is in the first line to help the reaching of the end of these cruel practice, anyway it is fundamental that the government activates itself, to protect animals and its own citizens: it has to invest in mass sterilization and rabies vaccination programs, and also in educational campaigns, in order to raise awareness among the population about the importance of spaying animals and the right way to look after their pet. Nationwide sterilization program is the only possibility to definitely solve this unacceptable situation in a human way: it is what would mark an end to a practice that often leave wounded animals suffering for hours, before dying.

OIPA International is supporting a local group of volunteers and activists which are trying to help the animals in Tunisia.

They report a severe situation: every night public officers shot stray dogs and often, by mistake, pets, too. The animals are left in the streets, wounded and suffering.

The situation in Tunisia is always being difficult for stray dogs, the Government never did much to face the problem and recently the situation is getting even worse. Despite many manifestations and appeals to the Government to stop the massive killing operations of stray animals, nothing changed.

The volunteers supported by OIPA are trying to build a shelter where it is possible to host stray animals, with the support of the Government. Their project is to promote awareness campaigns in the schools and to spay the animals, promote the adoptions, educate the local population to be more sensitive with the animals and to take care of pets.

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L'articolo TUNISIA – A CRUEL WAY TO SOLVE THE STRAY PROBLEM – Send a letter of protest! proviene da OIPA.

September 2016 – SAD NEWS: BALU IS DISAPPEARED!

After months of appeals and campaining, the bear trapped in a cage in the restaurant Kodra e Kuajve in Durres, is disappeared as you can see from the empty cage.

Balu (known as well as Poku) was a 4 years old bear, male. He was sold from a poacher to the owner of the restaurant and now, after months of actions he’s been moved.

It is the sad destiny of many bears in captivity. When the media pressure become to high the bears often disappear.

It’s essential to keep high the international pressure on the restaurant and on the Government, OIPA will keep searching for Balu.

OIPA will keep asking to the owner of the restaurant what is happened to the animal.

BROWN BEARS IN ALBANIA

The bear populations in Albania and in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are of significant biological and genetic value, because they form the connecting populations between the brown bear populations in Croatia and Slovenia in the North and the endangered brown bear population of Greece. Data on the numbers and distribution of these populations are therefore of paramount importance for the conservation of the bear population in South-East Europe.

In Albania, the current estimation of the bear population is about 250 individuals; the species has been steadily declining in the last 20 years, and the current population size estimate is the lowest ever. The species is legally protected in Albania, however, there is no management plan or are implementing a national strategy for the conservation of the species, and bear populations in both countries are not being systematically monitored. Consequently, there is a serious lack of information on their general status and distribution, and the population numbers mentioned above are merely educated assumptions.

Many bears are still kept by Albanian citizens in private houses, restaurants and tourist locations.

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After months the situation of Balu is not changed. The owner of the restaurant doesn’t recognize that the bear is in danger.

The animal has never been visited by a Vet and he is fed with sweets and other improper food gave by the tourist. His psychic and physics health conditions should be checked and he needs proper food.

Even a little improvement of the cage of the bear would be good for his wellness.

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After the segnalation of a tourist travelling in Albany we discovered that the restaurant Kodra e Kuajve, in Durres (Albany), is using a bear as tourist attraction.

Our volunteers did then a little investigation to find out how was the animal and as you can see in our previous article the bear  shows clear signs of discomfort. Read more here: https://www.oipainternational.org/balu-bear-albania-oipa/

We tried to get in touch with the owner of the restaurant and find a way to dialogue with him in order to improve the conditions of the animal and then move the bear to a sanctuary, but since it was not possible to start a dialogue we decided to take action and start an appeal.

The restaurant is infact registered on trip advisor and there are several pictures showing the bear trapped. 

OIPA International CALL TO ACTION: help Balu, the bear abused and trapped in the restaurant.

LEAVE A COMMENT ON TRIP ADVISOR EXPRESSING YOUR DISPLEASURE FOR THIS ANIMAL MISTREATMENT

“Hereby to express my deepest indignation for the mistreatment to which Balu is condemned to live. Bears are wonderful animals, and they need to live freely. Confine them in little cages to be shown to clients is an horrific and irresponsible behaviour, that does not consider the importance of this endangered animals’ lives. Due to the fact that bears in Albania are legally protected species, I hope an investigation will be started, to punish the responsible, if he does not immediately release the bear. Personally, I will not eat in that restaurant, and I will ask all my acquaintances to do the same, until this situation will be solved.”

SEND A LETTER OF PROTEST!

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L'articolo ACTION CALL: BALU, THE BEAR USED AS TOURIST ATTRACTION IN A RESTAURANT. SEND A LETTER OF PROTEST proviene da OIPA.

This “artistic installation” of Carsten Höller doesn’t care at all about animal needs.

In Milan in the Hangar Museum will be host the contemporary artistic exhibition “Doubt”, which includes an installation “Mouses Funfair”. The installation was in the hall of the museum and was a displaycase which could be open from the top. The case contained two little mouses, really scary and constantly bothered by the visitors. They had food and water but those conditions were completely improper for their needs.

Thanks to a segnalation, the OIPA Animal Corps could take action and remove the animals from the museum. At the moment the mouses are kept in a safe place and are waiting for adoption.

L'articolo OIPA ITALY – ANIMAL CORPS ASK FOR REMOVING AN INSTALLATION OF CARSTEN HÖLLER FROM A MUSEUM: TWO MOUSES KEPT IN A LITTLE CAGE proviene da OIPA.

The local residents and festival organizers claim that the dogs are killed humanely and that “eating dog is no different from eating pork or beef”. Concerns over the preparation of the dogs have been fuelled by pictures that have circulated featuring two dogs in boiling water in China. It is claimed that this is because some Chinese prefer the taste of adrenaline-soaked meat. In some areas, dogs are beaten to death in order to release blood into the meat.

It is essential to take action to end this festival for several reasons:

• STOLEN PETS AND STRAY DOGS – There are not dog farms in China, which means that the dogs killed and eaten during the festival are stolen pets or stray dogs. The quality standards required for a dog farm is too high and would be too expensive, this is why dog farms do not exist.
• DISEASE SPREAD – Many stray dogs are captured, killed and eaten during the festival, but many of them are sick and have rabies which means that there is a risk for humans to contract rabies, too. Infact, China is the first country in the world for number of people with rabies, and the province of Guangxi (where the festival takes place) has the highest rate of people infected by this virus in the country. The contamination occurs during the contact whit infected dog still alive, not by eating the meat.
• TACKLE CRIMINALITY – During the festival the dog meat trade is a high profitable business and many pet owners are assaulted by thieves who stole their dogs. Three dogs of 15 kilos each could be worth even 150 euros.

This festival is a cruel tradition and international pressures are getting results, but still a lot needs to be done.

OIPA International is supporting Animal Asia Petition in order to stop the festival.

On the 21^st of June 2016 OIPA Italy will march in a public manifestation against the festival!

What you can do:

• Join the march in Milan (Italy)
• Start an event within your community to raise awareness on this issue!

Contact us to international@oipa.org

L'articolo THE YULIN FESTIVAL – SIGN THE LETTER TO END THE DOG MEAT TRADE! proviene da OIPA.

Through partnerships with the private sector, the government measures to control the disease take the form of national rabies vaccination campaigns. Animal Welfare League Trust was involved with the Blantyre SPCA-Mission Rabies Campaign in Blantyre, where 10.000 dogs were vaccinated in just one week.

The association Country Director, Mr. Ssuna, said “I’m glad to have been part of this partnership and I believe as much as rabies is campaigns maybe greatly driven by the need to protect the people, a dog population free from rabies will be better received in society and certainly their welfare will be greatly improved”.

“It is from that point that I hope that All Creatures can continue sourcing support to extend this very necessary community service. I would very much like to applaud all the donors that have made the commitment to support Malawi”.

Read more on our article about rabies issue on developing countries, CLICK HERE

L'articolo 8th May – CHRONICLES FROM MALAWI, THE COUNTRY IS TRYING TO TACKLE THE RABIES SPREAD proviene da OIPA.

Free-roaming dogs populations have emerged recently as both animal welfare and public health problems in developing countries. Free-roaming dogs face high mortality, malnutrition, starvation, disease, and abuse; account for 99 percent of cases of rabies transmission worldwide and are associated with more than sixty other zoonotic diseases.

Additional social problems with free-roaming dogs include road accidents, fighting, noise, bitten children, fecal contamination, spread of rubbish, and uncontrolled breeding.

As result of human population growth, poor waste disposal management, the absence of responsible dog ownership policies, and heightened awareness of animal welfare and disease issues, increased attention is being given to the problem of free-roaming dogs.

The population of dogs worldwide may be as high as 500 million. Dog-to human population densities vary from 2.2 dogs/hundred people in urban Zambia, to 21.3 dogs/hundred people in Katmandu, Nepal.

Nepal is one of the countries with the higher number of dog per hundred people, and many associations are active to support sterilization programs. OIPA Delegation in Nepal has several programs aimed to support sterilization and vaccination campaigns, as well as sensibilization programs for the population aimed to promote a responsible ownership for animals and pets, to prevent stray dogs and critical situations.

In February 2016 will be performed a massive campaign in the area of Pasupatinath, more than 200 free roaming dogs will get medical services and anti-rabies vaccine, while female animals will be spayed.

Approaches to free roaming dog population management have changed over the past twenty years. Until recently, capture and kill policies prevailed as the primary dog-control method, but this policy is ineffective and cruel and OIPA is collaborating with many associations to prevent and oppose those policies in many countries.

The 1990s saw a significant expansion in the availability of post exposure treatment for dog bites and in public awareness of the need to seek treatment. Post exposure treatment dramatically reduced rabies deaths; however, treatment costs raised.

Dog-vaccination campaigns have proved less costly and more effective in rabies prevention. Rabies control in dogs remains the only long-term, cost-effective means of eliminating or preventing most human cases. Human public health preventive measures should be paralleled by programs for dog rabies control.

A new consensus is emerging that rabies vaccination programs are not sustainable without sterilization.

Vaccination, habitat control, and responsible pet ownership, including sterilization, are now replacing the capture-and-kill focus of dog control.

Widespread adoption of CNR (Capture, Neuter and Return/Release) programs for dogs, along with changes in human behavior and environment, offers a sustainable remedy for both disease and animal welfare problems posed by free-roaming dogs in developing countries.

CNR programs directly confront the problem of high turnover of dog populations, which mitigates against extensive rabies vaccination coverage and dog population control.

CNR programs have as their goal the stabilization—not elimination— of street dog populations and the control of rabies transmission.

Free roaming dogs are a major threat for human population in developing countries and represent a terrible lack on animal rights side. OIPA International will keep supporting associations around the world to tackle this issue.

L'articolo FREE DOGS POPULATIONS AS MAJOR THREAT FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES proviene da OIPA.