Still Killing Stray Animals While Promoting Tourism And Trying To Enter The E.U.

[Guest guest]

Urun Bayindir <ueruenb

> Info

> Wednesday, December 01, 2004 1:28 PM

> Protest Croatia!

 

>

> According to a law in Croatia, any cat or dog found more than 300

> meters od towns is considered strayed and therefore can be killed.

> Cats and puppies are being killed and hung on branches of trees in

> Medijimurje area in Croatia. Also dogs and cats have been killed by

> hunters. See pictures at: http://www.apasfa.org/peti/croacia_pic.html

>

>

> - office

> (Mr. Nenad Matic, the spokesman for Ministry of Agriculture and

> Forestry Croatia)

> - eurobarometer

> (EU Public Opinion e-mail:)

> - trade-A3

> (EU Trade )

> - agri-library

> (EU Agriculture)

>

> Dear Sir /Madam,

>

> I am writing to request that you take immediate steps to introduce

> animal protection laws in Croatia. I am gravely concerned about the

> barbaric and cruel methods of stray animal control that are

> practised in Croatia. Such methods are simply unacceptable in modern

> society and must stop.

>

> Apart from the terrible cruelty involved, these methods do nothing

> to address the problem of stray animals on the streets. According to

> Croatian laws, any cat or dog more than 300 meters beyond town

> limit s is considered strayed and therefore is allowed to be killed.

> Cats and puppies are being killed and hung by the branches of the

> trees in Medjimurje area in Croatia. Throughout the last year, there

> were also numerous cases of puppies, dogs and cats being

> intentionally shot by hunters.

>

> There is no excuse for failing to introduce laws on stray animals.

> There are many practical, cruelty free methods that can be

> introduced to control the numbers of strays, which poses no harm to

> the animals, most notably a neutering program. These have proved to

> be very successful in other countries. Please do intercede. Stop the

> barbaric cruelty and ensure that a proper legal foundation for

> animal protection is created in Croatia.

>

> Yours sincerely,

>> name :

> E-mail :

> Country :

 

Other email addresses of Croatian authorities where letters of protest can

be sent.

Office of the Prseident - <ured ured

Parliament of Croatia - <sabor sabor

Office of the Prime Minister premijer

Croatian Ministry Of Tourism ministarstvo-turizma

 

Croatian Embassies, Consulates and Missions - Worldwide

 

Croatian Embassy U.K. croemb.london

 

Croatian National Tourist Office, UK

info

 

Croatian Embassy USA - amboffice; dcm;

political

 

Croatian Embassy Canada croatia.emb; croatia

 

Croatian Embassy France redaction secretariat

 

Croatian Embassy Argentina embajadadecroacia

<embajadadecroacia%20>

consulado

<consulado%20>

 

Croatian Embassy Australia croemb; concro;

cro_con_sydney

 

Croatian Embassy Austria croem.bec; crocons.bec

 

Croatian Embassy Belgium crocons.bec; croemb.bruxelles

 

Croatian Embassy Brazil embaixada.croacia; ojmuller

 

 

Croatian Embassy China vrhpek

 

Croatian Embassy Finland croatia

 

Croatian Embassy Denmark kopvel; consulate.croatia

 

Croatian Embassy Germany vrh.berlin; gkrhf;

gkrh.muenchen

 

Croatian Embassy Israel croemb.israel

 

Croatian Embassy India croemnd;

 

Croatian Embassy Ireland croatianembassy;

gdanaher

 

Croatian Embassy Italy croatian.embassy.roma

<croatian.embassy.roma%20> ; ambasciata.croatia.roma

 

Croatian Embassy The Netherlands croemb.haag

 

Croatian Embassy New Zealand cro-consulate

 

Croatian Embassy Poland croemb

 

Croatian Embassy Portugal croemblis <croemblis%20>

 

Croatian Embassy Spain cromad; consulcroacia

 

Croatian Embassy Sweden croemb.stockholm

 

Croatian Embassy Switzerland croemb.bern; crocons.zurich

 

Croatian Embassy Turkey hrvelank

 

Croatian Embassy United Arab Emirates croem

 

Croatian Embassy South Africa vrhjar

 

For more information about animal abuse in Croatia, please see the following

link

http://www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr/indexen.html

 

Article written in the year 2000. As of today, nothing has changed in

Croatia!

 

This summer, I visited the island of Hvar in Croatia on the Adriatic coast.

I was sickened by the widespread abuse of dogs and cats. Although not

everyone abuses and kills animals, there seems to be a cultural practice of

treating cats the same way many cities in the West treat rats. I stayed in

the residential section of the city of Stari Grad. Every night I listened to

cats being tortured and killed. I saw kittens tied up in airtight plastic

bags and thrown in garbage cans. (I was told this was one of many methods of

controlling their cat population), I watched cats intentionally run over by

cars and I listened to two week old kittens cry all day and night after they

were dumped off on vacant land without their mother and left to die.

 

After listening to a kitten cry all night and afternoon, I found it behind a

museum near the house where I stayed. Mind you this was in the center of a

densely populated town. Not one person came to rescue or feed this kitten.

Many of the employees at the tourist bureaus and business owners or managers

who spoke English denied any knowledge of these practices. Others would say

they were from elsewhere in Croatia and animal treatment was better in the

rest of the country. However, if I spoke to them at length, they would

occasionally slip and let on that similar abuses also occurred in their

hometown. Others were more truthful and admitted that they had a terrible

problem with the cat population. Common methods of controlling the cat

population were taking cats, especially kittens, on ships and throwing them

into the sea. Another type of animal control is done in the winter, when the

tourists are gone. That is when the government places poison throughout the

town. I was told this form of animal control had been practiced for over

twenty years.

 

Over the past ten years, owning purebred dogs has become fashionable in

Croatian society. During my stay I learned that many people take these dogs

to the coast using them as a status symbol only to abandon them when their

holiday is over. When I asked the town's veterinarian if there were any laws

against cruelty to dogs and cats, I was informed that there wasn't. His

excuse was that Croatia is a poor country and doesn't have the means for

better animal treatment. But, establishing laws protecting cats and dogs

isn't expensive. Croatia, might be considered to be a developing country but

is much more developed than other countries in Europe, such as Byelorussia

or Ukraine. Homelessness is uncommon. If Croatia's society and government

refuse to change their treatment of animals, perhaps people can help

persuade them to do so. Since one of their biggest industries is tourism,

the threat of a boycott might get their attention.

 

To observe these practices, one has to live with the natives in their

neighborhoods (they keep the tourist areas clear of strays.) Speaking a

Slavic language was helpful so that I could understand what the people said.

 

 

Every small action will help. Please take the time to let the Croatian

government know you do not approve of this behavior. Also spread the word

to others who might be able to help. Posting this letter on a web site or

reprinting it in a newsletter will help spread the word. The situation on

the Adriatic coast of Croatia is horrible. Please spread this information,

inform everyone you know. Help put pressure on the Croatian government to

implement and enforce humane animal welfare laws.

Thank you, Alexandra Yurkiw