Romanian city promises to end needless killing of dogs after our global petition

This week, along with Romanian organization, Save the Dogs, we met with Mayor Babu Dumitru and Vice-Director Cristina Itoafa from Constanța’s dog population control team to hand over the signatures, and discuss how the city can implement more humane methods.

We launched the petition in June, after being made aware of the unnecessary suffering and death that was being inflicted on dogs in Constanța, Romania.

Leaving the ‘catch and kill’ policy behind

The policy was launched in the year 2000 in an attempt to reduce the number of dogs on Constanța’s streets. Every two hours a stray dog is killed in the city, and over 4,000 are killed each year. The policy is not only cruel, but ineffective. Despite the large number of dogs killed, population numbers have not reduced.

Thanks to our supporters, the policy will end soon.

A big step forward for stray dogs

The Vice-Mayor promised to develop a dog population program that would include:

• implementation of our responsible pet ownership education program,
• free sterilization for owned dogs,
• the promotion of micro-chipping among the citizens of Constanța,
• extension of the period a dog should stay in a shelter before considering euthanasia from 14 to at least 30 days,
• re-opening the public shelter with an adoption program.

Two dogs that we met at Footprints of Joy dog shelter, Romania

“We are happy that Vice-Mayor Babu Dumitru will now start to implement more humane dog population control policies in the city with the help of the local NGOs. We asked for these commitments in writing, so it is possible for the citizens of Constanța to hold the Mayor accountable,” said Sabine Zwiers, Campaign Manager for World Animal Protection in Europe.

Thank you to all of our supporters and petition-signers

We would not have been able to show Mayor Decebal Făgădău the importance of protecting the city’s dogs without the 60,622 voices behind this petition, spearheaded by people from Brazil, Australia, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, and more. They've been integral to our mission to protect the dogs of Constanța.

This great success is another reminder of the strength we have in numbers.

Find out more about the work we do protect dogs.

We are happy that Vice-Mayor Babu Dumitru will now start to implement more humane dog population control policies in the city with the help of the local NGOs. - Sabine Zwiers, Campaign Manager Europe, World Animal Protection