EVZ asks the local authorities and the animal rights organizations to find a solution regarding the issue of stray dogs.

The terror of stray dogs is one more the subject of a debate, after a dog has disfigured a teacher in downtown Bucharest. Malina’s case was revealed in yesterday’s edition and like her are the 10.000 inhabitants who go through expensive treatments every year after they were bitten by stray dogs.

Bucharest’s City Hall spends more than a million euros every year in order to catch, shelter, sterilize and put down stray dogs while being at war with animal rights organizations.

Solutions

Razvan Murgeanu, an official from the City Hall, believes that the only current solution for Bucharest is euthanasia: “The costs of keeping them in shelters are huge. Of course, a humane solution would be to sterilize them, but the city can no longer afford to have the dogs on the streets”.

Marcela Lungu, president of Cutu-Cutu Association says that sterilizing the dogs is still the solution. “The authorities should get the dogs off the streets, sterilize them and then call upon animal lovers who would like to adopt them”, Lungu says.

After bringing out the teacher’s story, the readers debated whether the euthanasia is or in not the right solution. Marcu Anton, says he is an animal humanitarian “but I agree that the problem is out of control. I believe the only solution is to put them down. It’s much better than keeping them in shelters where they eat each other and drink their urine and occasionally are being killed with a crowbar.”

On the other hand, Mihaela Filip believes that EVZ’s initiative should stimulate the appearance of new shelters: “Instead of protecting the animals, you further instigate the population to more cruelty towards animals, just now, when Romania finally has a law that protects animals. The solution is to raise funds and create more shelters.”

Malina’s case

The aggressive stray dog is no where to be found. The Animal Surveillance Administration (ASA) went yesterday at Elie Carafoli street to find the dog that bit Malina Popa. Yet, Simona Panaitescu, directress of ASA, admitted that the association received complaints about the dog, from sector 1 City Hall, at the beginning of March.

“People told the team that went in Carafoli street yesterday that the dog disappeared after attacking the teacher in your article. We can’t be sure whether it was killed or taken by someone fearing the dog catchers might come”, Panaitescu told us.

Statistics

10.000 people are bit every year by stray dogs in Bucharest, according to the statistical data of the past two years. 8.000 of them are adults and the rest are children. Most of the cases occur during the mating season. More than 8.000 people needed vaccines and almost 600 of them needed the anti rabies serum (administered when the wounds are located around the face, or the genital areas).

The serum annihilates the rabies virus until the vaccine becomes effective. Doctors say that most of the cases occur during summer time when the high temperature makes the animals more aggressive and during the mating season.

The first thing to following the attack is washing the wound thoroughly with water and soap. “One must not use surgical spirit because the crust that forms after will retain the germs. Then, seek immediate help from a doctor who can provide you with anti rabies and anti tetanus vaccines”, says Gabriel Coltan, chief on Anti Rabies Center in Matei Bals hospital.

A six year old, bit by the neighborhood’s dog

A six year old girl named Maria Carlan was playing with her brother in Pajura Park in Bucharest. The dog, named Francesca, that was a favorite play companion for the children in the area. Still, it bit Maria after she accidentally sat on its tail.

The incident took place on Saturday, but the girls parents found out on Sunday.

“I heard a scream and she told me that the dog almost bit her. I saw the wound on Sunday, when I was giving her a bath. She didn’t tell me about it because she feared that I would take her to the medic”, Maria’s father said. The little girl had 5 vaccine shots and now must follow an antibiotics treatment.

Diseases transmitted by dogs

Over 70% of the stray dogs have parasites. The simple contact with their fur can induce a disease like the hydatid cyst also known as “white cancer”: a larva transmitted from the dog lives in the liver area of a human and can reach a 20 cm length and 10 kilograms in weight.

Another serious disease which is transmitted from the dogs consists of a worm which migrates from the liver, lungs, eyes and brain and can cause blindness or epilepsy, according to Lidia Lazar, doctor at Colentina hospital in Bucharest.

Write to us EVZ is starting a campaign in order to find a solution to the stray dogs problem. We invite the readers who suffered because of the aggressive dogs on the streets to express their opinion by writing to maidanezi@evz.ro.