Vet scams accepted

Veterinarians in Kosovo perform several castration procedures

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Thank you for the information from Animal Rights Foundation Kosovo dated July 17, 2020 on this case.

The dog pictured was castrated by our foundation back in spring — no further treatment was therefore necessary. Our volunteers took care of the animal for weeks, particularly during the pandemic-related closure of restaurants.

It is all the more astonishing that the same dog is now suddenly wearing a new ear tag — issued by the team led by Dr. Avni Kadriu in Mitrovica. Unfortunately, we found significant deficiencies in several of his performed procedures. Some dogs suffered from complications or died from infections as a result of improper surgery. In our opinion, a vet with such questionable practice should not be considered for public tenders.

The Food and Veterinary Authority was notified of this at least 15 days before the measures were taken — we immediately reported the incident to the ARF. However, there was no response from the authority.

Responsible for the state CNVR program are Dr. Valdet Gjinovci, a member of the same party as Dr. Kadriu (PDK), and its director Sadik Heta. Both have been ignoring all letters from the ARF for a long time, ignoring the necessary qualifications of the participating veterinarians and giving the impression that they want to distribute public funds primarily among political associations — as was apparently the case in the past.

The call for tenders makes it possible to charge 74 euros per dog — regardless of whether the procedure is carried out professionally or in accordance with animal welfare. The suffering of animals does not seem to play any role in this. The real motivation for participating in this program is not animal welfare, but financial enrichment.

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And it continues...

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Once again, animal lovers have found two dogs with open wounds in southern Mitrovica. Activists have found another stray dog of the Jack Russel breed, which was fed on the street with our donations from the start of the Covid Crisis by our friends, with a new ear tag - the same green brand as the dogs mentioned above. The only difference is that this Jack Russel has an old perfect scar (see photo) because he was castrated and paid for by our foundation on March 17, 2020 (!). Now the team from DVM Avni Kadriu (large animal doctor) has apparently changed the ear tag without doing anything in return - and taxpayers in Kosovo will reward him with 74 euros for cheating!

We reported this case to the Animal Rights Foundation a week ago. They confirmed that the Food & Veterinary Agency (AVUK) received full details of this scam and our photos of the poorly stitched and open wounds. We had to operate on one dog again - but we left the Kadriu eartag 🙂 AVUK hasn't responded yet. There is only one explanation. Avni Kadriu is a member of the PDK, as are CEO Valdet Gjinovci and Director Sadik Heta. Party membership is obviously more important when awarding a government contract than qualification. So many vets in this call for tenders are only trained on farm animals and have never touched dogs before. But with the price of 74 euros from tax money (while many citizens in Kosovo have to live from 200 to 300 euros per month), the vets became greedy. And with the right connections, they are part of the call for tenders and no one even thinks of messing with them - we're just not silent!

Why has no one actually been looking into the veterinary office's business for years, since awarding a contract totalling 1.3 million euros is not so unimportant? The answer: Because there are currently political issues in Kosovo that seem to be more important for media and politicians than the daily mistreatment of street dogs by poorly selected veterinarians as part of government mandate. Pets aren't important, even the usually investigative journalism in this country looks the other way! Dog life doesn't matter in Kosovo - but it does for us. More reports will follow!

IN THIS OPEN DECLARATION, WE ARE STILL ASKING THE VETERINARY OFFICE TO TERMINATE THE CONTRACTS WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT AND TO CHECK THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE VETERINARIANS FIRST. In addition, fraud should be reported to law enforcement agencies. Even 74 euros are important - and anyone who cheats on a small scale does otherwise!

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Let's do something about it

Let us explain to all dog lovers from the diaspora and northern countries who are visiting Kosovo again soon, what is currently happening. The state commissioned a selection of veterinarians to treat street dogs in their region 3 weeks ago. For each dog treated, they receive 74 euros - paid from taxes. For this reason, local NGOs have the right to know how this money is being spent, and that is why the Animal Rights Foundation (ARF) is allowed to check the husbandry of street dogs and their well-being after castration. The program started 3 weeks ago and ARF was already aware within a short period of time that some veterinarians such as DVM Turhan Nila, DVM Adelina Rexhepi and her team as well as DVM Safet Osmani could not castrate dogs and had no control over the release of the dogs onto the street. That is why we asked the President of the ARF why she did not immediately inform the citizens about these cases, and their contact with us was also interrupted for a while. Her answer is that she has a contract with the Veterinary Office (AVUK). She is only allowed to contact them. If, in turn, they don't react immediately, it can go public. She did that with regard to DVM Safet Osmani from Vushtrri a week ago — because Food & Veterinary Agency CEO Valdet Gjinovci and Director Sadik Heta didn't mind that this vet even told volunteers he couldn't find ovaries? His dogs' wounds were infected with pus - and as our volunteer was able to prove yesterday, who had caught one of his dogs on the street, the fallible vet only closed the skin from the outside and the intestines could easily fall out. That's why we've asked our friends everywhere to be on the lookout for abused dogs — and we'll help when we find them. The problem, for example, is that DVM Adelina Rexhepi doesn't know where her abused dogs were released! Animal lovers were only able to find two of them and repeat the operation.

DVM Mehmet Maliqi, on the other hand, is known for good operations - but cannot keep his shelter clean (the photos with the dogs in his own excrement are from Agro Fauna Gjilan) and he forbids ARF access. Many vets feed the dogs dry bread for 7 days after the operation and nothing else - dogs that live off trash all their lives and don't have much strength - and the vets can't give them real dog food with vitamins even though they get 74 euros per dog?

The CEO of the Food & Veterinary Agency protested two years ago that we would patronize him — yes, we know better how dogs should be treated and nothing has changed. So many dogs had to suffer during the 2018 state castration program — and not one vet was stopped and checked for qualification. Once again, the named vets only had to stop working for about 2 - 3 weeks before they were allowed to restart - but no qualified small vet checked whether their skills were suddenly better after this time - and where they were trained.

This time we're going public as soon as we've received information. For us, animal welfare comes first! In these three weeks alone, many dogs suffered or died from mistreatment and unethical veterinarians. ARF claims they asked for proof of qualification for pet treatment from AVUK BEFORE the contracts were signed — no chance. For example, veterinarians who have never touched a dog before have a well-paid contract to treat street dogs. Do the citizens of Kosovo really appreciate this misuse of their taxes? Street dogs have no lobby, no owner — no one goes to court when they die. We encourage ARF to initiate prosecutions against all abusing vets.

And last but not least, we are very amazed that the Veterinary Association of Kosovo, led by DVM Arben Sinani, does not protect the reputation of ALL good and qualified veterinarians in Kosovo and immediately responds to complaints of mistreatment! Instead, DVM Sinani protects the few bad vets. Not us! That is why we will publish on our website a list of qualified pet veterinarians — and the ones you should never consult if you want to rescue a dog in Kosovo!

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