News from the world of street dogs

Dear dog lovers,

We hope you find this email healthy and spared from viruses! In contrast to Montenegro, our countries of operation Kosovo and Albania were/are severely affected by Covid-19. Until recently, all markets and restaurants were closed. This resulted in less waste and starving dogs. Over the last three months, we have therefore invested more in food for street dogs than ever before.

Kosovo's politics also kept us busy - as is well known, the Prime Minister has changed again and President Thaçi is to be impeached in The Hague. In addition, the veterinary office has once again ordered a well-paid castration program for street dogs, which was awarded to countless friendly veterinarians who had never even touched a dog before - except perhaps for vaccination. The last four weeks have been correspondingly disastrous for many dogs - and it was only thanks to the inspections by Elza Ramadani from the NGO Fondaçioni për të Drejtat ë Kafshëve that some veterinarians were hired on their behalf after considerable power struggle and publication of their faulty or rather gruesome operations. The control continues. After all, the Kosovo Veterinary Association has responded to our publications thanks to the work of Elza Ramadani's Animal Rights Foundation so as not to jeopardize the reputation of all Kosovo veterinarians and set up an ethics commission this past Friday. We'll keep you up to date, including in our new blog.

With our best regards and constant thanks!

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‍Yours, Dr. Helen Wormser

Our new employees in NIKSIC/Montenegro, Family Vet Clinic

DVM Aleksandra Krivokapic, next to her DVM Marijana and Right: Srdjan Todorovic, who builds our transit center, catches and grooms dogs and looks after the dogs at the state animal shelter with the veterinarians.

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We had to say goodbye to the previous vet after 4 months of work. The vet couldn't do it with the street dogs and he couldn't finish building the transit center.

Aleksandra Krivokapic and her team have been treating street dogs free of charge for years and have placed many of them for adoption. And indeed, since they took over two months ago, they've been doing a great job. They are also politically committed to dogs.

Together and thanks to the intervention of Minister of Agriculture Simović, we succeeded in involving the municipality into a contract, allowing us to release the dogs onto the street after treatment instead of locking them up in the state animal shelter. On June 23, 2020, the mayor signed the CNVR contract with Family Vet. In return, we treat the 50 shelter dogs free of charge and place them there for adoption whenever possible. We have set up a walking group for these dogs, because life in these state homes is unbearable to look at.

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Tierärztinnen füttern Hund beim Hundehaus

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ALBANIA

‍Here, Jenny Hasanaj-Müller from “JETA TierundMensch” controls the castration programs financed by us in Durrës and Fieri. The Zylyftari couple of veterinarians are experienced in mass castrations and thanks to many volunteers in Durrës, the injured and sick dogs are also quickly located and cared for. This year, 200 stray dogs were treated there, and a further 200 dogs are to be castrated by autumn. In Fieri, vet Limoj is more on himself and his family. He has a small sanctuary in the mountains - but the goal of JETA TierundMensch is to build a modern small animal clinic in Fieri. With the expansion of infrastructure, citizens will also see that dogs and cats can be treated and that this is offered free of charge to destitute citizens.

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Mitrovica/Kosovo

Here we have a new partner vet, who has been trained by DVM Blendi Bejdoni, among others, and only wants to treat pets. DVM Labinot Osmani has fed and castrated street dogs and treated emergencies several times a week. We helped him buy a transport truck and fence off his rented property for the dogs. It is particularly noteworthy that he has also moved to the Roma camp and castrated, dewormed and vaccinated several dogs.

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Tierpfleger füttert Strassenhund mit Welpen

Mann bringt seinen Hund in Tierklinik für Kastration

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VUSHTRRI/Kosovo

Here we work with DVM Zenel Zhabari, partly finance his small animal clinic thanks to generous donations, in particular from the ASMI NARDO Foundation - and he takes care of the dogs in his region, collects motherless puppies, sets up feeding stations and also takes care of the Roma dogs in Obiliq. In addition to the main building of the clinic, various enclosures have been built and a shelter for the treated dogs. Now we hope to be able to implement the extension with indoor boxes for dogs by autumn.

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Gjakova/Kosovo

As always, Kosovo's most efficient and best small vet, Blendi Bejdoni, is doing an excellent job. Thanks to the donation of materials from a Geneva vet, he has now been able to repair several broken bones, leaving the dogs in the sanctuary. And the X-ray system of a Freiburg vet provides excellent services - it is the only X-ray system for animals in Kosovo! Finally, in remote mountain areas, our ambulance comes into its own, where privately kept dogs were castrated by mountain farmers and a tumour was removed from the shar.

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Ambulante Kastration in Tierklinik Bus in Gjakova, Kosovo

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Preoce/Obiliq KOSOVO

Last but not least, we would also like to introduce you to Atlan Gidzic and his work in the Roma villages outside Pristina. He fed street dogs for us for three months. DVM Blendi Bejdoni stayed with him for two days and castrated several dogs from the area, while DVM Zenel Zhabari treated the dogs in Obiliq. The misery of the Roma families living in containers there affects all our veterinarians and we have organized donations with partners and distributed food again and again, because working day labourers were not possible during the corona lockdown. We can't just feed dogs and make people suffer!

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