Start up in Montenegro: October 2019 start of a prevention program and stray dog control. We have found in DVM Nebojsa Gorasevic a skilled Veterinarian, he works sterile, does a small cut surgery of a female in 1/2 hour, and is already in a cat-rescue program. After months of negotiations difficulties showed up, namely the installation of a Transitory Care Center was not even started, nor were enough street dogs caught and treated. DVM Gorasevic decided to quit.
We have at once started to continue the program with the Family Vet Niksic, a women team that rescued on their own costs already a lot of street animals. In Autumn 2021 we bought land with private funds together with the Veterinarian Aleksandra Krivokapic. In 2022 we hope to be able to renovate two old stables and build a small petclinic with Sanctuary in 2023 only 10 minutes outside Niksic. In January 2023 we had to quit as the Municipality of Niksic did not keep the contracts with Family Vet.
MONTENEGRO IS NOT A VISITING COUNTRY FOR ANIMAL FRIENDS - SUFFERING SICK DOGS AND CATS MAKE YOUR HEART BLEED.
We take the view that holidays are meant to be relaxation of body and mind. So who wants to see helpless abandoned dogs without being able to help? People will tell you to take the dog to the state shelter - but beware of it! Some of this shelters are simply killing stations, others like the one in Niksic cannot even be called a shelter - unless you want the dog to be kept on a chain for the rest of his life, or in a kennel with concrete floor. Better managed shelters are overcrowded and the dogs have no chance for adoption. On surprising visits in Niksic you will find the dog sitting in his own droppings, smelly, his hut is letting water through, there is no sun protection - and no free running during the day - except a volunteer is visiting and giving the dogs some freedom as can be seen in the photos below.! This are not shelters as we understand it up in the North of EU - so do not bring a stray dog in a shelter, but try to help him yourself. HOW:
ANIMAL HELP AT YOUR HOLIDAY RESORT: Almost every major town has a veterinarian - but careful, they will charge a lot for foreigners if they want to rescue animals. Declare this as charity work and not private treatment of an owned dog - and discuss the price. Else go away from the coast with the dog. In Niksic we can recommend: Family Vet Team. They are very professional and help your pet.
Have the dog dewormed, vaccinated against rabies, sterilised and bring him back to his territory - with an earmark. Ask the residents to give him water and food - and maybe you will come across animal lovers who are willing to care for "your" dog for a monthly contribution. Then you have saved an animal life!
PLEASE DONATE DIRECTLY TO THE FAMILY VET CLINIC AS THEY NEED URGENTLY A PLACE TO TREAT STREET DOGS AND A SANCTUARY!
Upon arrival and start of our CNVR Program in Niksic/Montenegro in October 2019 we found a horrible community dog shelter there. Not one of the dogs was treated or castrated, all behind bars or on chains, puppies vanishing (dying of diseases or killed?). Our new partners Family Vet started in June 2020 to treat all dogs in the shelter - and in autumn we made a new contract with Mayor Simovic: We invested in free running zones for the dogs - and the shelter stays low kill (sick dogs), only 50 dogs are allowed and must be well cared for. Our Partner-Veterinarians controlled it until January 2023. Then they gave up to fight against the dog catchers of the Municipality, which removed some of our dogs from the street and kept them freezing in the shelter.
The dog keeping in the state shelter of Niksic does not correspond to our criteria of animal welfare. Dogs are kept on chains in front of dog houses or on concrete in large groups - and can only run outside if a friendly volunteers goes out and helps (see last photos). There is only one worker who hates dogs at the moment - the Municipality did not pay the salaries, so one worker quit in Spring 2020. We contacted on 8th March 2020 the Veterinary Administration in Podgorica and wrote how badly the dogs out there are treated. The only solution is to dismiss the director and the worker there, because all volunteers in Niksic know, they hate dogs and maltreat them, the female puppies above disappeared over night (and they claim they are not killing) - some dogs show heavy depressions. No chance for adoptions, because not one is treated or sterilised, and Brestice is far away from the city, so no one finds it - and if, you are not admitted! A shelter that does not let you enter has something to hide.
Since June 2020 Family Vet Team was allowed to enter the state shelter, all dogs were treated against diseases and castrated. Now we want to free them out of their kennels and installed running fields in this shelter on our costs. Furthermore our partner veterinarian Family Vet has a video control of the place and sees that the chained dogs are walked every day by the workers. In a contract, signed by the former Mayor Simovic 2020, we limited the amount of dogs kept there to 50 max. The intention of the Municipality is still, to close one day that shelter and install group keeping on greater grounds...but up to now there are only words. In January 2023 we found three dogs in concrete boxes without dog houses or any protection sitting on the blank ice! Under the new boss the shelter develops to be worse than ever.