Kosovo Project


rural regions with new pet clinics and competent pet vets

You find our actual works and partners 2023 here:

- Vushtrri, North Animal Hospital, DVM Zenel Zhabari;

- Mitrovica/Skenderaj, Mitro-Vet, DVM Labinot Osmani

- Drenas, City-Pet, DVM Shaban Mehmeti

- Gjakova, Pro Vet, DVM Blendi Bejdoni and DVM Eriola P. Bejdoni

Pro Vet clinic outside Gjakova

Kosovo: Our work you find in the region Gjakova (red line) - and Vushtrri/Nevolan - and since 2021/22 Mitrovica/Skenderaj, new in 2023 Drenas


Many Balkan countries are known for their cruel treatment of dogs. They lock them in a dirty and muddy compound without shelter, food or water, and let them starve to death or beat them to death. No medical treatment and no kindness. Kosovo has been found to be like Romania or Ukraina, where it was thought that there were horrors beyond comparison. In both countries there are activists and foreign supporters trying to help, but mainly the locals and officials look away and choose to ignore the plight of the stray dog. As there is not other organization currently helping the stray dogs in Kosovo, we decided to focus on this beautiful country.

 

We decided to help the helpers that are living there and trying to deal with the horrors alone and with such few resources. The helpers include small local organizations, veterinarians and private Persons that care for dogs and citizens that would prefer to live in a place free of stray dogs. 

 

Kosovo has a recent history of war and cruelty and is struggling for recognition as a country and EU status. Furthermore we have an extreme poverty in rural parts. During the war 1998/99, the animals were forgotten, and the people of Kosovo often have either no, or little, income, and cannot keep dogs privately. Those that do keep dogs leave them outside, do not have secure gardens and there is a culture of only valuing pure breed dogs and discarding dogs when they are no longer wanted. Consequently, the dog population has risen enormously.

 

There is a lack of money to treat and neuter/spay the dogs or to decently euthanize those that are too sick to survive. The dogs are beaten or starved to death, and some suffer at the hands of those who make money from dog fighting. We simply cannot stand this and therefore want to make lasting changes with the help of foreign and local activists and caring people.


How it began

Some activists from abroad and from Kosovo, stood at the beginning of our engagement in a field of dying and dead dogs, first in Albania and then in Kosovo - no food or water, only a long and painful death certain without intervention. Only a few dogs could be removed and survived. Some had to be decently euthanized, as they were suffering because they were too sick to survive. 

 

The activists and locals give all their money they possibly can to help the stray dogs, but they do not have the means to undertake the work that is required to help the stray dog situation across Kosovo. We decided to help them as well the citizens in this country, and to ask for your help too. To succeed we need financial support for medical treatments and spay/neuter programs.

 

Video how the dogs were treated in the "shelter" at the waste dump in Peja 2014 (not for children!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDzbMXxo1E4