First OIE regional Workshop on (national strategy) Stray Dog population management

for Balkan countries

Republic of Bulgaria report on National Stray Dogs situation

Bucharest / Romania – 17-19 June 2014

Dr. Petya Petkova

Legislation

1. Law of the veterinary activity

2. Animal protection law

3. Ordinance 41 of the minimum requirements for shelters

4. Municipal ordinances and dog population control programmes

5. Regulation (EC) No 882/2004

6. Check list for shelters

2011 - 29 034 (incomplete data)

2012 – 36 943

2013 – 35 383

Number of stray dogs

34 500 35 000 35 500 36 000 36 500 37 000 37 500

12013 г

2012 г

Trends are unchanged ( ) observed over the past 3 years

Dogs data - 2013

№

Region Registered Vaccinated Microchip Stray dogs

1 Blagoevgrad 539 1 396 223 900

2 Burgas 2 297 8 259 279 662

3 Varna 2 461 2 461 1 195 1 295

4 Veliko Tarnovo 706 3 133 95 2 143

5 Vidin 575 1 409 18 3 294

6 Vratsa 943 1 276 135 467

7 Gabrovo 722 722 161 1 075

8 Dobrich 480 605 268 0

9 Kardzhaly 1 651 1 651 506 819

10 Kystendil 1 464 1 464 345 209

11 Lovech 580 1 517 43 280

12 Montana 2 440 2 440 156 846

13 Pazardzhik 930 1 920 83 228

14 Pernik 2 119 2 208 25 2 700

15 Pleven 294 294 166 2 570

16 Plovdiv 2 573 2 573 757 846

17 Razgrad 459 459 92 1 154

18 Rousse 1 792 2 277 414 0

19 Silistra 226 226 117 547

20 Sliven 1 374 4 051 251 160

21 Smolyan 2 055 2 484 105 498

22 Sofia city 11 794 56 000 127 6 635

23 Sofia district 1 312 1 806 2 864 1 923

24 Stara Zagora 2 387 4 628 442 1 184

25 Targovishte 440 398 220 1 492

26 Haskovo 238 238 105 0

27 Shoumen 1 350 2 490 691 2 932

28 Yambol 140 782 49 524

ОБЩО: 44 341 109 167 9 932 35 383

Main sources of stray dogs:

• Unwanted pet animals

• Non- castrated animals

• Illegal trade

Municipalities dog population control programmes

Aim:

Reducing a stray dog population

Protect people and animals from diseases

improve

health and welfare of owned and stray dog population;

Regulatory framework include:

registration and identification of dogs (I &R)

Mandatory vaccination against rabies;

control of dog movement ;

requirements for dog shelters;

control on the breeding and sale of dogs

Responsibilities and competencies

Veterinary Authorities – national and regional

Local government authorities - municipalities

Private veterinarians

Non-governmental organizations

Dog owners

II. Control measures

Education and legislation for responsible ownership

Registration and identification of dogs

Reproductive control

Capture and return, rehoming or release

Control of dog movements – within country and international

Reduction in dog bite incidence

Rabies Diseased Animals in Bulgaria (2002-2014)

Year Domestic Animals /livestock/ Dogs Cats Foxes Jackals Other

species Totally

2002 - - - 3 1 12 16

2003 3 2 - 10 - 2 17

2004 5 - 1 4 - 1 11

2005 2 1 2 5 1 1 12

2006 1 1 4 2 - 1 9

2007 - 7 7 24 2 - 40

2008 - 6 4 33 6 - 49

2009 4 3 3 47 2 - 59

2010 - 3 1 2 - - 6

2011 - - - 1 - - 1

2012 - - - 1 - - 1

2013 - - - - - - -

2014 as by 01.06.2014 - - - 2 - - 1

Totally: 15 23 22 134 12 17 223

The Balkan mountains act as natural barrier as most of the rabies cases during the past years have been detected in North Bulgaria. Only few cases in foxes have been detected south of the mountains in the west part of the country since 2008.

Euthanasia

Only for sick and aggressive dogs (Law of the veterinary activity)

Only with approved veterinary medical products

Should be humanely

III. Monitoring and evaluation

Main reasons :

to improve implementation

to demonstrate that the programme is achieving its aims

assuming methods are standardized

to check the programme progress against targets and allows for regular adjustments

Indicators for monitoring:

dog population size,

dog welfare,

responsible animal ownership,

prevalence of zoonotic diseases

How often: monthly

IV. Conclusions and future needs

• Bulgaria is in compliance with OIE standard on Stray Dog population control

The main weak points of your National Control Strategy is

Thank you for your attention!

Dr. PETYA PETKOVA OIE AW NATIONAL FOCAL POINT

Tel.:+359 2 915 98 42 E-mail: p_petkova@bfsa.bg