Spring has sprung and so have the new stray puppies and kittens

published on 4/3/24 10:36 AM

Photo: BTA

He is just a cat, but his fate has taken over social networks. About 10 months ago, on St George's Day, he appeared in the Plovdiv National Library "Ivan Vazov" and the librarians named him Gogo (short for Georgi). He immediately won their love.

The employees made him a pet house in one of the halls of the book depository, and he repaid their care with gentle purring and exemplary behaviour. And he probably would have continued to snooze contentedly among the bookshelves had he not been in danger of being thrown out into the street.

Within hours, the web was buzzing with comments on an appeal for his rescue posted by a library worker. A petition in his defence quickly sprang up, gathering more than 10,000 signatures in a matter of hours. Meanwhile, the national media joined in, broadcasting reports from the library so that everyone could follow the story as it unfolded. It turned out that the cat had been vaccinated and de-wormed and was not a danger to anyone. In fact, Gogo's presence actually increased the number of visitors. Finally, after massive public pressure, the board of directors of the National Library "Ivan Vazov" decided to keep the cat in the library.

However, Gogo's case has once again raised the issue of his stray brethren, whose stories often do not have a happy ending. Every day on social media we see calls for the adoption of stray or abandoned cats and dogs, but those who respond are always the same people... Public shelters, as we know, are not the solution as they are full. Neither is taking dozens of cats and dogs into private homes, as the animals are not very comfortable in small and crowded spaces.

But why are there so many dogs and cats in need of homes? According to Yavor Gechev, who worked for many years in the management of the global animal welfare organisation Four Paws, a huge number of people abandon their pets every year:

"We are not talking about people who abandon their pets once - Yavor Gechev points out in an interview with Radio Bulgaria. - There are people who do it over and over again. It's recidivism. People who keep a dog to guard their chickens, for example, or to guard their crops, the dog is not taken care of at all, it gives birth twice a year. And the puppies are either dumped in the woods to be eaten by predators, or they're brought into town and dumped in the park to become 'citizens', as they jokingly like to say.

These people are not sanctioned, which means that their behaviour doesn't change in any way, but the bigger problem is that their mentality remains the same. They somehow feel entitled to do so - that's the way it's always been done, and that's the way they'll always do it.

And when institutions do step in to control the stray population, it is common practice to pick the animals up off the street and not take them back once they are neutered. They lock them up in shelters, where many die in terrible conditions, or take them to unknown places where they have no chance of survival.

"This contradicts the logic of the castration programme itself, it is a complete misunderstanding of its principles - notes Yavor Gechev - the idea is to castrate the animal and return it to its original location so that another animal, which has not been castrated and will continue to give birth, does not take its place. And again, the reason these things are happening is because there is no law enforcement control whatsoever, because this is all regulated by law.

The response of compassionate people seems most convenient to the state. When institutions fail, citizens are not indifferent when they see the potential danger to a helpless creature on the street. "The puppy or kitten doesn't have the skills to survive on its own," Yavor Gechev notes, adding:

"They get absolutely no help from the local government or other authorities, so they take it home and try to find a forever home for it. In some cases they succeed, in many cases they fail and it actually stays with them. And when they see the next one in the street, they are faced with the dilemma of whether to take in another puppy or kitten, causing inconvenience to their neighbours and disrupting their personal lives, or to leave it out, knowing perfectly well that it will not survive there.

This practice is extremely misguided because law enforcement in Bulgaria is supposed to enforce a form of morality, behaviour that is socially acceptable or based on certain values, which is not happening. This way of thinking has to change. It has to come from us, the public, but also from those who have the power to make decisions and set an example," says Yavor Gechev.

Photos: BTA, BGNES, Four Paws Foundation, Darina Grigorova

Translated and posted by Elizabeth Radkova

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