- Shocking conditions of the dogs; criminal charges pressed for not providing veterinary care and abuse
Conditions in the non-registered shelter on Žarkovica are inadequate for keeping dogs, so an operation to relocate and take care of the dogs is in process since end of May. Thanks to the engagement of organizations which started the project Adopt Žarkovica Dogs, many others have joined with a goal to urgently help the dogs. The City of Dubrovnik received a ruling from The State Inspectorate, which orders urgent evacuation of all the dogs from the public ground on Žarkovica in 15 days. The deadline has now been extended by 30 days because the approved dog shelters do not have enough capacity for the urgent admission of more than 200 dogs.
After volunteers of Udruga Pobjede from Osijek travelled to Dubrovnik and, with logistical support of shelter Prijatelji from Čakovec and association Animal Friends Croatia, made a register of all the dogs found there, all the information and photos are available on www.adopt-zarkovica.eu in Croatian, English and German. To this day, 98 dogs have been relocated by an approved shelter, the sickest and injured dogs among the firsts. After a started medical treatment, the dogs are given to the care of associations and into foster homes. Only 13 dogs have so far been adopted.
Except the selfless assistance and the big sacrifice of by now numerous associations and individuals, the City of Dubrovnik took responsibility for all the dogs and the resolution of the difficult situation on Žarkovica, engaged employees and occasional employees of utility companies, arranged removal of ten trucks of bulky waste, provided pavilions for dog treatment and preparation for transport, and covered veterinary care, medicinal products, leashes, muzzles, transport cages and material for building temporary kennels to separate dogs. Network for Animals, an international organization, is also providing support. Everyone can help by volunteering and fostering, adopting, or advertising the dogs.
In the meantime, the police have initiated criminal charges against the individuals who took care of the dogs on Žarkovica so far, for the offence of killing and torturing animals, as well as criminal offences in the field of economic crime. They are suspected of denying dogs needed veterinary assistance and adequate care, and not allowing volunteers to take the dogs to a veterinary practice, which resulted in their poor health, as well as of hitting and punching dogs with wooden planks, leashes, and other items to abuse and inflict physical pain and suffering on the dogs. It is alleged that most of the dogs are infested with fleas and ticks, and a certain number of dogs have visible, untreated wounds and intestinal parasites.
Volunteers found many uncastrated and unspayed dogs, almost half of them, which had been uncontrollably reproducing, as well as new puppies, born on Žarkovica. Volunteers and associations which took over several dogs, have been publishing shocking photographs and veterinary reports showing some dogs suffering from leishmaniasis, some are blind, with tumours, inflammations, teeth infections, tooth abscesses and mouths full of pus and hair, broken jaw, severe untreated diseases which called for urgent surgeries, eye removals and leg amputations, etc. Their conditions indicating long term absence of veterinary care.
Ivana Crnoja, agitated by what she saw on Žarkovica: “The fact that the dogs are sick, miserable and in need didn’t kill me as much as the fact that I saw them left behind by those whom I trusted for years to sacredly look after the dogs. Shame, misery, and cowardice.”
Aleksandra Hampamer from the shelter Prijatelji in Čakovec added: “Since all this with Žarkovica started, I have a feeling like we are racing against time, which we do not have. Another dog has died following a gastric torsion, even though an urgent surgery was done. His death upset me because he should have gone to his forever home. This was the fourth death of dogs from Žarkovica since we have started the project. Unfortunately, we have become aware that there will be more of those who will not live to get a home until all of them are evacuated, just like many of them never got a home in the past years.”
Luka Oman, from Animal Friends Croatia, also stresses the urgent relocation and taking care of dogs from Žarkovica: “It is good that after great suffering and dying of dogs, visible on video footage, photographs, veterinary reports, and eyewitness testimonies, which can’t and shouldn’t be justified in any way, the time has come to put an end to it and the dogs are prepared to leave and get adopted. There is little time, and it’s a difficult road to empty Žarkovica and find all the dogs new homes. That is why it is extremely important for all of us to concentrate on the visibility of the dogs, desperately seeking help and homes.”
Everyone is invited to help the dogs from Žarkovica with foster homes or adoptions, by sharing their photos and stories from the website www.adopt-zarkovica.eu, as well as Facebook page Adopt Zarkovica Dogs and Instagram AdoptZarkovica.
