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The open days promised every month from the beginning of 2022 are happening for the first time on the last day of June.

A barn divided into boxes with a new fence, the “carpentry” is nylon. The door on the opposite side of the building is closed, although the room is incredibly stuffy.

The best that was possible in this period of time and with this amount of funds“, says the city administration.

The question is whether perhaps more could be done if the shelter was not run by someone under investigation by an international organization against corruption?

Could more be done if the help of proven international animal protection associations and foundations is accepted?

Dogs Trust is ready to finance the sterilization of street dogs in Banja Luka.

We are not sure that it is a good idea to return a sterilized dog to the street“, said the city administration. Leaving them unsterilized and allowing them to produce another 12 new puppies in a year might seem like a better option to them?

The infrastructure of the
The infrastructure of the “most modern” shelter in the region

Thank you to alderman Rosić and no one else!” – a year ago, it seemed like a strange comment on an animal protection site. Six months later, no one except alderman Milenko Rosić deserved a thank you.

Why is it stated in the diary of the shelter that the dogs receive the same amount of food in grams every day of the month, even though 20 new dogs were caught and brought in that month, they don’t know from the city administration. This is perhaps not surprising because they don’t even know what parvovirus is, from which, according to its symptoms, dying dogs were taken out of the shelter in front of volunteers.

But without a test, it is impossible to determine whether the animals have received a vaccine against infectious diseases.

Fortunately, the chip, which is given by law when the rabies vaccine is given, can be read in a few seconds… that is… it is possible if the animal has it. In the shelter, most of the checked animals did not have it.

 

Following:

INSTRUCTIONS ON THE FORMATION AND CONDITIONS THAT ANIMAL SHELTERS MUST FULFILL

(that is, all its items that are violated)

 

To begin with things related to the conditions in the facility, which can only be regulated by window settings. The city administration’s reasoning for why the windows have not been installed for 6 months is that every contractor quits.

22. The air temperature on the premises for dogs and cats must not be lower than 5° C, and in summer, it can be in accordance with the outside air temperature, with the proviso that in that case, such a ventilation system must be provided, and if necessary, air conditioning, which will ensure sufficient ventilation and, if necessary, cooling.

23. In rooms where sick animals are housed, if there is no heating system with a directed heat source (infrared light, heated floor, etc.), the ambient temperature must not be lower than 18°C.

24. The floors, walls and roof of rooms where animals are housed must be adequately insulated from adverse climatic influences.

 

An object whose violation can be avoided by allowing volunteers to assist in moving animals or by opening existing hatches on the facility.

33. Object from point 1. of this instruction must meet the needs of the animals housed in them so that the animals:

  • they don’t suffer hunger and thirst,
  • they are not exposed to physical discomfort and fear,
  • they are protected from injuries and diseases and
  • they are in an appropriate environment related to their own kind.

 

Associations in Banja Luka receive daily inquiries from citizens about where and how it is possible to find the number and working hours of the shelter…

34. Working hours of an object from point 1. of this instruction, which refers to working with parties, must be at least four hours on a working day, and 24 hours a day must be on call to receive animals in emergency cases.

35. The duty will be organized in agreement with the veterinary organization in a way that ensures emergency veterinary assistance to the animal 24 hours a day.

36. At the entrance to the objects from point 1. of this instruction, a signboard with the full name, address, phone number and working hours must be placed

 

In addition to offers for volunteering that were rejected by the city administration, at the meeting organized a little more than a month ago, it was also stated that two employees are working in the shelter, and it was emphasized that this volume of work is too much for so many people.

37. In the objects from point 1. of this instruction, there must be an adequate number of people taking care of the animals, at least one person in relation to 50 animals.

 

Articles that refer to problems that citizens mostly solve themselves. There are a large number of posts on social networks that show that animals sometimes spend more than a day immobile and in pain

50. Legal and natural persons who perform activities in the objects referred to in point 1. of this instruction are obliged to provide housing for the animal within 24 hours of receiving the report, and if the animal is injured, within four hours.

51. If there is no room for new animals in the shelter, the manager of the shelter can agree with the person who found the animal, or another interested person, to take care of the animal until accommodation in the shelter is secured or to send the animal to another shelter for care if they can also accept it.

 

Most of the checked dogs in the shelter did not have a chip, which by law is given at the same time as the rabies vaccine

59. Any animal found for which it is not possible to determine the health status with respect to rabies is considered an animal of unknown health status with respect to rabies and must be segregated, as determined by point 54. of this instruction.

60. After the end of the period spent in isolation with a negative result of the clinical examination for rabies, the animal should be vaccinated against rabies and can be adopted.

61. Dogs found without an owner must be admitted to a shelter and must be provided with the necessary veterinary and health care, sterilization or castration and marking, except in the case referred to in point 51. of this instruction and after the deadline from article 30. paragraph 2. of the Act, in which the owner of the animal did not demand the return of the animal.

 

The Dogs Trust program is still not approved because the city administration is not sure if it is right to return the sterilized animal to the location where it was found. In the meantime, the rulebook also has this item

64. After recovery and implemented measures in accordance with points 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57. and 58 of this instruction, dogs from point 63. of this instruction, they can be released into the environment from which they were taken, if they are visibly marked, unless there are people who will take care of them

 

The city administration promotes to “adopt love”. At the same time, it does not provide potential adopters with any of the information specified by the ordinance.

70. Animal records include data on:

  • accepted animals (time of report on finding, time of animal’s admission to the shelter, species, sex, weight, number of identification tag if the dog is marked, age assessment, initial observation on the state of health, photo of the animal, place where the animal was found),
  • adopted animals (date of adoption, address and telephone number of the adopter),
  • animals sent to another shelter (date of referral and address of the shelter to which the animal was sent),
  • sterilized or castrated animals (date of sterilization and castration),
  • microchipped animals,
  • animals released to the place where they were found (location where the animal was released and microchip number),
  • dead or euthanized animals (reason for death or euthanasia, date of euthanasia, name and surname, signature and seal of the veterinarian who performed the euthanasia) and
  • animal health record.

 

Below is the most problematic (violated) clause of the city’s contract with the clinic that runs the city’s shelter

Article 8.

The following information must be entered in the diary:

  • number, species, breed, sex and age of caught animals (dogs, cats)
  • the amount and type of used vaccines, injections, agents against external and internal parasites
  • the number of performed sterilizations,
  • the number of working hours of a graduated veterinarian, veterinary technician and hygienist,
  • amount of food used for animals,
  • the number of corpses removed and taken away
  • the amount of other resources used (cleaning agents, disinfectants, HT3 equipment, office materials) – this item is entered on the last day of the month,
  • other data related to the provision of services, which are the subject of the contract
The dog, which was lying motionless, was taken out after that
The dog, which was lying motionless, was taken out after that

If anyone in this city knows what it’s like to not have money to help animals, it is the citizen volunteers who are begging for the help of 5 KM to cure the animals. This article does not refer to the lack of premises, outlets, infrastructure problems of the facility and similar problems that require large investments.

It refers to the problems that arose due to the negligent and sloppy fulfilment of the duty of the clinic in charge towards the city and therefore citizens of Banja Luka. It refers to insufficiently strict checking of contractors by the city administration. On lack of interest when citizens’ associations point out the problem.

From the refusal of the association’s offers for volunteer help at the location to the lack or complete absence of attempts by the city and the in-charge clinic to achieve cooperation with international associations and foundations that help citizens, to the lack of will to include leftover food from restaurants in the animals’ nutrition, which would help the environment as well, to the lack of will to sell cardboard and paper waste from city institutions in order to direct these funds to the project started by citizens’ associations for the sterilization of cats, because the municipal department did not remember that cats exist.

In 6 months: 0 educations, 0 open days, 0 rescued cats, 0 applications for European projects in this area, 0 realized collaborations.

A new tender for running the shelter was announced and no one knew about it until the day after the closure. The explanation from the city administration is that it was published, but no one asked for it.

Daily calls, emails, pleas and appeals from citizens that the work of the hygiene service does more harm than good to the situation with abandoned animals in the city of Banjaluka, and the city administration has decided not to post an invitation for a new contract on social networks either. The city administration of Banjaluka decided to increase the budget by 40,000 KM and close the competition even though, as they say, only one clinic applied for it, the same one that currently runs the shelter, the same one that is under the investigation of the international organization against corruption.

180,000 KM from the citizens of Banja Luka will once again disappear behind the closed doors of the shelter.

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