Taking our Protect Animals Protect People campaign to Kosovo

Kosovo conference, bears and dogs

Sitting with Arif in a café in Pristina over a cup of coffee, I heard how Kosovo had been progressing with animal welfare since the war ended in 1999. Arif is a dynamo working for Animal Rights Foundation Kosovo, formed in 2018. They are a small organisation taking major steps forward by ‘focusing on the legislative aspects of animal protection and the dignified promotion of their rights’. They consider all animals, whether stray, companion, animals in farms, dedicated for experimental activities, sports or wild animals.

Later, we were joined by Elza, their Chief Executive and someone who clearly has a vision for the future of animal welfare.

We discussed the conference that I was to be speaking at and had arrived for, and how despite challenging economics they could fund through international support their ongoing campaign work and my attendance at the training workshop. I heard about the bears rescued from being chained up in restaurants at the Four Paws sanctuary and the companion animal spay-neuter programmes, essential to keeping numbers under control.

Street dogs often cause conflict within communities, so a multi-agency approach is needed to manage them humanely.

Kosovo is a country of 1.6 million people, declared independent from Serbia in 2008 and recognised by the USA and major EU countries, but not Serbia. This status can cause issues for animal welfare. For example, a male lion seized from being abused in the entertainment industry cannot be moved to a more suitable climate from sanctuary because of CITES regulations.

The stray dogs

As Arif, Elza and I walked around the city, we were joined by the free-roaming dogs. It’s always a wonderful part of any trip I have made to spend time with them, and this was no exception. They relish human contact and a good belly rub! The dogs sauntered happily alongside us through the city as we talked, to the edge of their ‘turf’ and then returned to their daily routines.

Municipalities are responsible for these dogs, but they must make their management a regularly funded project. As soon as they pause the neutering, the population and the chance of negative animal-human conflict will increase.

The bears

Kassandra, Pashuk, Mira and Hope are some brown bears at the Four Paws Sanctuary in Kosovo, formerly kept in restaurants or illegally as pets. They were discovered and confiscated by the Kosovo police.

It was a real privilege to visit the bears and see how their life had changed since they were rescued from horrific captivity, previously restrained by chains for peoples ‘entertainment’ whilst humans were dining.

They now enjoy beautiful views over the mountains but still have a deep sadness in their eyes.

Conference

I was in Kosovo to train and present our ‘Protect Animals. Protect People.’ campaign, to explain to prosecutors, judges and veterinarians why taking animal welfare and abuse seriously can help create safer communities for people too.

Due to the campaigning of the Animal Rights Foundation, Kosovo has developed animal legislation and recently increased maximum jail terms for cruelty. They also have incorporated a proforma risk assessment into domestic abuse assessment that includes whether pets may be harmed as part of the abuse, in the same way, we do in the UK and that Ukraine introduced in 2019.

There is still a need to continue to train and collaborate, hence the seminar we presented at. (Watch and read about the conference here – video interview with Elza in Albanian)

In my experience, the best training days are those where healthy discussion is created and with experienced judges, the debate (in English, Albanian and Serbian) was often passionate but constructive. (Also read here the press article from the Kosovo Academy of Justice who supported this event.)

Kosovo has a good foundation for real advancement within animal welfare, and events such as this conference can only assist that journey. The credit for the progress is with individuals like Arif and Elza. They are the true heroes for the animals of Kosovo. I am so pleased to have met them and the team and of course, the dogs and the bears, those innocents harmed by abuse and exploitation, who are the reason we do what we do at Naturewatch Foundation. Every day.

A year of training and presentation on the ‘Protect Animals. Protect People.’ campaign

This conference in Pristina concluded an extremely busy but successful year on the campaign, with around 900 professionals now trained in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Greece, Estonia, and Kosovo, as well as several online global events we took part in. We can only achieve all this because of our supporters, who help create safer communities for animals and people.