Doctor Litov Has Pressured the Municipalities of Hisar,
Karlovo, Stamboliiski and Asenovgrad

The animal protection activist was refused information on the number
of stray dogs which have been euthanized 

Galina Konstantinova

A medical doctor from Plovdiv sued four municipalities in the region for refusing access to information on the number of stray dogs which had been euthanized in the stray dog shelter. Doctor Georgi Litov from the Association "Civil Control for Animal Protection" in Plovdiv filed a series of appeals in the Administrative court under the Access to Public Information Act (APIA).

We requested the entry registration book of the stray dogs shelter for the period since February 1, 2010 when the Law on Animal Protection came into force. We did not want information before that date. We also wanted to obtain individual protocols for each euthanized stray dog and the death protocols.
The doctor also requested data about the limitation of the population of unsheltered animals for the period February 2008 – May 2009 in paper copies or on electronic carrier. And information about the diagnoses of the dogs which underwent euthanasia – tumors or anything else.  

„Thousands of dogs were killed in violation of the law. Others died from strange diseases. We offered our assistance for the treatment of the ill animals, but they rejected it, and the animals died,” Litov said.

In most of the cases, he did not receive any information. The Municipality of Asenovgrad kept silent. Litov appealed the silent refusal in the Administrative Court and won the case. The Municipality of Hisar requested the cost of 2.50 BGN for a paper copy, referring to the Law on Local Taxes – the whole information containing 41 pages.

The animal rights defender has already won the court cases against the Municipalities of Stamboliiski, Asenovgrad, Hisar and Karlovo. He has reached an agreement with the Municipality of Pazardzhik.

Currently, Georgi Litov is suing the Mayor of Plovdiv Slavcho Atanasov for the same type of refusal.

The medical doctor wanted to know the number of dogs registered in the stray dogs shelter and their diagnoses if sick. His request was transferred to the deputy-mayor responsible for the environmental issues. No information was provided.

“Almost every month doctor Litov is complaining of us and we have to disclose information,” the veterinary doctor Veselin Bekirski from the municipal company “Zoo Veterinary Complex” said.

“Up to July 16, we have captured 274 stray dogs in the territory of Plovdiv. They were castrated, marked with electronic chips and 252 brought back to the places where they had been caught,” the doctor explained. This year only one dog was euthanized and the reason was its aggressive behavior. “We have not refused information to doctor Litov. The municipality has responded that part of the data from previous years was not held because we are not obliged to. The rest is not available on an electronic carrier, but there is no reason not to provide it on paper. The cost of a copied page is 0.1 BGN.

“The Association for Animal Protection – Plovdid filed 11 complaints in the Prosecutor’s Office against the Municipality of Plovdiv. We accuse the municipality of continuous murder of stray dogs and forging the protocols for these activities,” the chairperson doctor Litov says. He adds that he received the true 10 protocols from a former official, vet doctor at the municipal zoo complex. The man was fired because he had opposed the killing of the dogs. The grounds for all euthanasia were the aggressive behavior of the animals. “Such a statement requires a commission of experts to assess the behavior of the stray dogs. No assessment was made in any of the cases,” Litov emphasizes.

In the course of his other court proceeding, Georgi Litov obtained several other protocols from the Municipalities of Plovdiv, Hisar and Assenovgrad. He compared them with the documents received from the former zoo complex official and found drastic discrepancies. “Two protocols were issued for the same dog,” Litov explains. The first was signed by the former vet and contained the sentence that the euthanasia was performed “at the order of the manager of the stray dogs shelter.” The second protocol, having the same reference number, lacks that sentence. Doctor Litov reminds that pursuant to the Law on Animal Protection, it is forbidden to kill animals after January 31, 2008, excluding cases of extreme aggression or illness. The diagnosis should be established by a procedure – something that is missing in the Plovdiv shelter, according to the Chairperson of the Association.

“When they cut the legs of a puppy, the whole of Bulgaria jumped against it. But no one is noticing the killing of hundreds of animals behind closed doors,” is the position of doctor Georgi Litov.

August 2010

This case is part of the book "Civil Participation and Access to Information (15 Years of the APIA, 37 stories of NGOs)" published by AIP within the implementation of the project “Enhancing the Capacity of Nongovernmental Organizations to Seek Public Information” supported with a grant under the NGO Programme in Bulgaria under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2009 – 2014 (www.ngogrants.bg).

The whole responsibility for the content shall be taken by the Access to Information Programme Foundaiton and it cannot be assumed under any circumstances that the document reflects the official stance of the  Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Operator of the Programme for NGO support in Bulgaria.