Thursday, July 11, 2013, between 12.00 and 14.00, the organizations for the protection of animals and representatives of the civil society that care for animals are organizing the protest meeting at the City Hall, demanding that the leaders of the Authority for Surveillance and Protection of animals should be dismissed.
The term of office for the present leadership is expiring in August, and we want it not to be extended. We are specifically referring to the terms of office of Mr. Treeroiu Bogdan for the position of General Director of the Authority, the terms of office of the project directors Razvan Bancescu and Ancuta Claudiu – they all should not be kept anymore in their positions. We also demand that all personnel in leading positions should be appointed after passing an open competition.
Between August 2012 and August 2013, while they worked as directors, the three ASPA employees have euthanized dogs that the animal lovers would have wanted to adopt; didn’t collaborate at all with NGOs and area protectors, never invited NGOs and area protectors to any dialogue or meeting, issued extreme legal bills promoting absurd measures like fining the persons that feed the strays with 5000 RON, adoption tax of 150 RON, gathering approximately half of the dogs in Bucharest from “public” areas to shelters that lack basic space, hygiene and living conditions, hiring private dog catchers, allowing neutering programs in locations without proper authorization.
The above mentioned directors are also guilty of the disappearance of many dogs caught, of the lack of transparency concerning “adoptions”, of illegally assigning guarding contracts, of publishing false statistics regarding the number of dogs in Bucharest. To be specific, we consider that a lot of dogs were secretely killed during their terms of office. The directors forced the animal lovers to sign for their adoption instead of simply returning the dogs, whenever the animal lovers took strays to vet clinics collaborating with the city hall for neutering. The animal lovers had a choice: either to let animals give birth on the streets uncontrollably, which would only have increased the public danger, or to sign adoption papers, even though they obviously could not adopt these dogs, animal lovers already having too many dogs saved in their appartments or yards. These directors asked and received huge amounts of money from the public budget, of which 3.3 million Euros only for the last 6 months of this year – this amount is impossible to justify, as it is equal to the amount used by ASPA in approximately 4 years of activity so far. They have transformed the management of the strays into a BUSINESS. The number of strays did not decrease during their term of office, but on the contrary, it increased, because they did not take measures to neuter the only canine population that was left un-neutered on a large scale, meaning the dogs at the outskirts of Bucharest. Also, these directors did not work together with the nearby towns and villages to convince them to collaborate and neuter their dogs. As a consequence, the vast majority of the puppies and adult dogs abandoned in the nearby villages have come to Bucharest, attracted by the food sources at the garbage stations and they advanced towards the interior progressively, as the Bucharest dogs died or were adopted. These directors did not accomplish adoptions during their term of office. On the contrary, the extremely short visiting hours prevented it. The citizens of Bucharest are desperate because of the great number of animals on the streets. The incompetence and ill will of the three directors appointed in August 2012, previously employed by RATB, is obvious.
Over 5000 signatures have been gathered against these incompetent directors who uselessly spend public money and visibly or secretely perpetrate cruel acts against animals thus breaching the Law 9/2008.
We demand the Mayor Sorin Oprescu not to prolong the terms of office of these persons.
Bucharest can be a European city without stray dogs, due to a competent leadership.
Bucharest needs valuable people. At the moment, the capital has a lot of valuable experts, both in the protection of animals activity and outside it, experienced people, respectful of life, with modern vision, competent managers, who can take over the leadership of ASPA at any time.
The meeting is part of a series of actions aimed towards the dismissal of the present ASPA leaders. On Friday there is a press conference where the 5000 signatures against the ASPA directors will be presented, and Tuesday, July 16, 2013, we’re organizing a protest picket at the ASPA headquarters in Calea Calarasi nr 179, sector 3.
The arrival of the participants takes place between 11.30 and 12.00 hours, and the departure between 14.00 and 14.30 hours. The participants will carry hangers, they will have whistles, megaphones, clarions, amplifiers, they will chant slogans and they will speak.
CONTACT:
President Marcela Pîslă, 0720.798.273, 0766.251.158
Asoc. Cutu, cutu