A discussion about measures and care for stray dogs took up most of the time at the last regular meeting of the Tutrakan Municipal Council.
The reason was an incident that happened the day before, in which a doctor from the Tutrakan Multiprofile Hospital was bitten by stray dogs. The hospital director, Dr. Bogomil Boychev, told the municipal councilors about the incident and called for urgent measures to be taken by the administration and councilors.
In response, the mayor of the municipality, Dimitar Stefanov, who is also a veterinarian, was the first to comment on the issue.
According to him, the problem is one for the whole community, not just the municipal administration, because the dogs that attacked the doctor had been neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped. In other words, according to him, the municipality had done its job.
“I have always said that castration does not change a dog; if it is vicious, it remains vicious after castration. The problem is that we see minibuses and cars opening their trunks and releasing dogs. In 14 years, I have received only one report of a person, a resident of the town of Zavet, who released a female dog with three puppies. He was fined, and the dogs were taken to the shelter in the city of Ruse. So, this must be a commitment for all of us, together, to reduce the population of stray and ownerless dogs,” said the mayor.
Much of the responsibility in the discussion was shifted onto “environmentalists” – apparently as the ones to blame for the current situation with their animal protection requirements.
“There is a legal provision according to which any conservationist can come to the municipality, fill out a declaration, and submit documents stating that they are adopting these dogs and that they are committed to raising them, feeding them, deworming them, vaccinating them, and accordingly bearing responsibility for any damage they may cause.” This is how the mayor of Tutrakan explained the assumption of responsibility by conservationists and their organizations.
In reality, however, it turned out that the municipality of Tutrakan was not deprived of the cooperation of environmentalists in dealing with the problem, because the mayor himself stated that the municipality was working with a Bulgarian-German environmental organization on the issue of stray dogs.
Finally, he proposed holding an open discussion in Tutrakan between residents, the municipal administration, and the municipal council to see how to move forward in one direction, because the population of stray dogs has increased significantly.
Other citizens also had questions and comments. A nurse from the hospital asked how the municipality controls the indiscriminate abandonment of domestic animals, which are usually unneutered.
A citizen present at the meeting proposed the creation of a working group consisting of the responsible institutions, such as the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA), the municipality, environmentalists, etc., to identify short-term and long-term measures to address the problem. According to him,
there is no institution that can deal with the problem if citizens do not take responsibility, especially with regard to the disposal of domestic dogs.
Another example was given by a citizen about a child attacked in the yard of a school in Tutrakan by 7-8 dogs, in which the child was not bitten but experienced severe stress.
Finally, Mayor Dimitar Stefanov proposed setting a date for a discussion, which should be attended not only by environmentalists but also by victims of stray dogs, because at the last such discussion, only environmentalists attended, who said, “Don’t touch the dogs, we will look after them, we will take care of them.”
This is not the first discussion held in the Tutrakan Municipal Council on stray dogs. At the regular session on August 28 this year, a letter to the Municipal Council and the mayor of Tutrakan was considered, signed by citizens expressing serious concern and alarm about the lack of control over the breeding and abandonment (throwing out on the street) of dogs and cats in the municipality. At that time, there was also a long discussion between citizens and the mayor, which did not produce any concrete results until the incident with the bitten doctor occurred.
There is no municipal shelter for stray dogs in Tutrakan; they are taken to a shelter in the city of Ruse.
The mayor expressed a negative opinion against building one in Tutrakan because it would consume a lot of resources and would not solve the problem.
However, Tutrakan has a municipal program and action plan to control the population of stray animals in the municipality of Tutrakan, for which the mayor is responsible. The program for the period 2025-2030 was adopted by the Municipal Council this year, when a petition was submitted by citizens requesting that measures be taken.
It contains data for previous years on the population and handling of stray dogs and the measures taken, as well as measures that will be taken to control the population.
The total number of stray dogs in the municipality of Tutrakan in 2024, counted according to the municipality’s methodology, is 95. They are located in different settlements. In the town of Tutrakan, which is the subject of the discussion, their number is 57. In other words, the problem stems from about 60 dogs, some of which are aggressive, in the town itself.
The program describes specific measures and means for controlling and reducing the population of stray dogs and cats, as well as the obligations of the responsible institutions.
Compliance with the program and the requirements for keeping domestic dogs is monitored by the mayor and the mayors of the respective municipalities, and in accordance with the Animal Protection Act, the mayor of the municipality and the municipal administration organize and implement the program and submit an annual report on its implementation to the executive director of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, the other institution responsible for control.
According to the program data, the number of manipulations and treatments of stray dogs in the municipality of Tutrakan has progressively decreased – from 34 in 2021 to 13 in 2024 – despite claims in the discussion of an increased population in 2025. From 2022 to 2024, there was not a single animal adoption, despite claims that there are many abandoned domestic dogs.
The total number of registered domestic dogs in the municipality of Tutrakan by the beginning of 2025 is 353.
