The animals have been killed in an organized and brutal manner, say people from the Four Paws Charity

Representatives of the Four Paws Animal Welfare Charity found dozens of dead bodies of stray animals in nylon bags at the dumping ground of Blagoevgrad after a tip by local environmentalists. The Four Paws found out that the animals have been killed in a particularly cruel manner.

"A representative of ours has also entered the dumping ground and confirmed the actual presence of sacks with dog corpses on the bottom of one of the pits. Some of the carcasses were quite fresh, others have already started  to decompose. Most of the corpses were all over in blood, which means that the animals have been killed in a painful way. Furthermore, we have pictures," says Dr. Marina Ivanova from the Four Paws. „We have alarmed the Regional Veterinary Medical Inspectorate and the Regional Inspectorate for Public Health Protection and Control right away but their representatives were not admitted to the dumping ground because of a mayor’s order. At the same time, we evidenced that gypsies entered the dumping ground without hindrance and took out metal scrap. Our apprehension is that dogs are being killed on the streets in an organized manner by order of the Municipality of Blagoevgrad. It is a fact that after an incident with a townsman who had been attacked by stray dogs, the mayor Mr. Paskalev uttered a thread that the problem would be solved radically and that the number of strays had already decreased by 39. It is also a fact that, only for a month, absolutely all the animals disappeared from the town centre, many of which were neutered and have been living there for years. The dumping ground is managed by the Biostroy municipal company and only its trucks have access to it, so the corpses could not get there by accident.”

This is yet another gross violation of the Animal Protection Law. Just several hours earlier the Four Paws and the citizen group „A City for Responsible People” gave a press conference, which revealed striking cases of outrages over animals, for which disclosure investigation authorities refused cooperation. Environmentalists think that only incrimination of murders and tortures of animals will make institutions stop outrages of such type.

"We met the mayor Mr. Paskalev in the late afternoon. He promised us cooperation on that case and we hope to be able to enter the dumping ground today, together with representatives of the Blagoevgrad Regional Veterinary Medical Inspectorate, " goes on Dr. Ivanova. „Of course, we are not expecting to find anything, as Biostroy Company had a whole night to take out the corpses.”