In July this year, we wrote that members of the Animal Aid Association wanted the city authorities to implement a programme to combat animal homelessness, under which, among other things, sterilisation and neutering procedures as well as comprehensive vaccinations would be carried out for free-roaming dogs and cats. “It is my role to make sure that this programme sees the light of day,” Anna Ryżewska, president of SPZ, told us at the time. Grażyna Strzyżewska, head of the Municipal Department of the City Office, promised the organisation’s members that a draft resolution on the matter would be submitted to the City Council in May. Nothing of the sort happened, however.
Officials then assured them that councillors would familiarise themselves with the programme in August, and then that it would happen in September. On Thursday, 1 October, members of the organisation met with the city authorities in the Councillors’ Hall (Bolesławiec Town Hall). “A major drawback of the meeting was that no veterinarian took part,” the head of SPZ comments. “A week before the meeting, I called Ms Strzyżewska. I asked whether specialists had been invited. As it turned out, they had not. In my opinion, this is a sign of disregard. Either for us or for the doctors.”
“Going to the meeting with the mayor, we thought we would raise the issues we had presented to the officials in writing a month earlier,” Anna Ryżewska continues. “Meanwhile, we did not receive answers to many of our questions.”
One example is the issue of building a Bolesławiec animal shelter or refuge. “The Association would like a well-run refuge to be established in our city,” the organisation’s head emphasises. “But the mayor avoids the subject. In February, the cost of the facility was a problem for the mayor; now its location is causing difficulty. I have the impression that issues which are difficult for the city authorities are simply being ignored.”
Some of the Association’s comments concerning the programme to combat animal homelessness were taken into account, while others were not. The mayor is firmly opposed to feeding homeless animals, which he strongly emphasised during the October meeting. “In February, during the meeting with veterinarians, the mayor had no objection to it. We even considered together what food to choose for cats,” says Anna Ryżewska. “Now the mayor cited, as an argument ‘against’, the words of the president of the Dłużyna Górna branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who wrote that he opposed the habitual overfeeding of cats. Doctor of biology, ethologist and ecologist Zuzanna Stromenger fully supports feeding homeless cats. I also do not know any veterinarian who would need to be persuaded to feed our strays.”
Organisation members are also concerned that the city programme permits the euthanasia of blind litters, which is legal. The valuation of veterinary services is another point of contention. According to the Municipality, sterilisation and neutering would cost between PLN 50 and PLN 100. “The sutures alone cost PLN 40, and preparing the surgical field is another PLN 10,” Anna Ryżewska explains. “And what about anaesthetic drugs, disinfectants, antibiotics and painkillers administered to the animal after sterilisation? Why is the office creating a situation in which veterinarians will not be able to earn money from the procedure? If we want professionally performed procedures, let us trust Bolesławiec’s veterinarians. The Public Procurement Law clearly states that price is not the only criterion for selecting a contractor when carrying out a public task. In this case, the quality of the service should come first. This is about the animals’ health and lives, after all!”
City officials reject the allegations
“The meeting with members of the Bolesławiec association was very interesting and necessary, especially since people who professionally care for animals on a daily basis came to Bolesławiec for the meeting [chodzi o Eugeniusza Ragiela, prezesa zarządu głównego Towarzystwa Opieki nad Zwierzętami, i Michała Kasztelana, szefa Miejskiego Przedsiębiorstwa Gospodarki Komunalnej w Jeleniej Górze – przyp. red.]. I think the guests suggested many valuable comments and solutions that could also be applied in our city,” commented Mayor Piotr Roman.
Agnieszka Gergont, spokesperson for the Bolesławiec City Office, added: “The Municipal Department did not invite other doctors because the association, at whose request the meeting was convened, has a veterinarian among its members. Moreover, the valuation of veterinary services proposed by the Municipality comes precisely from Bolesławiec veterinarians.”
The spokesperson also addressed the issue of building a Bolesławiec shelter or refuge: “The mayor proposed joining the Association of Municipalities of the Zgorzelec Region, which runs a shelter in Dłużyna Górna, and even contributing to the costs of expanding that shelter.”
We will return to this matter.
(ii information)