Stray dog in Sarajevo. Photo: Dan Brickley/Wikicommons

Dogs Trust Bosnia said on Friday that it was concerned to see that culling had been chosen as the only way to cut down the large amount of stray dogs in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Its statement came after one of Bosnia’s two chambers of parliament adopted changes to Law on Animal Protection proposing that stray dogs be put down if no one has adopted them within 15 days.

“Dogs Trust is of course for an urgent solution to the obvious problem of stray dogs so that the safety of children and citizens will stop being imperilled,” the animal-protection group said.

But it described a cull as “the most expensive, most inefficient and most inhumane of a range of measures that the authorities have had [at their disposal] since 2009”.

Culling of aggressive or diseased dogs was one of several methods envisioned in legislation adopted in 2009, but could now become the main focus of official strategy aimed at reducing the capital’s stray dog population, which has been estimated at over 10,000.

Dozens of media reports, particularly this year, have highlighted incidents in which stray dogs have attacked or bitten children as well as adults.

There is a lack of dog pounds for strays in the capital, where packs of ten or more can sometimes be seen roaming the streets.

The reason for lack of the facilities is a lack of money to build them, with some municipal politicians arguing that it would be wrong to spend money on housing dogs while so many people are in need of help.

But Dogs Trust argued that a cull would not be any cheaper than building dog pounds.