| Obligations according to the Regulation No 998/2003 (European Commission): In brief - the requirements of the Regulation oblige Bulgaria to set up systems for the identification and registration of cats and dogs. Obligations according to the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals (Council of Europe), acting in Bulgaria from February 1 2005: Article 12 – Reduction of numbers When a Party considers that the numbers of stray animals present it with a problem, it shall take the appropriate legislative and/or administrative measures necessary to reduce their numbers in a way which does not cause avoidable pain, suffering or distress... ...b. Parties undertake to consider: I. providing for dogs and cats to be permanently identified by some appropriate means which causes little or no enduring pain, suffering or distress, such as tattooing as well as recording the numbers in a register together with the names and addresses of their owners; II. reducing the unplanned breeding of dogs and cats by promoting the neutering of these animals... Article 14 – Information and education programmes The Parties undertake to encourage the development of information and education programmes so as to promote awareness and knowledge amongst organisations and individuals concerned with the keeping, breeding, training, trading and boarding of pet animals of the provisions and the principles in this Convention. In these programmes, attention shall be drawn in particular to the following subjects: ...b. the need to discourage: I. gifts of pet animals to persons under the age of sixteen without the express consent of their parents or other persons exercising parental responsibilities;... ...III. unplanned breeding of pet animals;... ...V. the risks of irresponsible acquisition of pet animals leading to an increase in the number of unwanted and abandoned animals. Obligations according to the Veterinary Act, acting from 1 May 2006: Art.7 (1) The National Veterinary-Medical service realizes:...4. Control over adherence to the rules for protection and humane treatment of the animals. (2) In NVMS are kept public registers of: 1. Animal breeding objects; 2. Animal dealers;... (3) The registers mentioned in the paragraph 2 are published in the website of the Ministry of the Agriculture and Forestry. (4) The National Veterinary-Medical Service supports computerized system for veterinary-medical information and publishes bulletins. Art.137 (1) The owners of animal breeding objects hand in an application for registration to the Director of the RVMS, accompanied by document for paid tax. Art.149 (1) Animals should be bred and used in a manner, corresponding to their development and purpose, according to their physiological needs and ecological requirements. Art. 158. The use of stray and owned cats and dogs as experimental animals is forbidden... Art. 174 (1) The owners of 6 weeks old dogs should introduce them to a practicing veterinary doctor for accomplishment of a passport, vaccination and treatment for parasites. (2) At 4 months of age, or in 7 days term after the acquisition of a dog older than that age, the owner registers the dog at a veterinary doctors office, showing a document for paid tax according to the art. 175, paragraph 1. (3) During the registration of the dog, the veterinary doctor puts a tattoo or a microchip, containing the identification code of the settlement from the Common territorial classificatory, and an individual number of the animal. (4)The veterinary doctor sends monthly the data from the passport of every registered in the Regional Veterinary Medical Service and in the municipality. Art. 429 (1) The owner of a dog, who violates the requirements of the article 174, should be fined with 20 leva. (2)When the violation is made by juridical person or one-man trader, the sanction is from 20 to 40 lv. Art. 472 ...(4) The violation of the article 426, 428 and 429 should be determined by an act accomplished by a regional or municipal hygiene inspector. (5) The penal decrees, according to the paragraph 4 should be accomplished by the mayors of the regions and municipalities. The income from these fines should go to the municipal budget. Obligations according to the Regulation for the Implication of the Veterinary Act accepted by the Bulgarian Government in 2000: Art.111. The control over observation of the rules for protection and humanely treatment of the animals should be realized by veterinary-medical specialists by: 1. acomplishment of periodic inspections of the places where animals are kept and sheltered and the places where products of animal origin are obtained; ... 3. accomplishment of inspections upon signals for violations of the rules for protection and humanely treatment of the animals. Art.127. The Body of the NVMS exersize periodic control over activities of the owners of animal breeding objects and if any violations of the rules for protection and humanely treatment of the companion animals are found, undertakes all the mesures provided in the law. |
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