Stray Dogs in Łódź Voivodeship: Children or Dogs?

Authorities in three municipalities in Lodz province have asked for permission to shoot stray dogs. “At risk are children walking along dirt roads to bus stops and the elderly,” officials say. – It can’t be that if we don’t deal with dogs, we shoot them,” said attorney Sara Balcerowicz of the Mondo Cane Foundation.

Not “right away, not right away,” because the municipal authorities (which was clearly emphasized) tried several times to trap the dogs, but failed – that’s one thing. Second – however, there should be some compromise with animal lovers. One should give a short deadline (e.g., 3 days) to an animal rights foundation to trap the dogs and transport them to a place that the foundation manages. There, the dogs would be happy, taken care of and safe, and most importantly, the children of the three municipalities in question would also feel safe. There would then be “the wolf is full and the sheep are full.” Someone will say that I have no heart. Not true. Living in a village myself and I know what a pack of stray dogs roaming around means. It is an obvious danger to lonely people, especially children walking to/from school. I won’t explain it in detail, because I think I would insult the intelligence of our readers. The rule of thumb is this: the reaction of local authorities follows some tragic event. Here – surprisingly – there is a preemptive action. Shock and disbelief!

It is a bit reminiscent of the wild boar invasion of the Tri-Cities. Whole wads of wild boars terrorized residents and the dog with a limp did not intervene. I know, because I called several times, then I might as well write to Berdyczów. I noted at the time (in the media) two dangerous animal attacks that ended in the hospitalization of the victims. In one case, the state (I don’t remember if it was the municipality or the State Forests) paid massive compensation for permanent injury. I don’t know what happened in the second case – I didn’t follow the case later, but the injured party announced that she would not let go. “They paid out” means only that we ALL paid the compensation, not Mayor X out of his own pocket. If it had been the mayor of Gdynia or the local director of the National Forests who had been responsible with their private assets – I assure you that the boars would have disappeared from Gdynia’s streets the second day after they were seen. Eventually, some plague came on the boars and the matter resolved itself. Oh, before that, there was still some kind of prosecutorial investigation as to whether someone had poisoned these wild boars. Also, the state is acting …

Wild boars and dogs should be handed over (allowed to be trapped) to foundations that – as part of their activities – could take care of the animals. Then they would be “their monkeys in their circus”. On the other hand, if you don’t have – it’s up to the animal rights activists – any idea except to garble “don’t shoot”, then the authorities of the three municipalities should belittle you, because – it’s a cliché what I’m going to write now – the health and life of children is the most precious value! And EVERYTHING should be done to protect them. Even at the cost of the lives of these stray dogs. In the hierarchy of values, a child comes first, and then (somewhere further down the line) a stray dog. I know that this sentence may shock some people, but it’s hard.

I suppose Mr. Balcerowicz’s point is that municipalities should chase after dogs to the hilt, regardless of the cost. I repeat: give the foundation three days to catch the dogs, close the schools for that time cancel after-school activities, and after three days, as I understand it, the dogs will already be in the care of…the foundation.