Protest over Romania government's plan to kill stray dogs

A bill allowing stray dogs to be euthanised is legal, the constitutional court has ruled, prompting hundreds of dog lovers to block a main road outside parliament in protest.

The ruling came weeks after a four-year-old boy’s fatal mauling in Bucharest led the government to draft the legislation.

Under the law, stray dogs will be taken to shelters and killed if not adopted or claimed within 14 days. The World Society for the Protection of Animals called the bill “both inhumane and ineffective”.

There are an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 stray dogs in Bucharest. A hospital that handles infectious diseases has treated 9,760 people for dog bites in the first eight months of this year.

AP