While dogs die in shelters, the government abuses public money
Published 18/12/2025
An association ‘Kreni-Promeni’ (engl. Go-Change), in cooperation with the professor of the Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade, prof. Dr. Vanja Bajović, compiled and submitted criminal charges against the responsible persons in the Public Utility Companies responsible for animal hygiene services and shelters for abandoned dogs in Bačka Topola and Loznica, due to the suspicion that budget funds intended for the care of abandoned animals were misused for years, while dogs died massively, were killed or disappeared.
In the reports, it is stated as key evidence that more than 6.2 million dinars were set aside for the sterilization of dogs in Bačka Topola from 2023 to 2025, while according to the official answers of the public company, only 25 dogs were sterilized, although hundreds of animals could have been sterilized for that money. At the same time, healthy dogs were euthanized massively, contrary to the legal obligation to be sterilized and returned to their habitat.
In Loznica, official reports show that in the period 2021-2024, 554 dogs were captured, of which 194 died, while at least 47 dogs were found to have “disappeared” from the shelters without any explanation. At the same time, the same reports stated that 100 percent of the dogs were sterilized and microchipped, without any material evidence that these interventions were actually carried out.
Professor Vanja Bajović stated that such data indicate criminal responsibility:
When money from the budget is spent on sterilization and care of animals, and instead dogs are killed massively or disappear, with false reports that everything has been done – it represents misuse of public funds and more crimes.
Jelena Banac, a member of the Kreni-Promeni Animal Welfare Team, stated that the pattern is the same in both cities:
On paper, the dogs are taken care of and sterilized, but in reality they are kept in unhygienic conditions, starve and die from infectious diseases, mutual injuries and due to the unprofessional and rude treatment of animal hygiene workers. This is not an oversight, but a system in which animals are used to justify extracting millions from local government budgets.