Plan to put down stray dogs causes howl in Romania

Big or small, black, brown or spotted, some 40,000 homeless canines live in Bucharest alongside a human population of two million, according to authorities and animal rights groups.

Their numbers started proliferating in the 1980s when then communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu had some of Bucharest's oldest residential districts razed and replaced with apartment blocs, causing many owners to part with their pets.

Though unwanted puppies are still abandoned since sterilisation is not systematic, many are fed and even vaccinated by animal rights groups and dog lovers.

But the growing numbers roaming the streets led local authorities to take action between 2001 and 2007, when some 145,000 stray dogs -- called 'maidanezi' in Romanian -- were put to sleep. Angry animal rights groups cried "dog genocide" and a ban was imposed on euthanasia against healthy dogs.

Now, a draft law is under debate in parliament to contain the number of strays roaming Romania. It would allow local authorities to decide whether to put down adult dogs that have been rounded up into refuges and not claimed or adopted within 30 days, or whether to keep them in the shelters.