For the next 6 months Romania will hold Presidency of the EU – an institution built on the shared values of its member states.

But the starvation and torture that is commonplace in the kill ‘shelters’ of Romania – doesn’t sit easily with EU values.Instead of neutering and spaying and managing the dog problem in a humane way, the country now has locked itself into a death camp industry.Romanian officials get paid for catching dogs and others get paid for killing them. Livelihoods now depend on not solving the problem but ensuring it continues. As you’d expect, a large dose of corruption involved keeps everything just as it is.

Vets trying to help solve the problem get threatened. Humane forms of killing eat into profit margins so are rarely used. There are many examples of the completely savage system fuelling its own cruelty.Spaying and neutering could solve the problem within 7 years. But so far Romania has refused to address or even acknowledge what’s going on within its borders.

It is time Romania demonstrated a real political will to address its dog management problem in a humane way. Klaus Iohannis has stepped up to the role of President of Romania, and President of the EU.Now he’s got the top job in Europe, he must take on the humanitarian challenge and address the problem in his own back yard. We, the undersigned, call on Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to initiate a programme of humane dog management in Romania, endorsed by independent monitors from the EU, during Romania’s EU Presidency. This level of cruelty is not just a stain on Romania, but a stain on the whole European Union as it turns a blind eye to the horrors unfolding within its borders.