[Polish Radio External Service]

September 2008

Polish animal rights campaigners are unhappy with the present legal regulations protecting animals in this country and are drafting a new law, which may reach the parliament this month.

Krysia Kolosowska reports

The present law on preventing cruelty to animals has been in place in Poland for 11 years now and animals rights campaigners are concerned that it is not effective. The number of stray dogs and cats has not declined, animal shelters are packed to capacity, the fate of thousands of ill-treated dogs and cats has hardly improved.

Grzegorz Lindenberg, a renowned journalist and one of the founders of the Coalition for Animals, knows a lot about this from his own experience since he moved to a small village some 20 miles from Warsaw: Every now and then we find here an abandoned animal. Mostly dogs, sometimes cats as well ñ young, old, all kinds of animals. Every time it's a terrible problem to find a new owner. This year weíve already had three dogs. We managed to get them new homes, but finally I understood that it's the whole system that needs to be changed not just finding new homes for a few animals or giving some money for animal shelters. It's not enough, it's not going to solve the problem.

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full story:
http://www.polskieradio.pl/zagranica/news/ artykul91467_Animal_rights_activists_lobby_for_law_changes.html