Impact & Findings
Dogs in Serbia are routinely abandoned, displaced, or forcibly removed. In most cases, the outcome for these animals is never made public. Municipal animal control and zoo hygiene services, often operated by external contractors, are responsible for care and oversight. Investigative journalism and NGO monitoring have documented concerns in some contractor-run shelters, including overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, untreated injuries, and prolonged distress.
After abandonment, many dogs wait where they were left, expecting their owners to return— sometimes for days or longer. Hungry, disoriented, and often injured, they enter a system where protection and certainty are limited. They live in fear—of people, other animals, and a world that has rejected them. Puppies and adult dogs alike are discarded, left to survive on instinct alone.
These are not “stray dogs by choice.” They are survivors of abandonment, neglect, and repeated displacement. These conditions have increasingly become normalized despite their severity.
Systemic Awareness
Transparency, monitoring, and independent reporting are essential to improving conditions for dogs in Serbia. Research, investigative documentation, and advocacy shed light on abuses and inform better policies.
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