Hundreds of Romanians have demonstrated in support of a plan to kill stray dogs in the capital after a four-year-old boy was mauled to death.
Bucharest Mayor Sorin Oprescu says a referendum will be held on 6 October asking residents if they agree with "euthanasia" for stray dogs.
Supporters of the measure held a rally in the city centre on Sunday.
A pack of dogs attacked the boy near a park a week ago. The city is reckoned to have about 65,000 stray dogs.
Campaigners in the animal rights group 4Pfoten (Four Paws) are urging the authorities to adopt mass sterilisation of dogs as the solution, instead of a cull.
The group’s campaign director Gabriel Paun told the BBC that 4Pfoten was castrating stray dogs in Bucharest, but that a much bigger effort was needed nationally to have an impact on the dog population.
"In the last few years we’ve castrated 100,000 dogs in Romania altogether, 10,600 of them in Bucharest, But it’s not enough, this is a voluntary private project – we need them to do the same thing at national level," he said.
Romania campaign to kill stray dogs after boy’s death
I am a member of an animal welfare and teacher. For years we were fighting with the authorities, rescue, vaccinate and sterilized stray dogs with our money. The state does not want to take a normal measure (mass sterilization of dogs) because they are a permanent source of money to the pockets of those who lead us (mayors and their relatives). They own shelters, budget, pound companies, firms incineration. Are true family business.
Now that the law was voted in mass euthanasia of stray dogs, carnage and nightmare began. Are poisoned dozens of dogs on the streets, with furadan. Others are drowning. Others are killed by various substances. Others are simply decapitated or crushed by walls. This is not euthanasia, but mass carnage. No dog is sent to shelters, to give the opportunity to be adopted. Freezers shelters are full of dogs dead bodies. Simply authorities act by its own law. The law passed in parliament has not yet been promulgated by the President and there are no rules enforcement.
We are living the nightmare of our lives in a country without hope. Nobody takes into account our proposals, no one looking for normal solutions to this problem.
There are many people and associations of owners who want to adopt dogs from the streets, but can not.