Over 80 percent of pets in Macedonia are not neutered - and that is precisely the root of the stray-dog problem that every municipality sees but few solve. Now amendments to the Animal Protection Law are being prepared.

The math is simple and harsh: unneutered pets mean unplanned offspring, and unplanned offspring too often end up on the street. In Skopje alone, around 4,500 street dogs were recorded in 2023. A national estimate still does not exist - which on its own says how systematically the problem is being approached.

The cost is not only ethical but budgetary. The municipality of Bitola paid 126,000 euros in compensation for dog bites in 2025 - seven times more than in 2021. That is taxpayers' money, spent on a consequence that could have been prevented through prevention.

The new legal amendments envisage stricter measures for responsible ownership. Owners who do not sterilize their pet will have to register it and accept veterinary oversight. „All owners who decide not to sterilize must register the animals so the new offspring can be tracked," says Professor Vlatko Ilievski of the Veterinary Faculty.

But the solution is not instant. Angela Grujovska of the Food and Veterinary Agency warns that mass sterilization gives results only after 5 to 7 years. In other words - if it is not started seriously now, we will be having the same conversation in 2032. The question is whether politics has the patience for a solution that will not show a result within a single electoral cycle.