Animal welfare and corruption in Serbia – How the state enables systematic animal abuse

Bajović, Vanja and Živković, Natalija (2026) Animal welfare and corruption in Serbia – How the state enables systematic animal abuse. Pravni vjesnik : časopis za pravne i društvene znanosti Pravnog fakulteta Sveučilišta J.J. Strossmayera u Osijeku, 42 (1). pp. 7-24. ISSN 0352-5317

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Abstract

This study investigates how systemic corruption within Serbia’s publicly funded animal-welfare apparatus perpetuates large-scale cruelty toward dogs and cats. Its primary aim is twofold: (1) to trace the legal and administrative gaps that allow municipal authorities to outsource statutory animal-control duties to profit-driven private contractors, and (2) to show how this outsourcing – coupled with weak enforcement and opaque public spending – transforms shelters into sites of abuse, illicit killing and financial misuse. To achieve these aims, the research employs a qualitative, document-based methodology. It triangulates the analysis of legal provisions, publicly available documents, responses to FOI requests, reports from the State Audit Institution and the Ombudsman, and investigative journalism. Selected case studies of both public and private shelters are cross-referenced with media evidence to map recurring patterns of legal evasion, inflated contracting, and systemic animal abuse. Although field interviews were not conducted, the breadth of institutional sources enables a reconstruction of governance failures and corruption pathways. The objective is to demonstrate that the suffering of abandoned animals is not an accidental by-product of social neglect but a structurally reproduced outcome of legal inertia, administrative indifference and profit-seeking behaviour. By quantifying public expenditures – over €50 million for zoohygiene services and a further €43 million in dog-bite compensation during 2017–2020. – the paper exposes stark inefficiencies and perverse incentives that thwart humane, cost-effective solutions such as municipal catch-neuter-return programmes and regulated breeding. The findings seek to initiate policy reform, strengthen prosecutorial oversight and re-centre animal welfare within Serbia’s rule-of-law agenda.

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