The dogs that were bought via Facebook by people from all over Sweden are still in isolation as it can not be ruled out that any of them carry the rabies virus.
Therefore, the county administrative board has decided that the dogs should be killed.
Malmö Animal Welfare Association is now willing to bear all costs for the dogs and be responsible for a relocation after the quarantine has ended.
- We think that the reasons in the decision do not hold.
As far as infection control is concerned, they are in quarantine to ensure that there is no spread of rabies and we can cover that cost, says Emma Aldin at Malmö Animal Welfare Association.
Leif Felton, county veterinarian, believes that it is not possible to hand over a government assignment to non-profit organizations.
- The costs of the case are not decisive for the decision.
It is the carrier that will ultimately bear the costs and we want to keep them down, but that is not crucial, he says.
"Very sad to have to kill animals"
Leif Felton thinks it is sad to have to kill the dogs but believes that it is not the county administrative board that created the situation but the sellers and buyers of the dogs.
As an authority, they cannot take the risk, even if it is minimal, that an infection will spread if they were to relocate the dogs to new owners.
Malmö Animal Welfare Association above all wants to see that situations like this do not arise to begin with.
- There are an incredible number of dogs that are killed every year because they reach the border with rogue carriers.
Stricter rules are needed around this, tougher penalties so that there are fewer unscrupulous sellers, says Emma Aldin.