UPDATE: The Constitutional Court on Wednesday (September 25) decided that the law to euthanize stray dogs after 14 days in shelters is constitutional.

The mass killing of stray dogs in Romania could traumatize the population, according to Constitutional Court judge Petre Lăzăroiu.

The court is set to issue its verdict on Wednesday (September 25) on the recent law allowing the euthanasia of stray dogs after 14 days of staying in shelters.

Dozens of dog lovers protested in front of the Constitutional Court on Wednesday.

The court was called to issue a judgment on the law after a group of 30 Senators submitted a request, saying the piece of legislation voted by the Chamber of Deputies was much different from the one earlier approved by the Senate.

The law was recently approved in response to the mauling of a four-year-old boy, allegedly by stray dogs.

The investigation in the boy's death case is, however, ongoing, with new evidence pointing to a possible killing by a fight dog breed.

Last year, the authority gathered around 3,500 dogs from the streets of Bucharest to sterilize them, out of which 2,000 were back on public property, 1,400 were adopted and 46 were euthanized.

The estimated number of stray dogs in Bucharest is of 65,000. The local authorities have already started gathering the stray dogs from the streets, after three firms won the bid to round them up.

editor@romania-insider.com