However, Gogo's case has once again raised the issue of his stray brethren, whose stories often do not have a happy ending. Every day on social media we see calls for the adoption of stray or abandoned cats and dogs, but those who respond are always the same people... Public shelters, as we know, are not the solution as they are full. Neither is taking dozens of cats and dogs into private homes, as the animals are not very comfortable in small and crowded spaces. 

But why are there so many dogs and cats in need of homes? According to Yavor Gechev, who worked for many years in the management of the global animal welfare organisation Four Paws, a huge number of people abandon their pets every year: 

"We are not talking about people who abandon their pets once - Yavor Gechev points out in an interview with Radio Bulgaria. - There are people who do it over and over again. It's recidivism. People who keep a dog to guard their chickens, for example, or to guard their crops, the dog is not taken care of at all, it gives birth twice a year. And the puppies are either dumped in the woods to be eaten by predators, or they're brought into town and dumped in the park to become 'citizens', as they jokingly like to say. 

These people are not sanctioned, which means that their behaviour doesn't change in any way, but the bigger problem is that their mentality remains the same. They somehow feel entitled to do so - that's the way it's always been done, and that's the way they'll always do it.

And when institutions do step in to control the stray population, it is common practice to pick the animals up off the street and not take them back once they are neutered. They lock them up in shelters, where many die in terrible conditions, or take them to unknown places where they have no chance of survival. 

"This contradicts the logic of the castration programme itself, it is a complete misunderstanding of its principles - notes Yavor Gechev - the idea is to castrate the animal and return it to its original location so that another animal, which has not been castrated and will continue to give birth, does not take its place. And again, the reason these things are happening is because there is no law enforcement control whatsoever, because this is all regulated by law. 

The response of compassionate people seems most convenient to the state. When institutions fail, citizens are not indifferent when they see the potential danger to a helpless creature on the street. "The puppy or kitten doesn't have the skills to survive on its own," Yavor Gechev notes, adding: