IVAN KURAJOV

• Organisation: SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF ANIMALS (DRUSTVO PRIJATELJA ZIVOTINJA)

Ivan Kurajov has been working for animals since 1996 as a part of the animal welfare organization Society for the Protection of Animals LJUBIMCI from Pancevo, Serbia. He started his career as a volunteer and continued as an educator then administrative manager, shelter manager, vice-president, and currently in the position of president of the organization.

Ivan regularly upgrades his animal protection knowledge by attending numerous educational events, seminars, and internships in Europe, United States, and Asia.

Ivan has also worked as an animal welfare educator in numerous primary and secondary schools. In 2007, he became a member of the Municipal animal welfare working group, the first of that kind in the region. On his initiative City of Pancevo adopted the first Animal Control Program and CNVR method of abandoned dog and cat population control. From 2008, Ivan Kurajov has represented Serbia as an ambassador of World Animal Day and became the national coordinator of the farm animal welfare project (FAWN) in Serbia.

As a consultant, he took part in the working group that drafted the first animal welfare law in Serbia in 2009. After 2011, Ivan worked as an animal welfare consultant in numerous municipalities in Serbia and the region and organized or co-organized several national and international seminars and conferences. He was also a member of the EU expert-led working group that drafted the National Strategy for the Dog Population in Serbia in 2020.

In 2020 and 2021 he conceptually formed and designed the interactive software called “Dog for all of us” – the first of its kind in the world, a computer application that covers the interaction of children and street animals in an innovative and intuitive way. He is an author of the Humane management and abandoned animal population control guide/manual, a textbook about the basics of animal welfare protection, key principles and procedures.

Ivan actively works with other animal welfare and protection organizations, fighting against animal cruelty and enforcing the animal welfare law and continues to work for LJUBIMCI.

The mission of the Society for the Protection of Animals LJUBIMCI is to create an animal friendly environment within a sensible and responsible society that understands the importance of animal protection and their welfare.

Their long term strategic goals are:

• To promote the prevention of cruelty to animals and relief of animals from suffering through media and various projects and activities;
• To promote humane education by offering comprehensive and easily executable programs;
• To encourage respect and responsibility towards animals by promoting positive and desirable role models;
• To provide positive legal animal protection thorough pointing out and prosecuting animal welfare law violators

Our organization is running a small animal shelter in the city of Pancevo and has rehomed more than 8,500 abandoned animals and has helped more than 20,000 animals during its existence.

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