In the first five days, 37,000 people signed a petition asking for the return of the decision allowing the walking of pets in the evenings during the curfew, due to call of nature, and sent to Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, N1 reported on Tuesday.

The first 17,000 signatures were collected on the day the online petition was published and among the signatories were associations for animal protection and many veterinary ambulances.

Some people who don’t have pets joined the petition as well.

The petition asks for the earlier decision which allowed the pets to walk between 8 and 9 pm for 20 minutes regardless of the curfew that started at 5m to be put in place again.

The decision was revoked since some people abused that time either walking without pets or disobeying the 2-meters distance between them.

 The petition suggests that the time is limited to half an hour, from 8 to 8:30 pm. That, it says, will give the pets ten more minutes for their needs, and will prevent an eventual abuse since the walk time will be strictly limited.

It also adds that the signatories are aware that the human lives are the most important at this moment, and accordingly ask the pets owners to stick with all the protective measures during the walk. 

The petition adds that there is no reason why the danger of the spreading of infection will be more severe than it is between 5 am and 5 pm when the curfew is not in place.

The authors of the petition say that pets are in a way family members and that they are helping many people, especially those who live alone, to deal with this challenging time of isolation and overcome the situation in a more relaxed manner.

“With sick pets, the owners will not feel good either,” the petition said.