Signature collecting campaign

The Tolna County Foundation for the Protection of Animals and Nature organized a signature collecting petition whose main aim was to declare torturing animals a crime.The process took more than two months, from 28/07/2003 to 18/09/2003.

The campaign was triggered off by a horrendous crime. In June, in a little village - called Fadd-Dombori - a dog was tortured to death by three bodyguards. With the help of the Tolna County Foundation for the Protection of Animals and Nature the event gained extreme importance in the Hungarian media, the news was followed by general uproar. Several celebrities, public personalities and politicians joined the campaign.

According to the Hungarian law, 50 000 signatures are required in order to deal with the requested law or change in the law. 379 611 was the number of the collected signatures during the campaign. This is an outstanding result: not even a single public initiative could end up so far with such a great achievement. The result of the campaign's success was the well-organized co-operation among the animal protection groups and also the sensitivity of the society.

The law has been changed in March 2004, cruelty to animals is a crime now.