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Street dog in Bucharest (icon image)
Photo: Jens Kalaene / ZB / picture alliance
Street dogs attacked a woman while she was jogging in a tourist area on the outskirts of Bucharest and bit her to death.
This was reported by the Mediafax news agency, citing the police.
The tragic incident that took place on Saturday shocked the Romanian public.
According to a report, the 43-year-old biologist and engineer had previously been attacked by street dogs and seriously injured.
And last April in the same area at the Morii reservoir in the 6th district of Bucharest.
That's what the Facebook platform "Coruptia ucide" (corruption kills) wrote on Saturday evening.
Obituaries described the woman as nature and animal loving and sporty.
She was therefore an active mountaineer and was involved in various environmental and nature conservation initiatives.
She also worked as an expert for the Bucharest City Environment Department.
According to the information, she leaves one child.
Packs defend their territories
Stray dogs have been a problem in Romanian cities for decades. Thousands of animals live together in packs that aggressively defend their territories.
People get bitten all the time.
Romania's authorities have so far been fighting the problem rather unsuccessfully.
Sterilization campaigns, housing in desperately overcrowded animal shelters and the occasional killing of stray animals have so far not been able to improve the situation significantly.
It caused a stir when a four-year-old boy was killed by dogs in 2013.
At that time there were mass killings of street dogs.
However, prosecutors later argued that they were dogs that had an owner.
The guard dogs were kept on an overgrown site of a construction development company and neglected there.
The area was not secured, although it was known that the animals tended towards aggressive behavior.
Animal rights activists called for the legal requirements for dog owners to be increased.
jme/dpa