The director of the animal shelter, Svetlana Marchenko, on Sunday, January 30, against the backdrop of the tragedy that occurred in the Privolzhsky district of Astrakhan, when a pack of stray dogs bit a man to death, told Izvestia about the situation with the trapping of animals in the region.
“We are given from 250-290 dogs to catch. This is scanty, we have only 12 settlements, it will turn out to be about 30 per settlement per year. Each of them has an average of three settlements. If 19 is divided by three, it turns out that only 10 dogs can be taken from the settlement. It is not enough. And this problem as a whole cannot be solved, ”she explained.
According to her, specialists go to places where pregnant dogs live and take them for sterilization, but the growth of the animal population continues.
“To be honest, we are very hindered by the lack of legislation on our own dogs, that is, for those who have dogs. For example, we catch, sterilize, release in accordance with federal law 498. I know all the beds where there are dogs. We arrive in a month or two, and there are already rosliki They are not puppies, but they are not adult dogs either. You can sterilize, but they appear from somewhere, ”Marchenko shared.
The director of the shelter noted that the Privolzhsky district, where the tragedy happened, is on the way to the city.
“We just surround him with a ring. And a lot of dogs are thrown out of the city, and they themselves move from there to here. There are witnesses who saw that five dogs were coming from the city to the same place where we had already caught,” the interlocutor said.
However, she believes that humans are largely to blame for this uncontrolled breeding of dogs.
“Of course, the man is to blame for this, the dogs have nothing to do with it. You have seen huge dogs with us, but people get them, and then they are thrown away. I don’t like it when we pick up the dog, and there is a queue for us: give our dog back. Why is she yours? Why is there no leash, why is there no escort, and they show documents for the animal, so we are obliged to give it back. Spent effort, time, money for gasoline and the rest. Therefore, we cannot sterilize them, if the owner does not want to do this, then we do not have the right. This is his property, ”the expert said.
In her opinion, the problem lies in the fact that pet owners do not sterilize dogs, while letting them go outside alone. As a result, puppies appear and the population is replenished.
Marchenko is convinced that to solve the problem of homeless animals, comprehensive measures are needed, including reforms. At the moment, according to her, there is a catastrophic situation, although the shelters honestly do their job. Despite the high cost, shelter dogs are microchipped.
“If we are called and they say that a dog with a tag has given birth, we leave with an act of catching, we scan, if there is nothing there, then, sorry, this is not our dog. Expensive, but we do it to protect ourselves, and we were not told that we are releasing unsterilized animals, ”said the director of the shelter.
Earlier on January 26, near the Energetik garage cooperative in the Privolzhsky district of Astrakhan, a pack of stray dogs attacked a local resident who was on his way to work. The 58-year-old man died at the scene from his injuries. Upon the death of a man, a case was initiated under Part 2 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“negligence”).
The investigation will give a proper legal assessment of the actions of officials who are responsible for the measures to capture stray animals in the region.
Recently, there have been more and more reports of stray dogs attacking people. Why this is happening – see the Dobrov on Air program on January 30 at 23:00 on REN TV