When will a temporary detention center for homeless animals begin operating in Karaganda? 2024-03-29 07:50:38

Already now, say the veterinary station staff, they are receiving a lot of questions – but because the townspeople are sure: this is a shelter, and they can surrender the animal here forever. In fact, the institution will serve for the temporary detention of homeless people: they will be sent here after being caught to be vaccinated, sterilized, microchipped and released back into their habitat – under the “OSVV” program. If anyone wants to take a stray animal into the family, this can also be done, notes the acting head of the Karaganda veterinary station, Kanat Ualiev, who has been working in his field for more than ten years.

In April 2023, on the territory of the future center, they began to install a fence that previously surrounded the Karaganda Ethnopark, and also to level the ground level. Akim of Karaganda Meiram Kozhukhov also visited here last spring. He clarified: the site registered for the Temporary Detention Center for Homeless People is located in the Alikhan Bokeikhan area in registration block 108 – not far from CHPP-1, along Saransk Highway and occupies an area of ​​0.3 hectares. The site is remote from residential buildings, but can be reached by car (about 15-20 minutes drive from the city center). There is also a bus stop nearby, through which the route of bus number 49 runs – but for now it is the only one, so the logistics still need to be worked out. On the territory of the center it was then planned to place an administrative and amenity block with a veterinary section, a warm container for keeping cats, warm containers for keeping dogs with walking areas, as well as enclosures for large dogs. At the moment, there are 24 enclosures, a staff room, a vaccination and sterilization unit, and an area for walking dogs. The center has been transferred to the balance of the veterinary station – which means that the veterinary station is fully responsible for its work and supervises it.

The site, adds Kanat Ualiev, will be guarded in shifts; the center’s employees will care for and feed the animals, as well as carry out the necessary operations for them.

“The temporary detention center is intended for truly temporary detention of homeless people: they will be sent here after capture to be vaccinated, sterilized, microchipped and released back into their habitat. That is, our facility is not a shelter – it will work according to the “OSVV” program. At the moment, all installed enclosures have animal booths inside. There is also a room for working personnel, for storing feed and other necessary care items, and an operating unit for vaccination, sterilization, and for receiving homeless animals. At the same time, the territory will continue to be improved and expanded this year. We plan to once again level the ground level, pave the area and strengthen the fence that surrounds the site of the center. We will also bring the premises for personnel and operations into compliance with veterinary and sanitary requirements. Now there are enough premises of such capacity for a temporary detention center – but we have the opportunity to install additional enclosures and containers,” says Kanat Ualiev.

Communications are also connected here, Kanat Ualiev clarifies: there will be water, a sewerage system has been dug, there is a septic tank. It will also have its own electricity – for now it will be extended from the gas station closest to the territory. From April, all communications, as they say, will come into force: by the 15th it is planned to resolve all issues related to them and only then put the temporary detention center into operation. The working season will last from April to September; therefore, the veterinary station explains, there is no need for central heating of the territory.

“As for the design capacity of the center, the first stage of the project involves the temporary placement of 100 dogs and 42 cats on the territory of the center. The final design capacity also remains the same: it will be possible to accommodate 200 dogs and 50 cats here – the territory allows this. However, so far there is no such need: the number of stray animals that we plan to pass through the “OSVV” program is, according to the regional veterinary department, 700 animals – this is exactly the number we will be able to place here from April to September,” explains Kanat Ualiev.

Speaking about the personnel of the future temporary detention center, the acting veterinary station of Karaganda notes that some specialists have yet to be found.

“Veterinary paramedics, for example, are not easy to find – there are quite a few of them, and this depends on many factors. However, existing veterinarians are ready to take these positions in our center. While we are looking for a surgeon, there is also a shortage here, and the surgeon will become a very important link in the work of the OSVV program. Employees who will look after the animals have already been found. We will work with those stray animals that are found in the territory of Karaganda itself,” says Kanat Ualiev.

Along with questions about the work of the temporary detention center, the population also asks questions about how the capture takes place. And here there are a lot of complaints that the process takes place in front of the townspeople and children, which negatively affects all casual spectators of this action. Many also complain that, for example, the owner’s dogs are caught, although the service employees have a scanner that reads the chip of a microchipped cat or dog.

“A dog, for example, is considered a stray if there is no owner nearby to lead it on a leash. An animal that is located outside the fence of a private house – even close to the house – is already considered stray, and if a complaint is received against such animals – for example, about their aggressive behavior, veterinary station employees together with the local police officer go to the place. As for shooting in front of people, when they talked about tagged animals – that is, those who went through the “OSVV” program last year, among them there may indeed be those who continue to pose a threat, although it should be the other way around. And we also encountered such cases. A public inspector appeared in Karaganda last year – this is the head of the Karaganda “Kotokafé” Inna Radchenko, and we also discuss and consider such situations with her,” says Kanat Ualiev and explains in detail how the catching service works, since at least 20 are received per day applications, each of which requires a site visit.

If residents contact the veterinary station with a complaint about stray animals that are bothering them or their children, applications are registered by calling 8 [phone]. But employees, as a rule, will ask you to submit the same application to the Senim109 single center – so that the fact is registered there as well, which will serve as additional information for the catching service. The center can record additional information – for example, the number of animals, their color, which will also help the service identify a potentially aggressive individual.

“Then we call the district police inspector of the district from which the appeal was received, and the catching service goes with him to the address, since the presence of the district police officer is mandatory. The inspector can immediately carry out explanatory work on the spot and ask adults to take the children away from the departure point. Of course, cases in practice are different: somewhere the aggression of animals is confirmed, somewhere the application itself is not confirmed – the animals are simply not there, somewhere the animals themselves ultimately do not pose a threat – they are completely socialized, friendly, non-aggressive. And in the third case, we explain to the residents: yes, the animals have been identified, but we don’t observe signs of aggression during contact with them and, accordingly, we don’t catch them,” Kanat Ualiev explains in detail and calls on the population not to be afraid to cooperate with the catching service during calls about strays animals: this will help the service operate even more openly and effectively.

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2024-03-29 07:50:38