The government has approved amendments to the Responsible Treatment of Animals Act, which will give regional authorities the authority to kill stray dogs. A positive response from the government is published on the website of the system for ensuring legislative activity.
“Taking into account the unfavorable situation in a number of constituent entities of the Russian Federation related to the treatment of animals without owners and the need to prevent them from causing harm to the life or health of citizens, the proposed changes seem reasonable and ensure the safety and legitimate interests of citizens,” the government recalled.
According to the text of the bill, governors and legislative assemblies plan to give the authority to establish the procedure for the treatment of homeless animals in their territories. In particular, regional governments will be able to make decisions on the euthanasia and shooting of stray dogs — in fact, the bill will allow the killing of stray animals.
Relevant amendments were submitted to the State Duma on April 12. According to the current legislation, it is impossible to euthanize stray animals or apply to them means and medicines that will lead to injury and injury. The only scheme for handling such animals from those permitted is called OSVV: capture — sterilization — vaccination — release.
At the same time, if the bill is adopted, the regions will be able to bypass this scheme — for example, they will euthanize or shoot homeless animals. A federal official who is familiar with the progress of the bill’s approval told the Agency that if the regions get the right to decide for themselves how to treat homeless animals, then “this may mean in practice not only shooting, but 90% of this is shooting, which in practice rarely carried out in humane ways.»
Earlier, the authorities of several regions of Russia at once — Bashkortostan, Astrakhan, Saratov, Orenburg and Samara regions, Trans-Baikal, Krasnoyarsk and Primorsky territories — proposed to return to the practice of shooting and euthanizing stray dogs that lead themselves aggressively.
According to Rospotrebnadzor, from 300 to 400 thousand cases of animal attacks on people are recorded annually, of which several dozen are fatal. In March 2023, two people were bitten to death by homeless animals in the Astrakhan region; in April, stray dogs attacked an 8-year-old schoolboy in Orenburg, as a result of which he died.