Law on knackers

Two high-profile cases at once, with a short interval, excited the public, largely thanks to the Internet community. First, in the Leningrad region, after the abolition of the guard dog department, the commander of a military unit shot the animals directly in their enclosures. The reason turned out to be banal, the service shepherd dogs were sold, they were replaced by ordinary “mutts” who served, and when disbanded, the authorities tried to hide the fact with a mass execution. Moreover, the dog handlers promised the major to give the dogs into good hands and have already found owners for many. Sobesednik.ru also helped to raise a wave of indignation about this. The killer, Major Evgeniy Mityashin, was removed from office; the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under the article “cruelty to animals.”

Network users put pressure on another flayer, uniting in a group and collecting more than 6 thousand signatures. The head of the Bokinsky village council of the Tambov region, Yuri Vereshchagin, did not take a liking to a stray dog ​​who had taken up residence at a local store and became a children's favorite. The official tied the dog to the bumper of his car - and in broad daylight, at high speed, dragged it along the asphalt, after which he threw it into a ditch. The dog was picked up by local residents and taken to a veterinary hospital, where he underwent surgery, but the animal could not be saved. In this case, the pressure of public opinion forced Vereshchagin to leave his post, and a criminal case was also brought against him.

There was a lot of noise, everyone talked, looked at the photo of the unfortunate dog, got a response and calmed down. But in practice, the article “cruelty to animals” is fraught with a fine of around 80 thousand rubles, and removal from office for a meager period. Maybe, given the public outcry, they’ll give you a shovel and force you to do a little correctional work. But it’s not for nothing that they say that if a person can offend an animal, then he will get to people. Therefore, it is unknown who the offended 64-year-old murderer Vereshchagin will tie to the car, and who Mr. Mityashin will empty the clip into. Meanwhile, the flayers continue to exist beautifully and make money from their moral ugliness. In the center of Moscow, nurseries quietly exist, after visiting which moral trauma remains for a long time. The spectacle is not for the faint of heart - “rejected” puppies in a tiny enclosure, maiming each other in the fight for food. All these are the realities of life.

Sobesednik.ru turned to Roxana Babayan as the chairman of the Animal Protection League. She told how she and her colleague Andrei Makarevich more than once turned to those in power with the question of developing a legal framework for punishing such sadists. “But, as usual, in the State Duma the space is not homogeneous, and we have not come to anything. Therefore, a group of activists on a social network is great. But to combat such impunity, the direct participation of the media is needed, viewing the situation not as an accident, but as a global problem. Our horrific Asian mentality must be fought only by law, based on the experience of European and Western countries. The case with the same Vereshchagin should be, in a good sense, a provocateur for the adoption of the law. So that this scoundrel and scum will be given a full criminal trial, with imprisonment, a fine and community service,” Roxana Babayan emphasized.

Moreover, according to the permanent expert of Sobesednik.ru, the chairman of the bar association “Your Legal Attorney” Konstantin Trapaidze, there are prospects for tightening sanctions. "For example, the introduction of such qualifying criteria as bullying, including repeated. Or the killing of animals, committed with particular cynicism, in public, etc. Such a prospect is legitimate and there is a need for it, since in some cases such actions are socially dangerous and antisocial in nature. It is necessary to take such measures in legislation, along with the general rules for animal protection, with increasing the responsibility of animal keepers and nursery owners," noted the Sobesednik.ru expert.

Moreover, the problem of cruelty in Russia must be solved comprehensively. “There must be purposefulness, and only then will they stop throwing away children, deceiving the elderly and abusing defenseless animals! This lack of spirituality must be stopped!” - says Roxana Babayan.