An open letter against the murder of homeless animals was signed by more than 130 thousand people

An open letter to the President of Russia against a bill allowing the regional authorities to kill homeless animals signed more than a hundred zoo defenders. Half of them are Russian cultural figures, including actress Svetlana Nemolyaeva, singer Dima Bilan and journalist Yuri Rost.

The authors of the letter urged not to amend the current law, according to which the ATV program operates in Russia (capture-sterilization-vaccinations-REFTER). Instead, they suggested borrowing the experience of the regions in which this law works. Among such subjects are Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh and Vologda regions, as well as St. Petersburg and the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

With the honest work of the regional authorities in the OSV, the number of homeless animals cannot grow, the authors of the letter say. As an example, they compare Astrakhan, where the prosecutor's office recorded 12 cases of fraud under the OSVD contracts, and Balashikha - approximately equal in the population of the city (as they say in a letter, although the area of Astrakhan is actually about three times more). In 2022, six thousand bites of people registered in Astrakhan, 279 in Balashikha. Despite the fact that the annual Astrakhan budget for OSVV is five times more than Balashikhinsky.

The letter also notes that over the five years of the implementation of OSVV, the number of homeless animals in Russia decreased by 77%. In the case of the adoption of amendments, "state money will be uncontrollably spent on murder, not a humane and effective solution to the problem of homeless animals in the country," the authors of the letter say.

In the Russian regions, promotions are regularly held against the bill on the murder of homeless animals. The zoo defenders handed over to the State Duma more than 17 thousand appeals of residents of 136 Russian cities. More than 130 thousand people have already signed a public petition against the bill.