The Constitutional Court forbade killing non -hazardous stray animals. But this does not mean that dogs will stop euthanizing

A year ago, the State Duma allowed the regions to decide for themselves how to control the number of homeless dogs, including "humanely kill them." The decision caused the protests of the zoo defenders, but this did not stop provincial officials: by mid -July 2024, the death of animals was legalized in 11 regions of the country. On July 18, the Constitutional Court recognized the killing of hopeless animals as an exceptional measure, possible only in the case of their danger to humans and other grounds prescribed in the Federal Law “On Protection of Animals”. But this does not mean that the murders of dogs in the regions will now be stopped. Mediazona talked with a lawyer who represents the interests of zoo defenders, in the lawsuit of which the Constitutional Court made a decision today.

In November 2023, Buryatia was the first of the Russian regions to adopt a bill that allowed euthanasia of homeless animals. The region’s authorities ruled that unclaimed dogs after the expiration of the due date should be returned from the shelter to the temporary detention center (“taking into account its capacity”), where they are “killing with humane methods”. However, the law also allowed the shelter to leave the animal at home - but already at its own expense. All these measures forced local zoo defenders to take animals with luggage wagons to other regions, where they have not yet adopted similar laws.

But there were fewer such regions: after the State Duma decision, their laws adopted their laws in Tyu, Ugra, Udmurtia, Astrakhan, Orenburg and Samara regions, in Chukotka and Yakutia. In the Trans -Baikal Territory, the prosecutor's office found violations in the draft local law and sent it for revision.

In July of this year, the prosecutor of the Magadan region, Dmitry Razuvaev, also opposed the adoption of a law in the region, which allows to kill stray animals.

“As soon as this law receives a number, the date of registration, I will personally apply to the court with a claim to be illegal, on the adoption of security measures in the form of a ban on its action for the period of consideration of the prosecutor’s application,” he said at one of the meetings to discuss the law. - And my people on the same day will enter the shelters, recount all dogs, and warn about criminal liability for abuse of animals. If at least one animal is killed, I will raise the question of initiating a criminal case against the relevant persons. That is, I will not give this scheme. ”

Murder is not an “exceptional measure”

Each region has its own grounds for killing hopeless dogs, lawyer Oleg Tegin tells Mediazone, he represents the interests of zoosters from the Buryat Foundation “Dog of Happiness”. At the end of last year, they decided to challenge one of the clauses of the regional law in the Supreme Court of the Republic, namely the euthanasia of animals, which within 30 days from the moment of capture did not find the owners. Then the Supreme Court suspended the trial and sent its own request to the Constitutional Court of Russia.

“They [the authorities of the region] introduced the concept of“ unclaimed animal ”-the one that did not like anyone in 30 days or the owner did not take it,” says Telegin. - But guys, publish [photos of animals], show, attach. Maybe no one knew that it is, this dog! ”

On July 18, the Constitutional Court of Russia recognized the euthanasia of hopeless animals with an exceptional measure justified only when other events cannot provide the proper level of human protection. ”

“The position of [the Constitutional Court] is such that the killing in connection with the expiration of the animal’s detention in the temporary detention center does not fall under the concept of“ exceptional measure, ”says Telegin. - Exceptional cases are if the animal, for example, has received injuries incompatible with life, or the dog is sick with a disease that is dangerous for other animals or people. Plus, the court indicated that the animal could not be killed for some other reasons [not specified in the Federal Law "On Animal Protection"], for example, due to "irrational budget spending". "

Thus, the decision of the Constitutional Court does not cancel the clause of the Buryat bill on the need to kill dogs after 30 days after their capture, however, the position of the highest judicial instance of Russia should be taken into account by the Supreme Court of Buryatia when considering the lawsuit of local zoo defenders, the lawyer is sure.

According to Telegin, the very concept of “unmotivated aggression” of the dog, which federal law operates, is ambiguous. In Russia, there is no single methodology for establishing unmotivated animal aggression, which has become a “field for abuse,” he says. Often injured animals bargaining at strangers, but in a home environment they do not pose a danger to people.

“Zoopsychologists generally believe that there are no unmotivated aggression in dogs, any aggression is provoked by something,” Telegin argues. -Unmotivated aggression is when the animal behaves equally aggressively with all people, for example, the dog has a brain tumor that affects some of its centers. But in Russia there is no unified methodology for establishing signs of unmotivated aggression. And therefore, you can catch a bunch of dogs, write out the conclusion that they are all unmotivated aggressive, and kill everyone. And it is no longer possible to check - now, we covered ourselves with a document! ”

Bailiffs on the claims of the zoo defenders are now in several regions of Russia, the lawyer continues. He hopes that the grounds for killing animals there will be canceled taking into account the position of the Constitutional Court, and the bills themselves will be sent for revision.

“In our Astrakhan, for example, dogs are killed above 40 centimeters at the withers - this is a poodle, and in Mountain Altai - above 30 centimeters,” the lawyer is indignant, talking about regions where all dogs were recognized as dangerous more than a certain size. - Do you understand that this cannot be "an exceptional case"? In Orenburg, the law is generally for one page! ”

On the day when the Constitutional Court published its explanation, the court of the Orenburg region temporarily stopped the killing of homeless animals in the region in the lawsuit of the zooprodists who dispute the provisions of the regional law.

Editor: Dmitry Treshchin