"Rolling to barbarism"

The State Duma wants to allow the homeless animals to massively kill. Throughout Russia they go to protest. What is wrong with the bill?

On March 19, the State Duma will consider the bill in the first reading, according to which regions will receive the right to euthanize homeless dogs and cats after the expiration of the set deadline in the shelter. The discussion of the amendments caused a violent reaction not only from the side of the zoo defenders and activists, but also from the representatives of both chambers of the Russian parliament.

They protest against the law throughout Russia. So far, the largest action took place on March 15 in Moscow: at least a thousand of its participants stood at the presidential administration all day to transfer the appeal with protest. What is wrong with the bill and what activists and officials think about it-in the material of the New-Europe.

How Russians are trying to protect homeless animals

Allegedly, zoo defenders and volunteers throughout Russia are openly opposed to the bill. In particular, rallies took place in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Khabarovsk, Izhevsk and Irkutsk within a week.

The largest action took place in Moscow: on March 15, about a thousand people gathered near the Presidential administration building to file their own complaint about the bill. Many did not have time to file an appeal, although some stood in line in the morning. The actor Alexei Serebryakov and the presenter Ilona Bronevitskaya came to support the zoo defenders.

“The deputies are written off on homeless dogs, and in this connection an inhuman and anti -constitutional bill on irrevocable capture and the legalization of the mass murders of all homeless animals of the country was created, which will mean the rollback of our homeland to barbarism and cruelty,” the general appeal said by those who came.

Activist Ekaterina ( the name changed for security reasons. - Approx. Ed. ) Told Novy-Europe that more than three thousand people came to the action in Moscow, but only 300 were able to submit an application.

“I came to the building at 11 in the morning - and even I could not eventually give a protest. And after me there was a huge “tail”, the crowd is very dense. At the same time, it impressed that officials arranged sabotage: no one wanted to accept our documents, only one window worked. People stood, froze. Around the line there were riot police-maybe they thought that some riots would begin. But people behaved very adequately, no one shouted anything, everyone just stood until the very closure. There were even those who knew that his statement would no longer have time to accept, ”says Ekaterina.

Why do deputies want to change the law?

The federal law on animal handling, adopted in 2018, gives the regions the right to introduce the rules for their registration, breeding and content.

In 2023, the State Duma adopted a law that allowed the regions to regulate the attitude to homeless dogs and cats "taking into account geographical, climatic, socio-economic and other specifics." After that, in Buryatia and Yakutia , as well as in Tylyu, the Magadan region, the Trans -Baikal Territory, the Altai Republic, the Astrakhan region and on the Chukotka, the authorities allowed the law that allowed to kill hopeless animals.

Zoo defenders opposed the bill - they were afraid that the amendments would allow the regional authorities to legalize the murder of homeless pets. But in the summer of 2024, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federationrecognized the killing of stray dogs and cats with an “exceptional measure”, possible only in case of danger to humans.

Nevertheless, in recent months, several resonant cases of dog attacks on children have occurred across the country. So, in October 2024, in the Yakut village of Chulman, the dogs bit a 12-year-old girl, and this February in Sochi two homemade Husky attacked a nine-year-old boy, causing him serious injuries. In addition, on February 23, in Stavropol, the dogs attacked a nine -year -old girl and killed her. The neighbor tried to scare them away, but it did not work out. The child was buried on February 25, and the mistress of the dogs was sent to a pre -trial detention center until April 23 - she is charged with causing death by negligence.

On February 25, the State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, discussing the attacks of stray dogs, expressed discontent: “Will we protect people, children? Think about it: put a child and an animal on one bar! ”

Volodin proposed developing a separate bill, and after three days a group of 25 deputies, headed by the chairman of the Family Protection Committee Nina Ostanina, proposed amending the law “On responsible animal handling”. It is proposed to install:

• A ban on the release of homeless animals to the street. It will not be possible to return to the previous environment after sterilization and vaccination, which actually abolishes the program “capture - sterilization - vaccination - release”;

• The deadline for the content . Regional authorities will be able to establish the deadline for the maintenance of animals in shelters. After these terms, if the animal is not attached to the new owners, it will be strewn;

• Strengthening responsibility . For walking dogs, increased fines will be introduced unattended, and the owners whose pets caused a person’s death will face criminal punishment.

Now animals can only be euthanized in the presence of diseases incompatible with life. For this, the conclusion of the veterinarian is necessary. According to the law, after the deadline for the shelter, it will now not be needed.

How Senator Klishas entered into a skirmish with deputy Ostanina

On March 5, the head of the Constitutional Committee of the Federation Council, Andrei Klishas, ​​published excerpts from the decision of the Constitutional Court and emphasized that the provision is unacceptable to introduce an “unlimited and distributed throughout the territory” of Russia.

“The killing of animals without owners in such cases would mean a retreat from the constitutional nature of the humanistic principles in the regulation of the treatment of animals,” Klishas wrote . In addition, he said, the KS decisions are not subject to review.

On March 13, the Council of State Building Council examined the bill and prepared a negative conclusion that the proposed amendments do not solve the problem of stray dogs and that the killing of animals is contrary to the norms of justice and humanity. The Committee on the Legislation of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly also sent a negative review of the bill to the State Duma.

In response, Ostanin suggested that for Senator Klishas “people <...> are less important than wild dogs”: “Does he not want [Klishas] to preserve in the country, in fact that the regime of murder of children in deadly animals currently existing at the legislative level? <...> If not, what are the colleagues, except for an attempt to offend, including the State Duma? ” She wrote .

In addition, Ostanina told RTVI that the verdict under the law should submit the State Duma Committee on Agrarian and Revolutionary Policy and Nature Management, but “Not the Klishas Committee” in the Council of Council.

“I did not know that the Committee on Constitutional Law is engaged in dogs <...> Therefore, we will see - we will see,” she said.

At the same time, Klishas said that “there is no conflict between him and Ostanina: according to him, there is a“ professional discussion of the Resolution of the Constitutional Court of July 18, 2024 No. 38 - according to the standards of discussion adopted in the Duma ”.

What is wrong with the bill?

According to the activist of Catherine, the amendments proposed by Ostanina and other deputies of the State Duma are fumigated and useless in the fight against aggressive stray animals.

“Mostly dogs performing attacks, home. As a rule, wild dogs do not attack, they are just afraid. That is, in order to fight aggressive animals, you need to change the attitude of people themselves to animals and explain to the owners the fullness of their responsibility, ”she says.

The zoo defender and volunteer Dmitry agree with Catherine ( the name was changed for security reasons. - Approx. Ed .).

In his opinion, if the bill is accepted in the current form, first of all, animals will suffer, which trust a person as much as possible.

Dmitry suggested that in the end the society will become more cruel, and the permission to kill animals will lead to the appearance of more dangerous dogs that will spread their population, which, in turn, will lead to an increase in the number of attacks.

Dmitry also expressed bewilderment that Ostanina was entrusted with solving the problems of animal treatment, although she dealt with the issues of family, women and children. “In this topic [Ostanina] is not a specialist and simply not immersed in a problem. Now, in fact, she has become an animal killer. And it is very scary that she herself does not understand this, ”the zoo defender emphasized.

“By this law, the authorities want to shove the problem of homeless animals on volunteers. The regions will catch the ownerless dogs, send them to the shelters, and then, if they are not taken away by volunteers or other people, animals will euthanize. The fact is that the volunteers would be happy to take at least all the dogs, according to the influx of animals on the streets, it is so huge that they simply do not have time. And there are no shelters and other infrastructure for animal maintenance. Therefore, it is very strange that the problem of stray dogs and cats is not worked out from the side of responsible treatment of animals, ”says Dmitry.

Euthanasia will not solve the problem of the growing number of stray animals, emphasizes Anna Feldman, a member of the working group in the hopeless animals of the Moscow Public Chamber. One of the arguments is the ability of the population to restore: after the destruction of the group of dogs, other dogs occupy it in a certain territory, while the pace of reproduction is intensified, and more females are born in the population, she explained.

What bill is actually needed and what will happen next?

In a conversation with the New Evrop, activist Ekaterina explains: in her opinion, so that measures are effective, the current bill needs to be rejected, and instead of it to develop a new one, with such points:

• introduce the obligation to register dogs by owners and create an animal register;

• oblige the owners to chip or hang a token with a registration number on the dog’s collar;

• introduce a ban on self -riding pets;

• tighten criminal liability for brutal handling of animals, including for their discharge;

• regulate the activities of breeders, for example, to make mandatory licensing of breeding dogs and cats;

• Encourage people to sterilize domestic animals and explain why this is necessary.

According to another activist Olga ( the name was changed for security reasons. - Approx. Ed. ), The decision of the Committee of the State Building Council not to support the bill in the current edition “NOT means nothing”, while “people think that they have already won and do not need to do anything else”.

“Many [activists, zoo defenders] do not understand what is happening, to whom to contact. There are many opponents of this bill, and for some reason the initiative of supporters is gaining votes much more and faster. The fact that euthanasia has long been operating in many regions long ago, also few are in the know, ”she emphasized.

The zoo activist Catherine hopes that the zoo defenders will still be able to convey to the deputies, that the law is harmful, and they will at least be reviewed. However, Dmitry doubts this: according to him, the amendments will most likely accept.