The State Duma, at its first reading, passed a bill allowing regions to independently determine the procedure for dealing with stray animals. 350 out of 450 deputies participated in the voting, 310 supported, 31 opposed and 9 abstained. Changes to be made in the second reading will be accepted until 30 May.
The bill provides for amendments to the law “On responsible treatment of animals and amendments to certain legal acts of the Russian Federation”. The document gives regions the right to independently determine the list of treatment measures for stray animals. In this case, the rules for trapping and placing animals in shelters may not apply.
At the same time, the amendments remove the provision that prohibits “the use of substances, drugs, methods, technical devices that cause injury, injury or death to animals” everywhere.
The governor of each region will decide how to treat stray animals, “taking into account the geographical, climatic, socio-economic and other characteristics of the region.”
The authors of the document emphasize that injunctions regarding stray animals should be taken “taking into account the situation of citizens living in the region.” The bill does not clearly state whether euthanasia and euthanasia of stray animals is possible.
The issue is now regulated at the federal level and there is only one precautionary procedure for stray animals – the OSVV system (trapping, sterilizing, vaccinating, returning non-aggressive animals to the street).
Position of the authors of the bill
The document was initiated by 16 MPs from the groups United Russia, A Just Russia – For Truth, New People and LDPR. It was also supported by the state.
During the discussion, one of the bill’s authors, Yevgeny Markov, said that there are currently 4.1 million stray animals in Russia “leading a dog-like lifestyle”, most of them cats.
According to him, the draft law was initiated due to the fact that in some regions the problems with stray animals were not resolved by the RHV method. In this context, parliamentarians recommend that regions treat stray animals “in other ways the region deems appropriate”.
The co-rapporteur on the issue, Vladimir Burmatov, first vice-chairman of the Ecology Committee, said the media was “full of headlines” that MPs would “allow the shooting of animals”.
“There is not a single word in the text of the bill we are examining today, ‘murder’, ‘shooting’, ‘euthanasia’, ‘killing’. The law is about something else. It is about the powers of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation to protect citizens from the attack of stray animals and protect stray animals from cruelty to them, ”the deputy says.
Dmitry Kobylkin, one of the co-authors of the document, stressed that the bill “does not abolish the existing system and does not close the bunkers”.
Kobylkin also cited the Astrakhan region as an example, where the number of animal bites and attacks has increased compared to the rest of the country. “This means that the current system does not fully protect people. Therefore, additional measures are needed, ”says the deputy.
Nikolay Buduev, co-author of the initiative, pointed out that the document suggests, among other things, that regions can euthanize stray animals. According to him, the current legislation does not allow for more drastic measures against animals that attack people.
“After such events, we see that the authorities went to prison for not taking precautions, but it is a big question mark how guilty they are,” the deputy said.
Disputes in the State Duma
The bill was criticized by the head of the “Fair Russia – For Truth” faction, Sergei Mironov. He described the document as “a swimmer” and said it was accepted “for the sake of negligent officials”.
Denis Parfyonov, of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, asked the initiators how the corruption risks of the bill would be taken into account, because now “according to the newspapers” the dogs are neutered and guarded, but “in reality there is no such thing.”
“They may or may not,” replied Burmatov, on this issue as elsewhere. It also acknowledged that the number of stray dogs in law-abiding and SARS-affected areas has decreased.
“The plan works effectively – unless you steal it, of course. And as we know, not every leader can do this, ”quotes Burmatov “Kommersant”.
Position of animal rights activists
Animal activists protested the bill by holding rallies near the State Duma building. RIA Novosti states they fear the changes will allow regional authorities to legalize the killing of stray animals.
Yuri Koretskikh, head of the Animal Defenders Alliance, believes that with the adoption of the document, animals are at risk of being euthanized without exception and complaints about stray herds will increase. In an interview with socialbites.ca, Koretskikh said that the initiative had “no positive aspects” and that his organization was among those protesting the adoption of the document.
“This bill is extremely dangerous because it will really untie the heads of the districts and they will not only allow animals not to be placed in the shelter, but in principle they will be able to pass local and regional laws. , kill them both while trapped and in temporary detention facilities,” says the activist.
In contrast, Kira Nikitina, head of the Stray Dogs Charity Foundation, believes that the problem is not in the current legislation, but in the fact that work on implementing OSVV has not been done in problem areas.
In particular, in the Astrakhan region, where Kobylkin, the co-author of the document, spoke in February 2023, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case for fraud in the execution of 12 contracts under the OSVV program. As noted “MK”, the amount of theft under these contracts exceeded 28 million rubles. According to the governor, in 2022, 6,000 cases of human bites were registered in Astrakhan, and 279 cases were recorded in Balashikha, which has an area and population equal to Astrakhan near Moscow. At the same time, the budget for the implementation of OSVV in Astrakhan is 150 million rubles for three years, and in Balashikha – about 10 million rubles per year.
Animal rights activists also insist on the effectiveness and adequacy of current measures. Number of stray dogs thanks to the OSVV system in the Nizhny Novgorod region decreased 76 percent in six years – from 15 thousand to three thousand (for 2021). In Krasnoyarsk, the number of dogs on the streets decreased by 50% from 2018 to 2023, and in Perm by 20% from 2020 to 2022.
Ivan Kormilitsyn, head of the Department of Housing Policy and Improvement of Moscow Gardens, said that “shooting was not taken into account at all” in the capital, since the current program is optimal.
The document was developed against the backdrop of several high-profile cases of stray dogs attacking people. Especially on April 16, a flock attacked an eight-year-old schoolboy in Orenburg, the boy died.