Police to prevent doghunter rally

by Evgeniya Chaykovskaya at 23/01/2013
http://themoscownews.com/local/2013...


Police to prevent doghunter rally

Police are doing all they can to prevent a rally planned for Friday by Moscow’s doghunters.

Doghunters voluntarily catch and kill stray dogs, and a group of activists plan to stage a massive cull on January 25, RIA Novosti reported.

The biggest action would take place in Moscow’s suburbs.

“Moscow police have information that an event is being planned. All the necessary preventative measures aimed at preventing cruelty to animals will be taken,” the police said.

Several dozen dogs were poisoned in Moscow in 2012. In October, some 500 dog owners and animal rights activists gathered in Novopushkinsky Park to demand an end to animal cruelty.

In 2012, more than 1,000 dogs were killed in Moscow, including pets. Rescue dogs, seeing eye dogs, “therapy” dogs that help people with special needs were among accidental victims of the fight against strays.

There are between 30,000 and 50,000 stray dogs on Moscow’s streets, Alexander Tkachev-Kuzmin, chairman of the Russian Veterinarian Association, told The Moscow News, adding that another 15,000 are kept in large municipal shelters.

Other estimations put the number of strays even higher. Statistics for private shelters and temporary homes for abandoned animals are not readily available, but experts say the figures are small compared with the total number of stray dogs in the city.