Press Release, 3.05.2023

Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Yabloko party Chairman Nikolai Rybakov sent a letter with a corresponding request to the Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the State Duma of Russia, where the bill is being discussed today. According to Yabloko, amendments to this bill will lead to mass killings of animals in many regions of the Russian Federation.

There are good reasons for such conclusions. First, the amendments repeal the provision of the current Federal Law No. 498-FZ of December 27, 2018, which expressly prohibits to “use substances, medicines, methods, technical devices that lead to injuries or death of animals”. Second, the regional parliaments of the Russian regions have been voicing proposals to kill homeless animals rather than sterilize them and place them in shelters. Thus, deputies of the Kurultai of the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Saratov Regional Duma, the Samara Duma, the Legislative Assembly of the Maritime Territory, as well as the Governor of the Astrakhan Region, came up with such initiatives in 2019 – 2023.

“If the proposed bill is adopted, and the killing of lost, abandoned or street-born dogs and cats is legalized in some Russian regions, this will inevitably lead to an increase in the already high aggression and cruelty in our society – not only in relation to animals, but and in relation to people,” Rybakov emphasised.

To solve this problem, Yabloko proposes to provide state support to existing shelters, and transfer the funds that are supposed to be spent on killing and disposing of animal corpses to maintain these shelters and create new ones.

Photo: Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov during his visit to the Animal Protection Dog and Cat Shelter in Novosibirsk in 2021 / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Nikolai Rybakov also noted that in order to reduce tension in society and improve safety, it is necessary to take a number of additional measures: develop a single standard for the creation of shelters, place a state order for their construction, create a public supervisory board in each shelter with the participation of representatives of authorities, make decisions and inform citizens to increase the responsibility of owners for the maintenance of animals. In addition, it is necessary to transfer obligations for sterilisation, vaccination and further placement of animals to owners to non-profit organisations.

“These measures will significantly change the situation in society and solve the problem of neglect, while maintaining a humane attitude towards animals. The importance of the correct approaches in solving the problem of homeless animals is a question of the value of life as such. The Yabloko party calls on the authors of the bill to withdraw it,” Rybakov added.

It should be noted that a group of deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation submitted on April 12, 2023, to the State Duma the bill “On Amendments to the Federal Law “On Responsible Treatment of Animals and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” (regarding the treatment of animals without owners ) – draft law No. 335106-8. According to the proposed amendments, regional authorities will have the right to independently establish a “list of measures” for the treatment of animals that do not have owners.