Autonomous non-profit organization
“Center for Animal Welfare Legal Protection”

The text of the open letter from our organization to Mr. V. V. Putin, President of the RF, published in the Novaya Gazeta newspaper of January 17, 2005 The Animal Kingdom Cries Out For Help! Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,       This is to advise you that we have received information from the group of authors of the Red Data Book of Moscow about the results of the count of rare species of animals in the Moscow natural complexes, taken in November 2004 - January 2005. The count indicates that virtually all land animals – ground-nesting birds, hares, minks, least weasels, ermines et others, including many species entered in the Red Data Book of Moscow, have been exterminated by packs of homeless dogs. Moscow’s forest park zones that used to be inhabited by various animal species a bare 2-3 years ago have since turned into a biological desert inhabited only by homeless dogs and rodents! All this is a direct sequel to the program of “humane reduction of the population of homeless animals”, pursued by the city authorities since 2001, which has legitimated and made normal the permanent free presence of homeless dogs on the city’s territory. The data obtained have confirmed the well-known fact that dogs as domestic animals are foreign to the natural ecosystem. Therefore, legitimating their free habitation is inadmissible as it leads to biocenotic pollution (as also stated in the RF ”On Wildlife (Article 24) and "Environmental Protection Law" (Articles 3, 50, 60)).       Besides, we have earlier obtained data about the negative influence of homeless dogs on the city’s ecology from scores of comments by environment protection and ecological organizations. These comments also contained information about the extermination by homeless dogs of deer and roe deer in the “Losinyi Ostrov” (“Elk Island”) National Park. These comments were forwarded to you in a written address in July 2004.       One of the basic postulates is that an ecosystem, once destroyed, is beyond recovery. However some cities and towns of Russia, under the influence of the Moscow experiment, which brought on a tragedy for the animal kingdom, have also embarked on this course.       The homeless animal population is growing in all the towns and cities involved in such program, proving the ineffectiveness of the given method. Yet the authorities invariably report progress in sterilizing homeless animals and letting them back into the street to keep on "redressing biological balance". In the meantime they withhold true information either about the numbers of homeless dogs or about the threat they pose, although pursuant to Article 19 of the "Fundamentals of RF Legislation on Human Health Protection" Act everyone has the right to receive true and timely information about health hazard factors that certainly include homeless dogs.       As a result of forced coexistence in the street of two species of domestic animals – cats and dogs, genetically hostile towards each other, homeless dogs are intensively exterminating homeless cats. For some reason, this phenomenon in no way prevents the program from still being considered humane, even though it is clearly at variance with its declared humane objectives. How can one talk about defending and protecting any particular domestic animals against the background of their legitimated wholesale destruction as species? Yet this is a point that ought to have been made clear by appropriate advance studies before launching the program. However, to all appearances, there are no official reports of such studies in existence.       Another substantive contradiction of this program resides in the fact that protection of homeless animals inhabiting the streets is not only a hopeless but not quite rightful proposition as their freedom is most likely damaging to somebody.       Today the animal management functions in the towns and cities of Russia are performed by housing authorities and those in charge of public utilities, which are clearly incompetent to do the job. This incompetence leads to incapacity for intelligent solution of the problems involved and to the construction of monstrous pseudoconcepts of having "biological balance maintained by homeless animals". These matters ought naturally to be within the scope of nature management and environmental protection organizations.       In our view, this problem could be resolved by drafting the fundamentals of a federal policy in respect of keeping and using domestic (including homeless) animals, which would prohibit the subjects of the Federation to legitimate the free habitation of homeless animals. These fundamentals of policy must incorporate a strategy of resolving the homeless animals problem, predicated on the main principle of squaring demand for and supply of domestic animals, which is achieved by imposing restrictions on cat and dog owners and the litter they beget. This should be achieved through differentiated taxation to be levied on cat and dog owners, which would simultaneously make it possible to accumulate resources for really effective handling of homeless animals. We already sent you a detailed rationale of a three-tier set of arrangements for a humane solution of the homeless animals problem in Russia in October 2004 (this and other materials have been placed on our site www.AnimalsProtectionTribune.ru.)       In view of the foregoing, we earnestly ask you to take adequate measures towards eliminating the extremely adverse impact of homeless animals on the animal kingdom of Russia.       Sincerely yours,       Evgeny Ilyinsky,       Director,       Charitable Society for the Protection of Homeless Animals, ANO Return to table of contents Return to main page