“Center for Animal Welfare Legal Protection”
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Selection of media articles on lethal cases resulting from attacks of neglected dogs on humans in Russia
20-year old dweller of St.-Petersburg bitten all over by stray dogs The animals have attacked the man early this morning, as Maxim Litvinov was coming up to the Finlyandsky Railway. Apparently, he was in a hurry, trying to catch an electric train, therefore he had made up his mind to use a shortcut and walked over a railway track. It was there that the attack occurred. When the victim was discovered by militia officers, his clothes were torn to shreds, the body covered with dozens of wounds inflicted by the dog teeth. It is not yet clear, why the animals attacked the man. Three hours later, the young man died of wounds at a clinic of the Military Medical Academy.This is not the first time that packs of stray dogs attack humans in St.-Petersburg, including the area near the rail way. The existing law forbids the shooting of stray dogs. We wish to remind that only two weeks ago the problem of homeless animals was raised at a meeting of the municipal government in the presence of Russia’s Chief Sanitary Inspector. Guennadi Onishchenko appealed there and then to watch closely over the numbers of stray dogs, and the Public Health Committee agreed with the appeal. To tell the truth, some participants called for a more humane approach: sterilization, rather than shooting off. "VESTI – ST. -PETERSBURG ", www.rtr.spb.ru, SEPTEMBER 26, 2005. Stray dogs tore to pieces three persons at Kazan Kazan militia is taking urgent measures towards eliminating the packs of stray dogs that over last week tore to pieces three persons: two women and a man. As the “Interfax” agency reports with reference to the press service of the Ministry of the Interior of Tatarstan, all accidents occurred in the vicinity of Ometyevo Settlement (a different transcription is Ametyevo), Vakhitovsky District of the city.The first accident occurred early in the morning of September 8, when the corpse of a 35-year old lady-dweller of Kazan was discovered in a forest plantation near a railway station. The victim was found to have numerous dog bites all over her body and scalped wounds of the head. The other woman was attacked by dogs in the morning of September 10 near the settlement central street. Having heard appeals for help, the local dwellers called militia. The 50-year old woman, still alive, was taken to a hospital, but two hours later she died of the injuries. According to eye-witnesses, the dogs were four or five. The corpse of a 47-year old dweller of Kazan was discovered early in the morning of Tuesday, September 13, also in the forest plantation near the same railway station. The man, too, was found to have numerous dog bites. The corpses of all people that died have been sent to a mortuary for forensic medical examination. www.LENTA.RU, September 13, 2005 Muscovites Hunted by Packs of Dogs Accident summaries from the area of Vladykino look more like front-line reports. Stray dogs have declared a full-fledged war on the local dwellers. For the past two weeks alone, there have been more than 10 people wounded and casualties. The 54-year old worker of a garbage-pressing station Valentina Arkhipova was bitten to death.. Around 7 a.m. , the woman walking across a vacant lot was attacked by a pack of 30 dogs. The eye-witnesses were too slow and were unable to help. The electrician of the garbage-pressing station Stanislav Zaichenko told the reporter that the dogs had been dragging Mrs. Arkhipova all over the vacant lot, tearing her to pieces. "I ran up to her, began to scare the dogs away, but they started flinging themselves on me", - Zaichenko says. The man fled, and this saved him: he jumped over a fence just in time. It was under the fence, in a hollow, that the dogs arrange ambushes, appearing in front of passers-by as if from nowhere. The workers of nearby plants do not walk about singly. "We form a large group, the electrician takes some big bludgeon. Sometimes, we walk with take along crow-bars, - says the worker of the heat and power plant (HPP) Yelena Batalygina. There are also many dog-bitten workers at the HPP. The last case nearly ended in a tragedy. The driver of a KamAZ that was passing by, armed himself with a spade and freed the copper-smith Elizabeth Sukhova from frenzied dogs. "I was under the impression that the dogs were after me. A dog rushed out of the gateway, caught me by the foot, knocked me down and at that moment the other seven dogs joined her", - says Sukhova.. The bed of neglected dogs that mutilated the copper-smith was discovered opposite the HPP entrance.. According to veterinary doctors, the city turns feral animals into ruthless, well-organized fighters. An accelerated natural selection. Only the strongest, cleverest survive, who did not die of diseases, but acquired, by virtue of dog's physiology, life-long immunity. "Dogs form packs and grow in number. Naturally, they may acquire instincts of wild animals, of wolves, in particular", - says Julia Milenina, a veterinary doctor of Moscow Rescue Service. Veterinary doctors are unable to give the reason for dog attacks of lonely passers-by, which occur at the same time and place: they cannot say of this is a coincidence or a deliberate hunt for humans. There were no reports of such cases in Moscow before. However, professionals from the netting service, on seeing the Vladykino horde of dogs, decided it would be better not to approach the dogs. Says the HPP duty engineer Tatiana Lazutina: "They arrived, caught two small dogs - a diseased one and a puppy. They did not even touch the dogs that bite us". Moscow authorities approved a program of stray dogs recording as far back as a few years ago. The dogs should be netted, special collars should be put on them, and should be sterilized. "Some are convinced that an animal becomes more quiet after sterilization, - Julia Milenina explains. This program will call for heavy investment, and nobody knows when it will be implemented. In the meantime, over the last three days a few more people were attacked by dogs in the vicinity of "Vladykino" metro station. The city fauna section reports that there are already more than 20 thousand stray dogs in Moscow. Each year, thousands of people suffer from dog bites. However, Muscovites have been left face-to-face with this grievance. Protectors of animals prohibit the drugging of dogs to sleep, whereas the sterilization-cum-collars program for the time being exists only on paper. 21.01.2004, RTR-Vesti, www.vesti.ru (Comment by site editor: about these accidents see also the letter from the personnel of the District Telephone Exchange “Otradnoe", 21-А,Signalnyi Proezd, and articles in mass media) Homeless Dogs and Callous Officials Dangerous as Ever On January 14, homeless dogs bit to death Valentina Arkhipova, a hand of the "Ecotechprom" enterprise dining-room. The woman died on the spot from the bites. On January 10, at the same place, 30 dogs attacked Elizabeth Sukhova, a worker of Enterprise No 2 "Mostemploenergo" (heat and power plant). Fortunately, she survived, but stayed for a long time at the intensive- care unit of the Sklifosovsky Research Center. Sergey Zabolotsky, the son of Valentina Arkhipova, applied to the Dept. of the Interior "Otradnoe" and to the Butyrskiaya Public Prosecutor's Office, requesting to start criminal proceedings on the strength of the fact of his mother's death to be qualified under Article 293 of the RF Criminal Code "Negligence of an official". The Article provides for a penalty of up to 5 years imprisonment. Sergey Zabolotsky told the "Stolichnaya" that he had not received any response from the public prosecutor within the 30 days stipulated by the law. At the Butyrskiaya Public Prosecutor's Office, they told "Stolichnaya" that the reply had been posted already, and that it was a refusal: - Starting criminal proceedings on the strength of the fact of Arkhipova's death was denied on the grounds that there had been no crime in the act. Officials are not to blame for what happened - said Valery Chepi-Ipa, Public prosecutor of Butyrskaya Public Prosecutor's Office. - After the first attack by the dogs, the "Otradnoe" District Council communicated the information to the dog netting service (DNS), which immediately proceeded with elimination of stray dogs. The problem is that the DNS capacity is limited. They only have one vehicle capable of housing maximum five dogs - he noted. According to Boris Samoilov, chief of City Nature conservation of the Nature-Conservation Research Institute, Editor-in-Chief of Moscow Red Data Book, the existing situation with stray dogs in Moscow is critical. - Referring to a dog as part of urban fauna is stupid. A dog is a product of human community, just like a cow or car. Every year, the number of homeless animals increases, they unite in packs, become aggressive, with a fervor of a wild beast being awoken in them. It is because of the feral dogs that deers and roes have disappeared from the Moscow Red Data Book. The responsible organizations, the fauna section of the Housing/Communal Economy & Municipal Improvements suggest as measures to resolve the problem, sterilization and setting up nurseries. But this will be of no avail. The problem must be solve at the level of legislation. Alike any other animal, a dog is entitled to respect. It is inhumane to kill it without trial or inquiry. Every dog must have a master, who will be responsible for his nursling. Neglected animals should be taken to nurseries, owners should be sought and only upon making sure that the dog is absolutely feral, it can be drugged to sleep, - said Mr. Samoilov. Besides, he added that closer to spring-time, the dogs have an urge "to chase someone". 29.04.2004, "Stolichnaya Vechernyaya Gazeta" Man Torn to Pieces by Stray Dogs A pack of ravenous stray dogs lacerated a man to death in Sertolovo Village, Vsevolzhsky District, near St. Petersburg. The tragedy occurred on Sunday in Parkovyi Proezd. Several feral dogs attacked a man aged 40-45, near to house No 26. The victim had severe injuries that left no chance of surviving and died there and then of a pain shock and loss of blood. The dogs virtually bit through the man's throat."МК" in Peter, 02.03.2005 Woman bit to death by stray dogs at Poronaisk (Sakhalin) A 55-year old lady died after being attacked by stray dogs at Poronaisk Town, Sakhalin. The "Echo-DV" news Agency reports, with reference to Poronaisk Main Department of the Interior, that a pack of dogs, haunting garages and household outbuildings, attacked a woman walking long a desolate path. The dogs were driven away by a man who heard the noise and screams for help.The woman had numerous wounds of the thorax, arms and legs, and, was delivered in a state of shock to the central district hospital., where she died in an intensive care unit. Regnum.ru,18.02.2005 Passers-by attacked and killed by feral dogs in Murmansk During last week of November, in Zhilstroy District of Murmansk, packs of feral dogs attacked passers-by twice. A man was severely bitten. On November 26, feral dogs attacked a woman, the cook of School No 4. The woman died of the wounds at a hospital.A correspondent of the REGNUM News Agency, reports that the problem of the growing number of feral dogs, walking about in packs in Zhilstroy District, was to be discussed at a press-conference on November 29. The press-conference, however, was never held. On November 29, the Administration of Murmansk set up a special Committee for an official investigation with a view to checking the execution of an agreement for netting and temporary sheltering of stray animals. The agreement had been signed between the city Department for Housing and Communal Services and Murmansk Municipal Unitary Enterprise "Sevzhilservis", a division of which has become the "Priyut" ('Orphanage') enterprise. During the days-off of November 27-28, subject-matter experts of "Sevzhilservis", in association with militia, were busy netting the stray animals. At present, 6 dogs have been caught, one is shot dead. The aforesaid agreement between the Department for Housing and Communal Services and Murmansk Municipal Unitary Enterprise "Sevzhilservis" will shortly be amended: it has been decided to toughen the requirements of monitoring and regulating the numbers of stray animals. It is planned to bolster the "Priyut" enterprise by instituting three specialized areas for netting stray dogs in each administrative district of Murmansk. Proposals of Murmansk Administration regarding the amendments to be made in the Law of Murmansk Oblast "On Keeping the Animals", to toughen control of stray dogs have been formulated and forwarded to the deputies of the Oblast Duma. www.regnum.ru, 30.11.2004 Two old ladies torn to pieces by killer dogs in Nizhni Taghil The dogs attacked Margarita Yakimova, a dweller of Nizhni Taghil, on Monday around mid-day, near the garages in the vicinity of the Militia School, Taghilovsky District of the city. The pensioner lady was rescued by passers-by who chanced to witness the attack of a pack of dogs. The passers-by managed to drive away the dogs, while the bitten lady was sent to a hospital. According to reports of "Channel 4", the old lady had 52 wounds sewn up, and now her condition is regarded as critically stable.. The first victim of the pack of dogs was also a pensioner. She was bitten by tray dogs to death. The dogs attacked the woman as she was walking down a path leading to a cottage site. The place is desolate in winter, and nobody was there to hear the woman screaming for help. The woman was found a few hours after she was killed. Yesterday, a hunt for killer dogs was announced, the district prosecutor's office sent a detachment of special-purpose militia to the site of the tragic event. 6 stray dogs were killed. The District Prosecutor Nikolay Kargin instituted criminal proceedings under Art. 293, part 2 for negligence with a fatal outcome. The persons to charge will, most likely, be sought at the Municipal Unitary Enterprise "Spetsavtokhoyaistvo", which enterprise is responsible for netting stray dogs. "Novy Region -Yekaterinburg", 12.12.2004 Ivan Maltsev - legendary hockey player's nephew - lacerated by dogs "I'll never forget those screams" One dank December night, the silence in the center of Kaliningrad was suddenly exploded by heart-rending squeals. The blood-curling howls and pleas for help coming from the yacht-club "Wave", woke up the dwellers of neighboring houses. - I'll never forget those screams, - remembers Maria Ivanovna, one of the forced witnesses of the tragedy, without being ashamed of her tears. - This was something terrible, never in my life have I heard anything of the kind. Rather a long time elapsed before the commotion drew the attention of the club's guard Boris Tsevelyuk. It follows from the man's testimony that at 4.40 a.m., having walked out of the club's gates, he discerned in the dusk on the other side of the fence a naked blood-stained young man, who was yelling on top of his voice, standing in an icy creek, the water up to his waist. On the bank, the club's dogs were barking frantically, gasping for breath. The old man snatched a stick and began driving away the dogs that had got all worked up. Having locked up the dogs in an open-air cage, the guard pulled the exhausted blood-stained boy out of the creek. As there has never been a telephone at the club, Tsevelyuk went to the nearby garage cooperative to call an ambulance. Ambulance arrived only an hour later, and all the time the blood-stained young man was lying on the cold earth. - Please, don't say anything to my parents, - the lad torn by the dogs, still I a state of shock, kept imploring the doctors. - For Christ's sake, don't do that, they will simply not be able to endure the news... Ivan died at a hospital the next morning - of a pain shock and supercooling. The doctors who had plenty in their life and who fought for Ivan's life to the end, looked subdued. Commented the doctors: - We've never seen anything like this before. You wouldn't find an inch of the boy's flesh spared by the dogs... "They guard their territory" - Nobody is to trespass the boundaries or approach the guarded territory - philosophizes Alexander Sushenok, Chairman of the water-sport club "Wave". - Our dogs are clever and good, besides it is written on the fence that the beasts are callous creatures. - What business did the boy have here? For all I know, he might have planned to steal something, or he may have trespassed in a bid to find a short-cut, - Sushenok continues holding forth quietly, as if he were talking about something routine. Indeed, there hangs a strict tablet at the entrance to the club, with a text written in an uneven type, reading: "Attention! Callous dogs are released on this territory from midnight to 6.00 a.m." I can see red nails under the tablet. The nails were brought by Ivan's father. The lean piebald bitch Naida and her two not too big scions Volchoc and Boxic are kept in a cage in day-time. As the dogs see a stranger coming, they start baring their teeth and wagging their tails. - Can you call them killer dogs? - Alexander Sushenok is genuinely surprised. - They are guarding their territory. When Sushenok was asked if the dogs could have attacked a human being outside the guarded perimeter, his answer was abstract: - You mean the loopholes under the fence? Well, no matter how hard you try to close them up, the dogs will surely dig under. They're dogs, aren't they? The correspondent of "Izvestia" counted 8 loopholes on one side of the fence alone. "Vanya was never afraid of dogs " Ivan had come to Kaliningrad for victory two and a half years ago. The boy was determined to overcome the disease he had become addicted to in his native Kirovo-Chepetsk Town though mischievous thoughtlessness - drug dependence. - Says Sergei Slobodenyuk, head of the Charity Fund for Rehabilitation and Social Adaptation of Heavy Drug Users "Orekhovo": Vanya came to Kaliningrad of his own free will, without anybody's persuasion or compulsion. He came with a task he had clearly formulated for himself. He was a very interesting personality. One was under the impression that the boy had two different beings living inside him: on then one hand, a certain infancy, inability to say "no" in most primitive workaday situations. On the other hand - firmness and single-mindedness, obviously inherited from his father - a well-known hockey player, and from his uncle - a legend and idol of all the boys of our generation. One must have a strong character to get rid of drug dependence, and Vanya succeeded in this. Sergei Slobodyanyuk points out one more circumstance: "Vanya was never afraid of dogs. At Orekhovo, he was playing with a Caucasian shepherd all the time ". After a year-long rehabilitation course, Ivan was back to normal, full-fledged life. He decided not to go back to his native town: he liked the peculiar age-old city. The architecture, nature, dune landscapes. Especially the Baltic sea, on the shore of which he would walk for hours. Ivan found a job and rented a small cosy flat. Soon, he fell in love: he met that real and true one. With whom he was prepared to stay for the rest of his life. It was from his beloved that Ivan was returning that fatal night. Ivan was buried in the city he had come to like so much: even the posthumous face was unable to camouflage the traces of dog bites on his face. The funeral ceremony was attended by all patients of the Orekhovo Center and Ivan's father - Sergei Maltsev. - I still can't speak about the boy in the Past Tense - says Sergei Slobodyanuyk. Only a few weeks ago, he was making plans for the New Year, was going to celebrate it at Svetlogorsk. Together with his girl and Father. And then, we know what happened. The officials of Leningradsky District Department of the Interior, Kaliningrad, still cannot determine the exact place of dogs' attack on Ivan: nobody knows if Ivan Maltsev was on the territory of the club on that fatal night or was simply walking along the fence. Determining the place of attack is crucial to qualifying the event. If the attack occurred on the club's territory, criminal proceedings may be instituted against the elderly guard Boris Tsevelyuk, who took ill (heart condition) after the accident. The case may be qualified under Article 293 of the RF Criminal Code "Negligence, resulting, through carelessness, in a death of a human being". However, it is unlikely the place of the event will ever be determined, and the tragedy will be qualified as "an accident". - In all likelihood, the dogs will be drugged to sleep, - said one of the militiamen. - It's unlikely it will be possible to do anything else". "Izvestia", 28.12.2003 A guard torn to pieces by stray dogs Stray dogs tore to pieces a guard of a construction firm in Moscow, reports "Interfax".On Monday morning, the body of a 58-year old guard was discovered on the territory of "Beton" ('Concrete') firm, part of the Closed Joint-Stock Company "Mospromstroyobjekt in Proektiruemyi Proezd. Experts insist the aged man died of numerous avulsed wounds on the man's arms, legs and body. Experts are convinced the guard was nagged by dogs. Rol.ru, Source: Lenta.Ru, 24.04.2001 A guard nagged to death by a pack of stray dogs in Moscow A pack of stray dogs nagged to death a guard of a commercial firm. Reports reaching here from Moscow Main Department of the Interior say that the corpse of a 58-year old one Shibaev was discovered on Monday morning on the territory of "Beton" ('Concrete') firm at 43/84, Proektiruemyi Proezd ("Dubrovka" District).A forensic medical examination established that the death had occurred 11 hours before as a result of multiple dog bites, "Interfax" says. Militiamen found empty vodka bottles on the table in the gatehouse. The man must have been dead drunk, therefore when he left the gatehouse, he was attacked by a pack of stray dogs. The militiamen regard the even as an accident, therefore no criminal proceedings will be instituted. NEWSru.com, April 24, 2001 Stray dogs keep in awe whole villages in Ingushetia. On the outskirts of Ali-Yurt Village in Ingushetia, stray dogs tore to pieces Rustam Yevloev, a 6-year old boy. Other children, attacked by feral dogs, were hospitalized. In Surkhahi Village, a few wolves crept into the yard of the Nalgievs family and nearly bit to death the 36-year old Diba Nalgieva and the neighbors who rushed to her rescue in response to her screams for help.At present, the woman is in an intensive-care unit of the local hospital. All nine affected people are given injections. The doctors talk about a rabies epidemic among wild dogs and wolves and of the need of shooting them as a matter of urgency. Reported by ITAR-TASS, 25.11.2003 KALININGRAD 12.01.2003, IA"REGNUM"(Moscow) VORONEZH OBLAST House 21at Timiryazev Street stands in a vacant lot. Where its yard ends, there begin a trash dump and tiny kitchen gardens of the house-dwellers. It was here that a pack of 15-16 dogs settled down three years ago. While there is sunshine, the dogs hide somewhere, but as soon as it gets dark, they start their furious racing. Incessant barking continues till morning. True, the compassionate dwellers themselves would feed up the miserable dogs. They kept doing so until... on July 19, around 4 p.m. I was coming home - says Svetlana Pavlovna Arkharova, a house dweller, chairman of the cooperative. Small children ran up to me and shouted: Aunt Sveta, come with us, we'll show you something. I look and near the trash dump, I see a bare-boned human hand lying on the road. There were some people crowding near their kitchen-gardens. I looked into the raspberry bush and saw something horrible. Lying there was a human skeleton. Without a single piece of flesh on it. Intestines were sticking out from under the ribs, other intestines were scattered around. A thrown out leg was lying nearby. I was shivering... The corpse of a man lay there, some one hundred meters from the house, for three days, from July 17. From the very moment the 83-year old pensioner (we do no identify the man at the request of relations) came out of the house. He had a small glass jar and went to the kitchen garden to pick some raspberries. Later, militia wold find that jar with a few berries at the bottom. What happened than nobody can say: expertise said the death was immediate, the relatives saw the corpse gnawed by the dogs. The old man either dropped dead, whereupon the dogs flung themselves on him, or the dogs attacked the old man an bit him to death. We asked the experts of a right-bank veterinary station for comments... A dog is a predator. If its is hungry, it certainly may attack a person, dead or alive. You will realize that when people eat people, what do you want of dogs... We met the dead pensioner's widow. The woman still is unable to come to her senses: I was at my job that day. I come back home and see that my husband is out. First, I thought he'd gone to pickup mushrooms: he loved doing that.. Then I decided he had left for Ramon', our country-house. I rushed there: the place was empty. Who could ever think he would die such a wicked death? Although my husband was come of age, he had a string organism, a man of old-time conditioning. Still, he had sort of felt it was coming, kept saying over and over: "Ma, I'd be grateful to God, if I could live this year to the end". His body was mutilated beyond description... Militia started criminal proceedings at once. They kept asking my son and me if he had any enemies. But all people treated him fine. Therefore the case was dismissed. After all, nobody will place the dogs behind bars. As for this particular pack of feral dogs, they cam be poisoned, shot, etc. Because the dwellers of our house are afraid of going out. For example, Svetlana Pavlovna Arkharova goes out to empty her waste basket , holding a small meat-dressing axe. As the chairman of our cooperative, she has, for over a month, been petitioning various organizations, requesting them to annihilate these beasts. Yet, the pack of dogs is still where it was. Are the dogs seeking new victims?.. July, 2003, "Komsomolskaya Pravda" YAKUTIA It transpired that Nadezhda E. Had spent the night at her girl-friend's in the vicinity of School No 29, and left the house around 7 a.m. In Stadukhina Street, a horde of 15 dogs flung itself onto her. Hard as the doctors tried, the young woman died. She met with her death at the intensive-care unit of the republican hospital. It should be noted that at the moment the dos are particularly active. Lon February 3, YACIA reported that in Charan Village of Ust-Aldan Province, a pack of feral dogs bit to death three calves. This incident indicates that experts will have to take decisive action to annihilated stray dogs. 04.02.2003, IA"REGNUM"(Moscow) 2. Yakutia. Communal services workers to be brought to book for the death of young woman torn to pieces by a pack of dogs Journalists met with senior officers of mayor's office, State Unitary Enterprise "Specavtokhozyaistvo", Department of the Interior, Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision and Veterinary Service. The catalyst of the meeting was the death of a 20-year old female city dweller who had been torn to pieces by dogs. As was stated at the meeting, in 2002, the staff of "Specavtokhozyaistvo" ands veterinary doctors annihilated 691 dog. At the same time, 1952 persons applied to the rabies-control service of RTSEMG PS (Ya)of which 550 persons had suffered from stray dogs. The shooting off of stray dogs is prohibited, yet after the aforesaid tragic case, the Department of the Interior and Public Prosecutor's Office of Yakutsk will have to violate the law as there does not exist any more effective and quick method of getting rid of the dogs.As far as the tragic death of the young woman is concerned Moscow Public Prosecutor's Office started criminal proceedings against the State Unitary Enterprise "Specavtokhozyaistvo", under part 2 of Article 293 - negligence resulting in a loss of human life. 06.02.2003, IA"REGNUM"(Moscow) 3. People Hunting Season This is not the first case of humans being attacked by stray dogs in Yakutsk. Several dog-bitten passers-by apply to city hospitals every month. Once, the dogs attacked a militiaman, who survived by miracle, having strangled the pack's leader. However, previously, fights of humans with dogs in the streets never resulted in a loss of life. The city authorities put the current drama to the fact that during the winter mating season the dogs unite in packs and become especially aggressive towards strangers. For the last few years, virtually nobody has specialized in annihilating stray dogs in this region of Russia. The municipal firm "Specavtokhozyaistvo" that used to attend to this sphere has ceased to deal with the dog problem. The reason is simple: ammunition is costly, kapron nets that are used for netting the four-legged simply get torn in bitter frost. In connection with the recent tragedy, the mayor's office is considering, as an emergency, the use of special potent poisons against the packs of stray dogs. There are, however, string objections to this on the part of the services of Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision. And, for the dwellers of Yakutsk not to be afraid of going out at nights, the mayor's office is willing to finance the shooting off of the dogs. This initiative, however, was not approved by the Public Prosecutor's Office. Says the veterinary doctor Mikhail Kozhin: Annihilating dogs by means of poisons in the conditions of a city is really very dangerous. Unfortunately, the number of stray dogs has been increasing steadily of late, and not in Yakutia alone. Fighting this phenomenon is hard, but possible. Annihilation of feral animals is considered inhuman lately, while shooting them off in human settlements is prohibited altogether. The only option that remains is netting the animals and placement them in special animal orphanages or nurseries. By the way, in most "civilized" countries such animals are placed in orphanages. There, the animals are held for a while, treated for various diseases and almost invariably are sterilized, i.e. deprived of a possibility to produce posterity. This done, either new owners are found for the animals, or the animals are annihilated. I wish to stress that sterilization nowadays is one of the most reliable methods of curbing the numbers of animals. In the cities, dogs often live near human dwellings, where there is usually a rubbish heap, scavenged by the dogs for food. Hence, the first recommendation: a rubbish heap must be shut as tightly as possible, and the adjoining area must be kept clean. The second recommendation: the dwellers should not feed stray dogs, no matter how sorry they may be about the dogs. The dogs get used to such treatment and simply graze around the houses of tender-hearted people. - A dog will never attack a person for no particular reason: ether the person kicked the dog or began gesticulating, i.e. provoked the attack, - the training instructor Victor Zhurbenko says. - The minute a dog starts barking, others will join him immediately, some will not just bark, but will start biting the person, and thus the situation is getting out of control and there is no stopping the dogs. Should that happen, the person must put his hands in the pockets, without gesticulating, and cover his genitals. If you see a pack of dogs, better pass it by. Never push your way through. - At the end of the winter - in early spring, there begins the dogs' mating period. If there is a female in a state of heat in the pack, any intrusion of strange dogs may be regarded by the rest of the pack as the advent of yet another competitor. The dogs will not stand this and are most likely to attack the "aggressor". Under no pretext try to pull apart the fighting stray dogs. Most probably, they are sorting out their relationship regarding the place in hierarchy, therefore any outside interference is certain to meet with an inadequate response. In a situation like this, the entire pack may fling itself on the "peace-keeper". If the dogs do fling themselves on you, try to stop and do not move. The dogs are reflective creatures: if you do not offer resistance, you are not eaten up. Never try to free your hand or foot from the dog's jaws. Painful as it may be, try not to move. In most cases, a dog loses interest to a motionless victim. The pack's males may eve urinate your legs, never mind this, it is simpler to wash your trousers than to sew up your legs. As for the means of protection one may buy at a vet shop, the most effective are, perhaps, special pepper sprays, the dogs also feat electric-shocker clubs. Still, instead of walking about with such weapons (you never know when you will encounter a pack of dogs, if at all) better, pass such a pack by. February 6, 2003, "Rossiiskaya Gazeta" SMOLENSK 25.12.2002, IA"REGNUM"(Moscow) PETROPAVLOBVSK-KAMCHATSKY 14.05.2004, IA"REGNUM"(Moscow) Onfa Bitten by Dogs Beyond Recognition A man was bitten to death by a pack of stray dogs in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The Press-Secretary of the City Dept. of the Interior Yuri Gavrish told RIA "Novosti" that the man who had died of dog bites had been unemployed and had been of no fixed address. The man's corpse had been discovered on Friday night in the heating main's man-hole not far from the secondary school at Kurilskaya Street.The corpse was severely damaged by the bites of the killer-dogs. The person's identity was established by finger-prints. Since early May alone, there have been four cases of dogs attacking humans. More often than not, the victims of such attacks are children, including those on the territory of schools, children parks and kindergartens. The Administration of Petropavlovsk is developing additional measures to protect the life and health of city-dwellers from stray animals. 14.05.2004, grani.ru BRYANSK Soon, the scene of the find was visited by a group of operatives, which comprised, among other, Chief of the Dept. of the Interior of Sovetsky District Valery Ryabtsev and Public Prosecutor of the District Alexander Sednev. What the militiamen saw could hardly be endured by nervous people: the man's skull was bare-boned and his buttocks were torn out. Forensic examination established that the 65-year old man, who had fallen victim of the dogs, was a worker at military plant No 65100. He had died of a pain shock. At the moment, forensic experts are making an examination with a view to identifying the "attacking subjects", i.e. the dogs that bit the poor man to death. Eventually, the dogs, will, most likely, be netted... 11.11.2003, IA "Gorod 24", www.regions.ru, APN "REGIONS.RU / Russia. Regions" PRIMORSKY KRAJ This is not the first case of humans being attacked by stray animals in Vladivostok this year, although previously encounters of man with smaller brethren never resulted in fatal outcomes, says our correspondent. 29.12.2003, IA"REGNUM"(Moscow) SARANSK According to the photographer, on January 1, around 3 p.m., he and his wife were taking a stroll not far from a filling station near Saransk Motor-road No 5. Suddenly, his attention was drawn to a pack of dogs: the female leader, two male dogs ands a puppy. On seeing the people, the animals scattered in all directions. However, having run away 200 meters, they stopped, ready to return anytime to the place they had relinquished, the paper writes. The photographer noted that the pack of dogs had literally made a path in that place. The footprints led the photographer to a heating main, where an appalling surprise awaited him: half-bare-boned remains of a man's corpse. "I was shaken by what I saw! - an eye-witness says. - This I saw for the first time in my life. Even my hand were shaking. For the first few seconds, I did not know what to do. The, having come to, I grasped my camera. Having made a few shots, I called the militia..." The militiamen who arrived at the scene counted around 20 stray dogs of varying sizes and various breeds at the place. There lay 4 empty vodka bottles and a couple of broken crystal wine-glasses near the bare-boned corpse. Deputy Chief of Criminal Investigation of Proletarsky District Division of the Interior Vladimir Kukushkin told the "Stolitsa-S" that the discovered man aged 40-45 had been a vagabond. An original stove-bench was discovered under the heating main, and the remains of a fire. There are eye-witnesses who confirmed that this dark-haired onfa had, on more than one occasion, spent nights there in the company of his four-legged friends, he had, on occasion, fed the animals, until himself became food for them. It may well have been that having celebrated the New Year to a point when he became irresponsible, the unfortunate wretch did not even feel the first bites. The pack of dogs may well have eaten the Saransk dweller alive. Even the most weathered militiamen were appalled by the sight. Vladimir Kukushkin admits that during 15 years of serive in the law-and order protection authorities he has never encountered cases like this. At present, the district public prosecutor's office is ding an audit in conjunction with the staff of the Proletarsky District Division of the Interior. The victim's person has not been identified, yet. Experts at the morgue found that the are-boned man had blue eyes. There have not been found any signs of violent death. Therefore, it is rather difficult to establish the cause of horrible death... January 29 2004, www.newsru.com KRASNOYARSKY KRAJ 10.04.2003, IA"REGNUM"(Moscow) 2. Krasnoyarsk: 6-year Old Girl Died of Dog's Bite There have emerged new facts, throwing light on the sudden death of the 6-year old Katya Fisenko. According to a local mass medium, the girl died of air embolism. The source explained that the death of the child was caused by an air bubble which had plugged up the brain blood vessels. Because one hour before Katya's death he girl was bitten by a dog, the air got into a vein, most likely, as a result of the bite. Only this morning they said the dog's bite was not the cause of death, while officially the results of post mortem will only be communicated after forensic examination , i.e. in a month. However, the source is confident that the cause of death is quite clear.14.04.2003, IA"REGNUM"(Moscow) |
