Safety not guaranteed
Kyiv’s stray animals to be sterilized
The Kyiv City Council held a public hearing into the problem of stray animals. The protracted debate resulted in a decision to sterilize the roving bands of stray animals whose uncontrolled proliferation in the city poses a serious health hazard.
“Almost every day dozens of Kyivites have to protect themselves from aggressive attacks by stray dogs,” Vadym Tepliuk, deputy director of Kyiv’s veterinary hospital, told The Day. “This can be very dangerous because these animals often transmit infectious diseases, such as venereal sarcoma. Sterilizing the animals is thus not only humane but also a way of reducing their numbers and protecting residents from infections.”
To ensure greater protection for city residents, the Kyiv City Council has decided to open five more veterinary clinics for stray animals in various areas of Kyiv as well as mini-refuges in each of the city’s districts. Veterinarians are pinning special hopes on a specialized facility in Borodianka, which will deal with strays. It is common knowledge that, until recently, stray animals were ruthlessly put down there. Now that the Kyiv municipal authorities have passed the decision to sterilize strays, this facility will be converted into a sterilization center.
Experts note that strenuous efforts are called for. So far, stray animals are only being sterilized in Kyiv and Odesa. Other cities continue to exterminate them.
“Animals are brutally shot, poisoned, and killed in other inhumane ways, but even with these methods strays have not completely disappeared from the city streets,” Tamara Tarnavska, president of the International Society for the Protection of Animals, told The Day. “While European countries, such as Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, solved this problem long ago by sterilization, we are only starting out on this path. Unfortunately, controlling the animal population through sterilization is being practiced only in Odesa. This problem will be solved once similar decisions are implemented in every city of Ukraine. The experience of other countries shows that sterilization of animals reduces their numbers within three to four years.”
But will city residents feel safe after this? According to Tarnavska, the sterilized animals will be released into the streets. Although they will be under the watchful eye of volunteers, is there any guarantee that these animals will stop attacking people?
