Just a bit of kindness please!

Everything in Ukraine is being considered in terms of Euro-2012 now. Certain home events and other information could be presented in a positive key, if one wished to do so, but there still is a feeling that someone wants everything in Ukraine to remain as it is, glum and dreary.

So the panic caused by the lack of soccer fields and airports is aggravated by the news of poisoned dogs. Over the last weekend in Kyiv, next to Hlushkov Institute of Cybernetics in Teremky-1, unknown persons poisoned 17 stray dogs. The animals’ bodies were left lying around. Channel 5 reports that, according to the local volunteers, the dogs hadn’t bothered anyone. The volunteers had some of them neutered at their own expense. Now they suspect the Institute’s security guards as the animals had lived on the Institute premises. But the suspects flatly reject the charge. There had been complaints about the animals, they admit, but they would have never dared to poison stray dogs.

The stray dog problem has plagued Ukraine, and Kyiv in particular, for years. It’s quite clear that stray animals can pose a threat to people and especially children. But a lot worse is the threat posed by our cruelty and callousness. It’s also obvious that some among the city fathers are interested in preserving problems, because this makes it possible to continually allot funds to address them and eventually squander the fiances.

A couple of months ago animal rights activists picketed the Kyiv City Hall protesting against cruel treatment of animals. They pressed for allotment of funds for the neutering/spaying program, as they had learned that the city administration was going to put the dogs down instead of neutering them. It was Vice Prime Minister Ivan Vasiunyk who backed animal rights activists then. Says Vasiunyk, who is in charge of preparations for Euro-2012: “I deeply resent the brutality in dealing with the stray dog population in Kyiv. This policy of the city administration has nothing to do with the preparation for the 2012 European Championship.”

First Deputy Mayor Irena Kilchytska retorted promptly that the Kyiv City Hall has always backed humane treatment of animals. The officials are trying to find a humane way of reducing their population in the capital. “What concerns the cases of poisoning, if discovered, they should be reported to the law enforcement bodies. Personally I am ready to make a relevant statement to the police,” said Kilchytska. She added that the City Hall has acted and will continue to act only according to the European standards, usingthe methods accepted abroad. Notwithstanding the financial crisis, the Kyiv City Hall is going to continue the implementation of the 2008–11 Neutering/ Spaying Program, which was adopted by the Kyiv city administration in 2007.

The number of stray animals in Kyiv is not going down:

Tamara TARNAVSKA, Chairperson, animal protection NGO ‘SOS’:

“We’re going to appeal to the Verkhovna Rada MPs regarding the Teremky poisoning, because no one is ever going to consider a question without an official request from an MP. And we are definitely not going to turn to the City Hall—it will be useless.

“It’s hard to say for sure who personally did it, but it is the Kyiv city administration that is to be held responsible. The budget funds allegedly allotted for neutering are being embezzled. Last year there were two vet clinics in Kyiv, with 19 doctors on the staff who were in charge of neutering. During the year they neutered 2,000 animals, which cost about three million hryvnias. In our shelter we have two vets who work in a small operating room neutering strays. In six months they neutered 680 animals. In fact, the City Hall is quite happy to have stray animals in the capital. It allows them to continually write off funds and scare people with bites, rabies, and other diseases.

“We have been collecting people’s signatures across Europea in protest against what is going on in Ukraine. We have over 10,00 thus far. Our signers include celebrities, for instance, Michael Schumacher and Brigitte Bardot. The petition has also signed by a number of Swiss politicians and mayors, members of green parties of several European nations, etc.

“Letters from the West, addressed to Ms Tymoshenko, are already coming in, and there are many addressed to Mr. Yanukovych and the City Budget Commission. The campaign is still continuing, but once it is over the signatures will be handed over to Michel Platini who, I believe, will have to bring up the question of animal welfare and protection on the top level in Ukraine. It seems like our people’s hearts are atrophied; they won’t work properly. Brutality is overwhelming everywhere, especially in the treatment of children, adults, and animals.”