Russia may have an animal protection commissioner

This spring, federal and regional commissioners for animal rights may appear in Russia. Such a bill was prepared by a group of parliamentarians from the LDPR: they propose creating a network of commissioners based on public chambers. The authors of the initiative are confident that this will help “connect people, authorities and animal rights activists so that problems can be resolved more actively.” However, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma’s environmental committee, Vladimir Burmatov (ER), is confident that all the necessary legislation for this has already been adopted – we just need to “start working normally.” And animal advocates believe that “public control alone” will not solve the problem.

The bill was developed by deputies Yaroslav Nilov, Alexey Didenko, Dmitry Svishchev, Kaplan Panesh and senator Elena Afanasyeva. In the explanatory note, they indicated that at the federal level, issues of responsible treatment of animals are under the jurisdiction of a variety of departments: the Ministry of Agriculture, Rosselkhoznadzor, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Culture, etc. And at the regional level, the same bodies are responsible for both the environment and housing -municipal sector, “and even for the repair and maintenance of highways.” This “blurring of powers,” according to parliamentarians, leads to a blurring of responsibility, including “in the exercise of state control over compliance with requirements for the responsible treatment of animals and protecting them from cruelty.” They propose creating a commissioner position on the basis of regional and federal public chambers, which will contribute to “increasing the effectiveness of government measures to protect animals, fostering a responsible and humane attitude towards animals, and ensuring the safety of citizens when handling them.”

“The measure we propose is easy to implement, since the law on public chambers at different levels has been in effect for a long time,” one of the authors of the bill, head of the State Duma Committee on Social Policy Yaroslav Nilov, told Kommersant. “Adding a commissioner for animal protection to the structure will help connect people, authorities and animal rights activists so that problems are resolved more actively.” Mr. Nilov recalled the public discussion that unfolded around last year’s law, which allows regions to regulate the number of stray animals up to their killing: “The Commissioner will be able to consolidate the positions of the parties in order to draw a rational grain from disputes in the media and social networks.”

Proposals to introduce similar positions have been made before. Thus, in 2016, the petition of Magadan activist Kristina Akchurina collected more than 600 thousand signatures on change.org. At that time it was one of the most popular petitions on the site. However, the idea was never completed: in Russia, the preparation of the Federal Law “On the Responsible Treatment of Animals” began (it was ultimately adopted in 2018), and the focus of attention of animal rights activists switched to it. In 2022, the head of Rosprirodnadzor, Svetlana Radionova, proposed introducing the position of an ombudsman for the protection of the rights of wild animals to strengthen public control over Red Book species. In 2023, Pyatigorsk human rights activist Alexander Sorokin addressed the president directly with a similar proposal. He asked the head of state to introduce the position of animal rights defender under each plenipotentiary representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the federal districts. Such an ombudsman, according to Mr. Sorokin, “would be involved in protecting the rights of wild animals and would be able to resolve issues related to their proper protection as quickly and effectively as possible.” The human rights activist was promised to submit the initiative for consideration to the Ministry of Natural Resources.

“There are already enough positions in the administrative apparatus that are responsible for the issue of control over the treatment of animals,” says Vladimir Burmatov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma’s environmental committee. “For example, in every municipality there is a person responsible for controlling the number of stray animals. Another thing is that often no one knows him – and they don’t know who to file appeals and complaints on this topic.” Mr. Burmatov considers it more correct to organize the work of existing officials. “According to this logic, ombudsmen and commissioners are needed in general for every issue. But maybe everyone should just start working normally—from deputies to city officials?” he asks.

“Today, some subjects of our country, having received the right to locally determine the procedure for treating stray animals, have gone to great lengths. Therefore, the introduction of additional animal protection in the person of the Commissioner seems to be a positive idea,” notes Olga Kelly, director of the Bereginya center for helping homeless animals, GR specialist at the Animal Welfare Association. “However, whether the initiative will bring a real effect, it will be possible to say when it is clear functionality and organizational system of the new position. It will bring a positive effect only together with the formation of a legal system and mechanisms for interaction between structures and departments involved in this industry. But at present, public control alone cannot improve the situation with regard to the treatment of animals.”

Alexandra Larintseva, Pyatigorsk; Polina Yachmennikova