The State Duma adopted amendments to the law on the responsible treatment of animals

The State Duma immediately adopted in the second and third readings amendments to the law on the responsible treatment of animals, giving the regional authorities the opportunity to take independent measures to control homeless individuals. However, it is still not clear whether we are talking about the legalization of the killing of animals without owners in some cases.

On Wednesday, the State Duma adopted amendments to the Federal Law on the responsible treatment of animals, giving the regions additional opportunities to control the number of homeless individuals. The bill was submitted to the State Duma in April 2023 by a group of deputies headed by Dmitry Kobylkin (ER), Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ecology. This work, we recall, took place against the backdrop of several cases of attacks by stray dogs on people that caused a wide resonance.

The current legislation, we recall, regulates the issue of controlling the number of such animals at the federal level. Regions must adhere to the Catch, Sterilize, Vaccinate, Return to Wednesday (CER) program without fail, and any means of killing is prohibited.

In the document, which passed the first reading on May 16, the authorities of the subjects were given the opportunity to independently determine the procedure for dealing with homeless animals – “taking into account geographical, climatic, socio-economic and other specifics.”

To do this, it was proposed not to apply the paragraphs of the Federal Law on the responsible treatment of animals, in which the principle of OSVV was enshrined.

The initiative has drawn sharp criticism from animal rights activists. They feared that the changes would “untie the hands of the knackers,” as the regions would be able to introduce their own legislative acts providing for the euthanasia of homeless individuals. Negative feedback on the bill was given by the government of the Nizhny Novgorod region (where the problem of homeless animals is also dealt with with the help of existing principles) and the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation. The Just Russia – For Truth party did not support the adoption of the bill either. Also, the amendments did not suit the ROC. The head of the department for work with public organizations of the synodal department for relations between the church, society and the media, Archpriest Dimitry Roshchin, considered that the draft law “in the proposed version cannot be supported.” “The position of the church is that we do not support legislative initiatives to kill homeless animals, and we also do not support initiatives to give the regions the right to decide whether or not to kill captured homeless animals,” explained Mikhail Potokin, head of the social service department of the Moscow City Diocese. one rule for all: that homeless animals can be caught, but not killed.”

By the second reading, the bill was finalized by the working group of the State Duma Committee on Ecology, headed by deputy Vladimir Burmatov. The concept caused a number of comments, the parliamentarian said, besides, 25,000 proposals were received, most of which were related to concerns about the removal of the SALT principle from the legislation.

As a result, clauses on the obligatory nature of the OSVV were returned to the bill. However, a clarification appeared: “unless otherwise established by legislative acts of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.”

According to the deputy, we are talking about such events as monitoring the number of animals without owners, preferential sterilization and registration of dogs, or even “lessons of kindness.” “All these additions cannot contradict federal laws proclaiming a ban on cruelty to animals,” United Russia insists, “after all, Article 17 does not allow such control measures.”

Even during the discussion of the bill, before the first reading, “Kommersant” asked the legislators whether the new wording allows killing homeless animals. Then there was no answer to this question. The deputies failed to answer a direct question even now. Vladimir Burmatov only said that “even before the amendments, the regions had the right to implement euthanasia in a number of cases, for example, when animals demonstrate unmotivated aggression.”

It should be noted that on Wednesday, during the discussion in the State Duma, the fair Russian Oleg Nilov, apparently also not finding an answer, tried to shame his colleagues: “Such haste is needed when catching fleas, and not when making a decision that can be discussed for decades.” He is sure that the relevant committees “just want to shift responsibility from themselves to the regions”, instead of “thoroughly working out the issues of chipping individuals, the responsibility of owners and other necessary measures.”

Polina Yachmennikova