Ukraine's dog catchers?

[Guest guest]

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/20104/story.htm

 

BORODYANKA, Ukraine - When a tall man came running

after Jimka, eight-year-old Zhenya's game of snowballs

with his poodle turned quickly into a nightmare.

 

 

Shrieking after being hit by a flying sedative-tipped

needle, the miniature poodle ran home with the man in

hot pursuit. Zhenya ran too. He had no idea what was

going on.

Later he knew that Jimka had become the unwitting

victim of Kiev's zealous dog catchers, a new squad of

trained hunters hoping to rid ex-Soviet Ukraine's

capital of packs of strays which they say terrorise

the locals.

 

" Some kind of man ran up to us and did something to

Jimka on his back. Jimka cried out and ran to the

house, " Zhenya said.

 

" Then grandma came out and I ran into the house. Jim

ran so quickly, then I ran and then the man ran after

me...it was horrid. Jimka was lying on the ground. "

 

Though terrifying for an eight-year-old, the

department in charge of the squad says the hunt is

necessary in Kiev's central districts and

tower-block-filled suburbs. Thousands of dogs roam the

streets in packs, spreading disease and fear.

 

Officials say that 50,000 strays now live in Kiev

compared with 150,000 in 1998. There have only been

three cases of rabies in humans over the past two

years.

 

But for Zhenya, his mother and his grandmother, the

crackdown on strays resorts to excessive methods,

often leading to house-trained pedigree pets

" disappearing " or forcing owners to pay large sums to

get them back.

 

 

FIGHTING FOR DOGS

 

Zhenya's mother, Irina Yarasiuk, denounces the squad

as " murdering fascists " out to kill all dogs whether

or not they pose a threat to residents and relishing

the chase armed with their blow pipes and needles.

 

Local authorities are now being confronted by animal

lovers, and the dispute is getting noisier by the day.

 

" If it wasn't true you'd laugh, it would be very

funny. I mean we have homeless people in this country,

but here we are fighting for our dog, " Yarasiuk said,

gazing at the white poodle which had caused all the

fuss.

 

" That same night, I thought it was over. I had got

undressed and was ready to take a bath when there was

a ring at the door. The dog catcher and a policeman

came and they said 'Give me the dog, you have no right

to take it home.' "

 

She was told the poodle, no larger than a big toy, was

dangerous and should be wearing a muzzle.

 

" How can we put a muzzle on a poodle for God's sake? " .

 

For Nina Samofalova, director of the municipal

authorities' animal centre, the criticism hurts. Her

colleagues say she has become the victim of a hate

campaign by animal rights activists.

 

Samfalova says she is treated as a " Hitchcock "

character, reputed to be feeding cats to dogs,

skinning dogs for fur and trying to wipe out all

animals.

 

She took newspapers to court and won after they

printed the " lies " and yet she says she understands

that emotions run high when dealing with animals. But

Kiev does have a problem, she says.

 

" The main problem is those dogs which are second or

third or fourth generation strays, who hunt for their

own food and which threaten the town, " she said.

 

" Another indicator of our work is the number of people

asking for medical assistance after being bitten by

dogs...In 1998, 200,000 people reported being bitten

by stray dogs, last year it was 1,700 people. This, of

course, is a good indicator. "

 

" We try to be reasonable. Say, guard dogs who live in

car parks, garages, people can register those as well

and have no problems, " she said, showing leaflets

giving guidance on animal practices according to

international law which she employs.

 

" Of course it is upsetting to take dogs to the dogs'

home. But most of the time people just cannot afford

to feed them. "

 

In a country struggling to move towards market reform

and shed its Soviet skin, many cannot even feed

themselves. But pedigree dogs have become a status

symbol, with many Ukrainians buying Dobermans, Great

Danes and pit bull terriers to share two-or

three-roomed apartments.

 

And when they get too big or cost too much, many end

up on the street. And then in the dogs' home.

 

 

'CONCENTRATION CAMP' FOR DOGS

 

At the state-run dogs' home in Borodyanka, about 40 km

(25 miles) northwest of Kiev, dogs linger in sub-zero

temperatures in metal cages, their water turned to

ice. Inside what looks like a former barracks,

visitors reel from the reek of urine. Faeces remain

untouched near where the dogs lie.

 

A cocker spaniel, name unknown, sits shivering on his

patchy rug. His fur matted and clotted with dirt, he

does not have the energy to bark.

 

But he is lucky. As a pedigree dog, there is some

chance he could find another home. Mongrels held

sometimes dozens together in outside pens have five to

10 days before they are put down.

 

Fights break out in the pens, where a hierarchy is

quickly established. Many are skinny, their ribs

protruding. Some are missing ears or paws. Saliva

running out of the mouths of a few has frozen in

droplets and moves stiffly as they bark.

 

" I know how much to feed them. I have all the

veterinary advice I can have in the office. They get

fat here, " said Valery Butko, deputy director of the

centre and the man in charge at the dogs' home as he

looked over at some unmistakably emaciated dogs.

 

" We try to be as economical as possible. We do not get

a lot of money from the state. So we give them

off-cuts from a nearby sausage factory and dry dog

food. "

 

" Ah look, there is a collie, he will be moved out of

the pen into the indoor facility, " he said,

underlining the certain fate awaiting mongrels which

will never find a home.

 

For Irina, her mother and another dog owner, who

rescued a bull terrier from the pound, these

conditions are the essence of why Ukraine cannot now

be considered part of Europe.

 

" There they are, covered in shit, dirty and hungry, "

said Alexandra Kulai, Irina's mother. " It's a

concentration camp, not a dogs' home...What kind of

country do we live in? "

 

 

 

 

Story by Elizabeth Piper

 

 

 

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Friends of dogs

http://www.friendsofdogs.net

Dogs brighten our life with their gift to love and bond. It is our turn to help

our dogs. Please help organisations who are fighting to get dogs out of food

chain.

 

http://www.koreananimals.org/

http://www.2kat.net/sirius/index.html

http://www.linisgobyerno.org/special_projects.htm

 

 

 

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