Why does the State Duma want to euthanize stray animals
The Council of the Federation Council on Constitutional Law on March 13 did not support the concept of the bill on the killing of stray animals prepared on behalf of the State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin. The discussion of a document that had not yet passed even the first reading caused an unusually stormy reaction from the representatives of both chambers. And, apparently, deputies and senators are not going to meet each other.
The loud story began with the fact that at a meeting of the Duma on February 25, Vyacheslav Volodin reacted very emotionally to the statistics of an attack of stray dogs: “Will we be defending children? Think about it: put a child and an animal on one bar! ”
The next day the speaker gave an assignment Prepare Amendments “To protect citizens from attacks by stray dogs,” and already on February 28 they were included in the Duma by a group of 25 deputies, headed by the chairman of the Family Protection Committee Nina Ostanina.
They proposed to introduce to the law “On responsible treatment of animals” amendments to the authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation the right to establish the deadline for the expiration of animals without owners in shelters, after which their killing is allowed. In addition, it is proposed to exclude the norm on the return of animals that do not show unmotivated aggressiveness to previous habitats.
A few days later the head of the Constitutional Committee of the Federation Council (SF) Andrei Klishas drew attention to the initiative. On March 5, he published excerpts from last year’s resolution of the Constitutional Court (COP) in Telegram, concluding the inadmissibility of the introduction of the “indefinite and distributed throughout the territory of the Russian Federation” Regulations on the killing of animals in shelters. Recall, then the Constitutional Court ruled that the euthanasia of stray dogs and cats is permissible only in “extraordinary cases” (see. « Kommersant » dated July 19, 2024).
On March 6, at a meeting of the State Duma leadership with state secretaries, Nina Ostanina asked the first vice-speaker of the Central Executive Committee of Andrei Yatskin to explain from whose face Mr. Klishas states that SF « does not intend to support this bill. »
And Vyacheslav Volodin even hinted that a conflict of interests may be present in the actions of the senator: supposedly he is related to a certain “dog association”. Andrei Klishas himself later refuted involvement in such an organization.
The Council Committee on State Construction decided to consider the controversial bill at its meeting on March 13 (draft laws at such an early stage are discussed in the upper house quite rarely). Senator Klishas said that the authorities should look for ways to solve the problem of stray dogs, but not by a method that « directly contradicts the KS resolution. » « If (bill. – « Kommersant ») It will be accepted, I do not really imagine what can happen next. In any region that will try to implement it, there will be an appeal to the local court, and the court will simply have to block this on the basis of the already current decision of the Constitutional Court, ”Mr. Klishas explained. And he added that in the current version the document “cannot be accepted”: “The decision of the COPs is not subject to review”.
The first vice speaker of the SF Vladimir Yakushev, who was also present at the meeting, tried to soften the position of the committee, indicating that the problem requires an urgent solution. “What to answer (parents. – « Kommersant ») who have lost children who have (dogs. – « Kommersant ») Did you disfigure the child completely healthy? -He was a rhetorical question.-And we are looking for some answers: it corresponds to legal equipment, does not correspond to … «
The conclusion of Senator Klishas that “according to the constitution, the main thing is dogs, not people” is not the basis for amending the concept of the bill, Nina Ostanina said “Kommersant”.
She recalled that the deputies offer the regions to independently establish the deadline for the maintenance of stray animals in shelters, and if there is funding, this can be “at least 15 years”. Mrs. Ostanina added that the authorities of subjects in most cases support the initiative. As of the evening of March 13, four regional reviews were posted on the State Duma website (from the Parliaments of Komi, the Stavropol Territory, the Amur and Astrakhan regions), and they are all really positive.
So far, the Kremlin has not formulated a clear position on this issue, both wards of parliament “play the discussion” to demonstrate that there is public policy in the country, political scientist Konstantin Kalachev believes: “For Volodin, this is a way of public positioning as a defender of people, a tool for increasing personal popularity, a completely electoral story. Klishasu in the district does not need to be elected, so you can not flirt with the masses. The president’s opinion on this issue is unknown, although we know that he loves dogs. ”
