Dog poisoning

Australia and New Zealand

Poisoning occurs with the help of a reflector - a small cylindrical device that is buried in the ground, and on the surface there is only a bait head containing capsules with poison. In size, it is like a golf ball. When the animal begins to draw the bait, the poison shoots into his mouth. The reflector can shoot only once. The only legal poison that is used to control the number of stray dogs is sodium fluoroacetate , known as 1080. In 2013, a new poison “PAPP” (para-aminopropiphenone) was also developed, it is currently undergoing registration. PAPP lures are expected to be approved for stray dog ​​control. Strychnine was previously permitted for use in dog baits, but is now banned. ^[5] . The poison in dead dogs breaks down quickly, and the corpse decomposes, leaving no traces of the poison in the environment. Poisoning them with other kinds of animals is unlikely due to the fact that very low 1080 bait is used for dogs. Most local scavengers that can eat dog carcasses, such as Australian monitor lizards or birds, are not susceptible to 1080 because of the greater the resistance of their digestive system to the drug and eating the corpse of a poisoned dog is safe for them. The law requires minimizing the risk of poisoning pets and taking precautionary measures. Accidental poisoning of domestic dogs occurs because these dogs, without a master, ran into the farmland or forests themselves, where sanitary measures were taken to poison the feral dogs. ^[6]

Bangladesh

The main method for regulating the number of stray dogs in this country is their poisoning by scattering baits ^[7]

Egypt

Poisoning by baits, as well as injections of poison for stray dogs are used in accordance with the order of the government and veterinary authorities, which is the subject of criticism from the defenders of these animals ^[8] . As of 2017, the authorities are fighting stray dogs in this country with both shooting and poisoning ^[9]

India

In Jammu and Kashmir, in 2008, local authorities decided to combat the threat of rabies by poisoning stray dogs. The task was to poison at least 100,000 individuals of these animals. For poisoning, strychnine baits were used ^[10] . However, after the protests of the zoo defenders, for which the killing of animals contradicts their beliefs that went to court, the poisoning program was stopped as early as March of the same year, and a sterilization program was adopted in exchange for returning the dogs back to the streets. In the state capital, Srinagar, only 500 dogs managed to poison. ^[eleven]

In 2012, the British BBC, citing local health authorities, reported that 53,925 people, mostly children, were bitten by stray dogs in 10 areas of Indian Kashmir over the past four years, over the past three years, 12 people have died from rabies, according to only one from the hospitals of Srinagar. The number of these animals in the city at that time was 90,000 individuals. In 2016, the situation in Srinagar continued to be threatening: more than 4,000 children were affected by the dogs, mainly in the age group of 3-12 years, one of them, a 4-year-old boy, was in the hospital with a torn face and scalp-like head, for 2 years as a result attacks of stray dogs killed 23 children. Despite the continuation of the sterilization program, which came as an alternative to poisoning, the number of dog populations continues to grow and increase by 10,000 per year. In the city, there is a conflict between residents demanding the resumption of the killing of stray dogs and livestock protectors, who believe that it is enough to continue to sterilize the dogs and release the dogs back into residential quarters ^{[12] [13]}

In 2015, due to the growth of the stray dog ​​population, the local authorities of the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu decided to launch a campaign to poison these animals with cyanide baits ^[14]

Indonesia

Since 2008, dog poisoning has been applied by government order to local authorities as a preventative measure to combat the spread of rabies ^[15] . For 7 years - from 2008 to 2015, the authorities managed to reduce the population of stray dogs on the island of Bali from 600,000 to 175,000 individuals, however, this treatment of animals is criticized by the animal welfare community from Western Europe, whose representatives visited the country in tourists and were shocked to witness the death of dogs on the streets ^[16]

Kazakhstan

In December 2016, stray dogs bitten a flock of sheep in the north of the country in the Terektinsky district of the Aksuat rural district. The shooting of animals in the area is prohibited - they are euthanized with pills. As the akim of the Aksuat rural district, Lyubov Iskalieva, said ^[17] :

Moldova

After the legislative moratorium on the shooting of stray dogs was introduced in 2017, the Municipality of Vulcanesti ordered to poison them. The head of the city, Viktor Petrioglu, was tasked with clearing the city of all aggressive stray dogs before the first of April 2017, as noted earlier in a message published on the official website of the Vulcanest town hall. The poisoned bait with tubazide crumbles in various parts of the city with the household service of the City Hall. Mass poisoning of dogs was also reported from the capital of the state of Chisinau ^{[18] [19] [20]}

Myanmar

In 2016, local zoodefenders protested against the policies of the local authorities of the former capital of the state of Yangon and the province of the same name with regard to stray dogs, which consisted in their regular poisoning ^[21] . The population of these animals in this city, as of 2016, was 70,000 individuals and in the same year two people died from rabies transmitted to them as a result of biting by stray dogs ^[22] . Every day, only 50 people are treated with injuries and bites from stray dogs at Yangon Central Hospital alone. The stray dog ​​population in this country totals 4 million individuals ^[23]

The argument of local authorities: stray dogs pose a threat to the spread of rabies and create a negative image of the country for tourists. To do this, in places where these animals are concentrated, municipal employees scatter meat balls with poison ^[24]

Nepal

In 2015, local authorities conducted a deliberate policy to rid the state capital and its suburbs of stray dogs, the number of which in the city was 20,000 individuals. Zoodefenders complained about the cruelty, which, in their opinion, consisted in the fact that poisoned baits are fed with non-aggressive, intelligent and socialized animals ^[25]

Pakistan

In 2015, authorities in the capital of Pakistan, Karachi, ordered the poisoning of stray dogs, which posed a threat to the sanitary safety of citizens. Previously, they asked the people of the city of 20 million to shoot these dangerous animals ^[26] . In 2005, the mayor of Karachi, Nimatullah Khan, applied to the Ministry of Health to allocate enough capsules needed to poison dogs ^[27]

In August 2016, about a thousand stray dogs were poisoned during a week-long operation in the largest city of the country of Karachi as part of a program of authorities to cleanse the city space from these animals. Dogs are disposed of with poison pills hidden in chicken meat. According to the official of the city administration Mohamed Zahid, this is a necessary measure: packs of stray dogs pose a threat to residents. So, in 2015, according to him, 6,500 people bit dogs, and this year 3,700 cases of attacks of dogs breaking in flocks were recorded. The actions of the sanitary services caused discontent among activists fighting for animal rights ^[28]

As of 2017, dog poisoning on the streets of Karachi continued regularly. Local authorities declared their non-involvement in poisoning, but clarified that the law does not prohibit private individuals from doing this ^[29]

Palestine

In Palestine, on the West Bank, municipal authorities use poisoned meat to kill hundreds of stray dogs. To reduce animal suffering, municipal employees kill poisoned dogs with weapons. ^{[30] [31]}

Russia

According to the president of the World Society for the Protection of Animals Kelly O'Meara, poisoning of stray dogs in Sochi was used as the main method of regulating the number of these animals on the eve of the 2014 Winter Olympics ^[32] .

In 2012, 12,500 dogs were killed in Samara in half a year from rat poisoning. Local livestock advocates have suggested that the municipal services are to blame. The publication of the government of the Russian Federation, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, noted that these assumptions are not without reason: according to the newspaper, the management companies and the HOA, having heeded the requirements of Rospotrebnadzor, carried out large-scale deratization of the territories under their jurisdiction. In an attempt to exterminate the hordes of rats, they laid out poison baits on container sites where not only rodents, but also stray dogs are fed, and unlike rats that quickly develop immunity to a new poison, street dogs have long lost their sense of danger ^[33] .

The Crimean Association of Animal Defenders claims that in 2015, in the midst of the holiday season in Yevpatoria, stray dogs were poisoned by the municipal services of the city, whose corpses then swam in the sea and lay on the embankment near souvenir shops ^[34] . The local administration stated that it was not involved in poisoning the dogs, but the prosecutor's office found that the dogs were poisoned by employees of a private company, which had an agreement with the city administration ^[35] .

In the same year, the Sakhalin Oblast animal advocates accused the local municipal services of regularly poisoning stray dogs with isoniazid baits ^[36] .

In 2017, Albert Handakov, the head of the district department of agriculture in the Oka district of Buryatia, said that rimiphone pellets are used to poison wolves in the region. This is an isoniazid-based bait previously used to poison stray dogs ^[37] .

In 2014, a 31-year-old local resident Kislitsyn appeared before a court in Vladivostok. According to animal rights advocates, on his own initiative, he poisoned more than 1,000 stray dogs in his city, using bait with medicines in sausages. The incident received a public outcry, including in foreign media. A citizen was detained by Tatyana Bragina, a 50-year-old volunteer activist from the local fund for helping homeless animals. He had seized chicken bones soaked in a poisonous solution, meat balls with pills. Two stray dogs, which Bragin fed and protected from capture were poisoned, one was saved. Dogs lived in the courtyard of a multi-storey residential building, for them, Bragin, on a personal initiative, built booths, and also installed video cameras to monitor them. A few months earlier, five dogs from the guardian flock Bragin were poisoned, and later three more ^{[38] [39]} According to investigators, only 9 dogs were poisoned by Kislitsyn from May 27 to June 8, 2013. The court confirmed Kislitsyn’s involvement in the crimes against the charges, with the exception of two episodes. Journalists in their publications called the accused a “ dog hunter, ” but he did not admit his guilt. Kislitsyn was sentenced by the court to a fine of 20,000 rubles, however, the payment of the fine was canceled due to the onset of amnesty for him ^{[40] [41] [42] [43]} . After appealing the verdict in 2016, Kislitsyn was sentenced to 240 hours of correctional labor, but again came under amnesty. Zoodefenders, dissatisfied with the verdict, promised to continue to harass the citizen ^[44] . It is worth noting that in 2016, in the area where the incident occurred, cases of stray dogs attacking people continued to be recorded, as a result of which citizens had to go to hospitals due to multiple bites of the hands and feet ^[45] . As of 2016, stray dogs have not been caught in the city for two years now: 6 auctions for trapping and keeping stray animals have been announced, but there have not been any organizations wishing to take part in it because of the unfulfillable conditions of the contract, according to it, dogs are supposed to be after containment for full content six months ^[46]

According to Svetlana Ilyinskaya, president of the Center for Legal Protection of Animals, Russian law does not allow solving the problem of homeless animals in a legal way: they can legally remove stray animals only by trapping and placing them in shelters; after all the places for incoming animals are occupied and there is nowhere to bring the captured dogs, the communal servicemen have no choice but to poison them on the streets ^[47] .

Ukraine

In 2013, with the help of anti-tuberculosis tablets of the Tubazid drug, the Donetsk Regional Veterinary Medicine Administration began to fight stray dogs. Local veterinarians considered this method not the most effective and not the most humane, but they use it in connection with cheapness and in order to prevent accidental poisoning by bait for homeless dogs who also eat food found in garbage containers ^[4] .

Zoodefenders testify to cases of mass poisoning of dogs by urban services in a number of cities of this country - in Uzhgorod in 2011 ^[48] , in Donetsk in 2012 ^[49] . In 2015, the local press announced the intention of utilities to poison dogs in Kiev ^[50] .

• FAQ: Poisoned Lures for Feral Dogs (Australia) / Translation prepared by the Center for Legal Protection
• Response to a request for euthanasia methods from the Research Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Quality and Safety of Livestock Products