IFAW excoriates Olympics for killing stray dogs
"Culling dogs in Sochi is quite simply the wrong thing to do. It is ineffective and inhumane and makes a mockery of the Sochi claim to be an Olympic event 'In Harmony with Nature'."
IFAW decries killing of stray dogs in Sochi.
2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Stray Dog Cull Shame
Russians rounding up, poisoning stray dogs before the games begin
The Sochi Olympic committee is carrying out a mass extermination of stray animals leading up to the 2014 Winter Games according to a release from the International Fund for Animal Welfare based in Yarmouth Port.Russia has had a problem with stray dogs for years. There are reportedly no animal shelters to be found in the city where the 2014 Winter Olympics will begin in two days, so a pest control company has usually taken care of the problem when the numbers of strays get out of hand.
Alexei Sorokin, the director general of Basya Services, a local pest control company in Sochi, told the Associated Press on Monday that his company has been getting rid of stray dogs in Sochi for years, and that he now has a contract to exterminate the dogs throughout the Olympic games.
To view a CNN video of the scene, click here.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare issued the following news release:
YARMOUTH PORT: FAW (the International Fund for Animal Welfare - www.ifaw.org) is horrified that culling of dogs in Sochi is back on the agenda in preparation for the 2014 winter Olympics.
IFAW has repeatedly offered to help the Environment Department of the Sochi 2014 Olympics Organizing Committee develop and implement a humane and sustainable plan for managing the community's roaming dog population.
"We knew that Sochi officials were feeling time pressure in the lead up to the Games, so we explicitly offered assistance almost a year ago--yet our offers have been met with resounding silence," said Kate Atema, Director of IFAW's Companion Animal Program.
"Culling dogs in Sochi is quite simply the wrong thing to do. It is ineffective and inhumane and makes a mockery of the Sochi claim to be an Olympic event 'In Harmony with Nature'."
Visitors to Sochi would be appalled to know that the city officials attempted to 'clean-up' a perceived dog problem by a mass killing.
IFAW calls on officials to immediately halt plans to cull dogs and to accept the offer of assistance to find humane alternatives that will benefit the people and animals of Sochi for the long term.
IFAW-Russia has been working on stray dog issues in Russia for more than 15 years, including working closely with the Moscow's Mayor's Office to end the practice of killing stray dogs in Moscow.
Read the previous stories about IFAW here.
http://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2014/02/05/23926-ifaw-excoriates-olympics-killing-stray-dogs
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