The draft legislation was submitted to the State Duma in 2010, and on December 19 it finally passed through all 3 readings. It should be then supported by the Council of the Federation and signed by Putin to become a law. It's not related to agricultural animals, laboratory animals or hunting.
General principles:
The treatment of animals is based on the following moral principles and principles of humanity:
1) treat animals as creatures capable of experiencing emotions and physical suffering;
2) human's responsibility for the fate of the animal;
3) educating the population of moral and humane attitude to animals;
4) scientifically based balance of moral, economic and social interests of a person, society and the state.
animals must be protected from cruelty
it's forbidden for owners to abandon their pets, circuses must take care of their animals up to their natural death
Stray animal policy is the following. Shooting/killing animals no longer allowed, only trapping them in some non-traumatizing way. Trappers MUST record the process of trapping on video. Trapped animals must be transfered to shelters, quarantined for at least 10 days, vaccinated, neutered, marked, photographed, published in the Internet. Unclaimed animals will be released back to their initial place -- it also must be recorded on video. It's not allowed to trap a marked and neutered animal again, unless the animal is aggressive.
euthanising healthy animals in shelters is BANNED. So it's obligatory trap-neuter-return.
activists can volunteer and get official status of a public animal inspector. They get official credentials and some additional rights -- access to shelters, it's forbidden to stop them from recording videos.
animal fighting, other entertainment shows traumatic to animals - BANNED
petting zoos - BANNED
potentially dangerous dogs must be muzzled and walked on a leash in public. Owners must remove shit from their dogs.
wild animals as pets - BANNED. Existing wild animals will be confiscated and released to their natural habitat.
zoos, oceanariums, dolphinariums, circuses with animals - must be LICENSED since 2022.
production, distribution, demonstration (including in the Internet) of propaganda of animal cruelty - BANNED.
What do you think? I am not sure how I feel about it. It bans euthanising healthy unreclaimed animals in shelters, mandates trap-neuter-return for all stray animals. How is it going to work?
But overall for Russia it's revolutionary, the first comprehensive law in this area.
|
|
