On Wednesday, 22 July, at the press center of the Patriot Media Group an online conference was held on the topic "People and animals. How to exclude livestock and animal attacks on people ". Sociologists took part in it, law, economists, journalists, officials and politicians.
Despite the presence in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation article 245 "Animal abuse", some citizens of the country are not too happy with the, how it is applied in practice. As for vegetarians, then they generally consider animal husbandry, fishing and poultry farming is a real crime.
The situation in our neighboring countries is no better: dolphins are slaughtered in public in Denmark, and China has a dog meat festival, during which dogs and cats are killed in front of everyone. However, this coin also has a downside.: stray animals injure almost 400 thousands of Russian citizens, and how many victims eventually die or acquire disabled status, unknown.
In our country, the killing of even aggressive dogs is prohibited - for this, responsibility is provided for up to five years in prison. Does it mean that, that aggressive dogs can only be spayed? And how then to solve the problem of stray and wild animals, attacking people? A State Duma deputy and a former professional boxer tried to answer these and many other questions. Nikolay Valuev, zoopsychologist Dmitry Tarasov, Director of the Foundation for the Protection of Urban Animals Ekaterina Dmitrieva, State Duma deputy Vladislav Reznik and animal rights lawyer Svetlana Siebert. The discussion was moderated by the CEO Federal News Agency Evgeny Zubarev.
Zoopsychologist Dmitry Tarasov was the first to speak. He declared, that the role of man in nature is changing, and traditions should evolve towards greater humanism - the slaughter of animals, even for commercial purposes, should ultimately become a long-forgotten dream of the human race.
"Why did they raise the issue of humane treatment of animals? - the expert asked. - The thing is, that there are people, who torture them and kill them uncontrollably. But they also have the right to life, and the feelings of any animal must be treated with care: for some it's just a barking mongrel, and for another, maybe the only friend. All mammals feel the same emotions, and none of them wants to die ".
According to him, laws should be written like this, so that you can unambiguously determine, what is cruelty towards the beast. At the same time, Tarasov called for the introduction of criminal liability against animal owners for their actions., if they caused serious harm to people around.
“If my dog, God forbid, somebody (another dog, eg) will bite, I have to pay a fine for that, that she was without a muzzle, - suggested the zoopsychologist. - And, if the punishment against the owner of the animal would be really inevitable, he would do anything, so as not to be exposed to him and would be engaged in his dog, raised her ".
Deputy-boxer Nikolai Valuev explained the brutality of the Danes, practicing the corral of large flocks of dolphins in the lagoon with their subsequent killing by the traditions of the Scandinavian peoples.
“They come from ancient times, when the sea delivered everything to man, down to the roof - it was even possible to build a dwelling from the bones of whales (there, where do the Danes live, trees do not grow everywhere), - said the parliamentarian. - We, of course, we live in a different time, and nevertheless must respect the rights of indigenous peoples to their traditional crafts. Over the millennia, people of certain ethnic groups have developed a genetic predisposition to consume, eg, whale oil, without which they start to get sick ".
The deputy made a reservation, that he thus "illuminates the other side of the moon" and in no way justifies cruelty to animals - especially, if it's just for fun.
“If it really happened, that humanity consumes animal meat, then interim measures should be such from the point of view of the law, so that no one touches the agricultural industry. In the case of the bull, who is slaughtered for meat, humanism of people should be aimed at preventing his suffering - the method of killing should be painless ", - says Valuev.
Ekaterina Dmitrieva, Director of the Fund for the Protection of Urban Animals, commented on the situation in Makhachkala (The Republic of Dagestan), where residents took to the streets to shoot stray dogs, who terrorized them with their regular attacks.
“I do not consider this information objective., - she said. - We have a zoonoses project, where we aggregate similar unconfirmed reports of alleged "attacks" by animals, and then dispute them. remind, what statistics for 2019 year there is no death from bites or animal attacks ".
Dmitrieva named the article 245 Of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "not working", because in order, to punish a person for her, it is necessary to provide evidence of his "malice" and "sadistic inclinations", which in practice turns out to be impossible.
“If we do not punish for qualifying signs, but simply for the very fact of cruelty to animals, we will get off the ground, - convinced the director of the "Fund for the Protection of Urban Animals". - Besides, I consider it unacceptable to kill them, including for the satisfaction of some religious needs, how Muslims do it on Kurbam Bayram with unfortunate rams ".
Dmitriev's list of Russia's main problems as a country with disenfranchised animals (in addition to uncalibrated legislation in this area) included circuses and dolphinariums, in which animals are godlessly used as amusements of the human species. Besides, she is not satisfied with the attitude of most people to “our smaller brothers” as a decor or accessory.
According to human rights lawyer Yulia Siebert, the mere removal of stray animals from the habitat is ineffective, the problem is not solved by this. She offered to do, as "civilized people" and start sorting out trash heaps, where the packs of dogs live, and then build shelters for homeless animals in their place, from where they will then be taken by new owners. However, there is one problem here.
"You know, why we have mongrels became unclaimed? - asks Siebert. - All because, that we started breeding purebred dogs, which is not controlled by anything! Until it stops, there will be no demand for mongrels! It's quite obvious!».
State Duma Deputy Vladislav Reznik recalled, that animal rights advocates, usually, different from animal welfare advocates, to which the majority of the population of our country belongs: from their point of view, the use of animals for food is quite acceptable, but mockery of them - no.
“I do not see any tendencies in Russia to, that in the foreseeable future the consumption of meat in food will be prohibited, - the parliamentarian is convinced. "So our citizens shouldn't worry about restrictions on hunting and fishing.".
The deputy spoke out against the return of the caught and sterilized stray animals back to the city, from which they were mined - according to him, it is not their natural habitat.
“It takes so much, as much as possible, keep them in private and public shelters, and then, when it becomes obvious, that they won't be taken home, think about their euthanasia, - said Reznik. - But the main problem is not even that, that we have stray dogs walking the streets, and in that, that there are people, who throw their pets into the street, making them stray. I'm sure, for this there must be responsibility provided for by law ".
Author: Ignat Startsev
