How corruption is killing animals in Russia

In the Russian region of Astrakhan, near the Caspian Sea, the regional government has approved spending 224 million rubles (~2.5 million EUR) to kill stray dogs. According to the new law, dogs caught on the streets will be placed in temporary shelters for only 15 days and then killed. When the same government rejected the proposal of the program to catch dogs for permanent placement in shelters, they argued that there was not enough money in the regional budget. But now, when the new program to kill dogs was approved, money was immediately found. Many local volunteers say that the regional government is in tight connection with the interests of the company that won the tender to kill the dogs. And they sabotaged all other options, for example, in 2019 they failed to spend even 70% of the money for the sterilization program. In 2022 all the money was sent to the private company, which did almost nothing. Some managers of this company were sentenced to prison, but the money was gone and the beneficiaries escaped punishment. This is how corruption and human greed kill innocent dogs.

A link the the same text in Telegram channel of one of Russian non commercial fund helping animals Givers of the Hope “Дарящие надежду”