A Karelian official broke a rib of an animal rights activist after complaints about the poor maintenance of dogs in a shelter
Animal rights activist Irina Porovoznik has filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office after allegedly being beaten by official Igor Derevyagin. Porovoznik, who had been caring for the pets at the municipal shelter in Medvezhjegorsk for several years, arrived on March 5 to take her dogs for a walk. However, she was told that she was not allowed to enter, and suspects that the ban may be related to previous complaints by animal advocates regarding the poor maintenance of the dogs.
After the volunteer's call to the local administration, Igor Derevyagin, who works at the administrative and economic center of the district, arrived at the shelter. To the volunteer’s question about what rules she had broken, Derevyagin allegedly said that it was up to him to decide what she was guilty of. She asked to repeat this on camera so she could record his statement for the prosecutor's office.
Screenshot of a video from the "Right to Life" group. Source: vk.com
As the volunteer told the 7x7 media, the official grabbed her phone, pulled her by the scruff of the neck, threw her to the ground, sat, and lay on top of her. The woman bit his hand to get him to let her go. Two shelter employees were present during the altercation but did not intervene. The incident was captured on video by another individual who was accompanying the volunteer. Following the attack, Porovoznik was taken to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with a broken rib, bruised trachea, and sternum.
Derevyagin did not respond to requests for comment from the 7x7 media.
Porovoznik is a member of the "Right to Life" organization, which has frequently filed complaints about violations at the shelter. The organization claims that the shelter's employees purchase food for the dogs from a municipal restaurant for 250 thousand rubles ($3,315) per month, but only provide them with "frozen naked porridge." Volunteers also claim that the shelter is not properly cleaned, and that dog corpses may remain in the enclosures. Furthermore, they say that the shelter has only caught 14 stray dogs in almost a year, at a cost of almost 3 million rubles ($40,000). Previously, animal rights activists complained at the prosecutor's office regarding the illegal release of dogs outside of the city.