Constitutional Court prohibits killing non-dangerous stray dogs in Russian regions

The Constitutional Court has imposed a ban on killing non-dangerous stray dogs in regions. This decision came in response to a request from the Supreme Court of Buryatia, which had received a collective lawsuit from animal rights activists.

Since 2023, Vladimir Putin has allowed regions to determine their own policies for managing stray animals. As a result, twelve Russian regions permitted the killing of stray dogs. Some of these regions allow euthanasia only for aggressive animals, while others extend this to dogs that have not been adopted within a certain period after being captured.

These laws have outraged animal rights defenders across many Russian regions. Activists from the Astrakhan and Orenburg regions, as well as Buryatia, filed lawsuits in response. In Orenburg, a contractor refused to kill captured and sterilized dogs. The prosecutor of Magadan Oblast has decided to protect the animals’ right to live in court. 

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