JRL NEWSWATCH: “To prepare for soccer’s World Cup, Russia is killing stray dogs. Animal-rights activists are fighting back” – Los Angeles Times/Sabra Ayres

June 7, 2018 JRL Russia List Dogs, Cats, Pets, Animals, Strays, Shelters, JRL NewsBlog, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Regions, Cities, Municipalities, Sports, Olympics, World Cup

File Photo of Dog at Animal Shelter Jumping Up on Person in Winter Clothing, With Beseeching Look

“… with the FIFA World Cup starting June 14, the issue is again in focus after seven of the 11 host cities issued calls to kill street dogs ahead of the games. Russia has a problem with strays … Rostov-on-Don, like a majority of Russian cities, conducts an annual culling of the packs …. Government contracts pay as much as $160,000 to kill thousands of stray animals …. methods of killing vary …. Some shoot the animals with poison darts and leave them to die slowly, and, animal-welfare activists say, painfully. Other contractors catch the animals, euthanize them and cremate the bodies. …”