Ukraine is a leader in the number of animals without homes, and this is becoming an increasingly urgent problem every year. The country lacks an adequate legislative framework to protect animal rights. People continue to treat cats, dogs, and other pets as things. The Fakt website examines why there is such a large number of homeless four-legged animals in Ukraine and how this can be corrected.
Ukraine is among the top 10 countries in terms of the number of stray animals. The Washington Post conducted a study on the number of dogs and cats living in 54 countries. According to the data, Ukraine is among the ten countries with the highest number of stray animals.
Other data show that there were about 7.5 million domestic cats in Ukraine at the beginning of 2017, which ranks the country ninth in the world in this regard. The largest number of domestic cats live in the United States – 76.5 million. China is in second place with 53 million, and Russia is in third place with 12.75 million. This is followed by Brazil, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
Even in places where there are a large number of pets, such as the United States, there are virtually no stray animals. Despite the number of domestic cats, Ukraine also has a significant number of homeless people.
The treatment of stray animals in Ukraine is often criticized by international animal protection organizations. The lack of clear legislation to protect animals and their welfare means that many cats and dogs are left without homes.
One of the main reasons for this state of affairs is the lack of effective legislation that could control these processes and prevent immoral acts against animals.
There is indeed a significant number of stray animals in Ukraine. In many countries, this issue is dealt with at the state level, but in our country, unfortunately, the situation remains uncontrolled, as the authorities do not consider it important. It is worth noting that in some cities of Ukraine, the authorities are applying humane methods of solving the problem of stray animals, which are already working successfully. Lviv, for example, has shown significant progress in addressing this issue, thanks to the clear work of the utility company and a change in the mindset of local residents. In developed countries, the problem of animals is solved by humane methods, not euthanasia. Some countries even impose taxes on the keeping of animals, as reflected in the example of Germany. There, the inclusion of animal protection in the constitution, the introduction of large fines for animal dumping, and animal identification numbers are common practice.
In Germany, for example, the annual tax for the first dog is about 150 euros, and for each subsequent dog it almost doubles. It is important to note that Germany was the first country in the world to include animal protection in the Constitution.
There are large fines for throwing away an animal – up to 25 thousand euros – and it is not difficult to find the owner who threw away their pet, as animals are assigned identification numbers.
In Thailand, fines are lower, about 5000 baht (about 130 euros). In Italy, if you throw a cat or dog out on the street, you can face a year in prison and a fine of 10 thousand euros. euros.
Ukraine has a problem with animal dumping without any punishment.
The work on regulating the population of stray animals is unstable. The introduction of Law No. 6598 could bring improvements by banning euthanasia and offering sterilization, vaccination, and identification of animals.
Due to the lack of effective legislation to protect animal rights, Ukrainians often throw animals away or mistreat them without fear of punishment.
Last year, the Verkhovna Rada toughened the penalties for cruelty to animals, but there is no punishment for throwing animals away.
The following measures are needed to effectively address the problem of stray animals:
- Registration and identification of animals.
- Accounting for pets and stray animals.
- Mass sterilization and vaccination of stray animals.
- Socialization and acceptance of animals in families.
- Prohibiting the breeding of outbred animals.
- Licensing of breeding of purebred animals.
- Promoting sterilization and responsible attitude towards animals.
- Social advertising and educational outreach.
- Changes in legislation to take these measures into account.
Animal rights activists add that the problem of stray animals arose due to the lack of a humane approach to their regulation in the past.
There is a lack of shelters in Ukraine. There are very few communication shelters in the country, and those that do exist are in a deplorable state and can only take in a few dozen animals. The largest of them is Sirius, which is located near Kyiv, in the village of Fedorivka.
“The Sirius shelter is the largest in Ukraine. It houses more than 2,500 animals: dogs, cats, rabbits, goats. In general, they accept everyone who needs help. Founded in 2000 and located on 4 hectares of land, the shelter is engaged in animal rescue, treatment, sterilization, socialization, placement, vaccination, and this applies not only to the shelter’s animals: it also helps residents of Kyiv and Kyiv region, and is actively engaged in animal protection activities and participates in the development of legislation.Before the war, the shelter had two major projects: the development of a shelter construction project (creating a cozy, modern shelter instead of temporary enclosures), and a project with Animal Id to register and adopt Sirius animals.
Sirius is also completing a project to create a new, user-friendly website that will be gradually filled with the necessary information. On average, they receive 40 dogs and 16 cats every month, but families find much fewer animals – 10 dogs and 8 cats.
There are fewer stray animals in western Ukraine, and more in the southern part of the country. The situation is greatly complicated by the fact that Ukraine does not conduct adequate and full-scale registration of both pets and stray animals. This makes it difficult to assess the scale of the problem and determine accurate figures.
“We need to register all stray and domestic animals to make it easier to identify and find them in the future,” said Lesya Lishchyshyna, director of 4 Paws Ukraine.
Currently, only the volunteer organization Animal Id Info is engaged in animal registration. For example, according to the latest data, 1810 stray animals were registered in Zhytomyr, 40.4% of which were sterilized, 1865 in Vinnytsia and 15.1% sterilized, 1665 in Sumy and 7.4% sterilized, and 4963 in Dnipro, of which only 12.3% were sterilized. In Zaporizhzhia, 2975, in Mykolaiv, 4899, and in Chernihiv, 904.
It is interesting to note that the number of stray animals is the lowest in Western Ukraine, according to Animal Id Info. For example, only 412 homeless people were registered in Lviv, and 879 in Rivne. These figures are lower than in the whole of Ukraine, and in particular in the southern part of the country, where the numbers are much higher.
Everyone can help animals. Even when animal protection laws are passed, it is important to understand that animals are not things. Animal registration initiatives should be supported, and stray animals on the street should be helped, for example, by finding them homes or providing them with food during the cold season.
