Count sheep: social activists ask to create a unified animal data system
Members of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation proposed to create a unified federal system for collecting and processing information about animals. We are talking not only about those neglected animals, but about all that a person can come into contact with, the report says. Currently, data on the number of animals and their excesses in Russia are scattered, which makes it difficult to make informed management decisions based on a full understanding of the situation, the OP of the Russian Federation explains. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is ready to study the position of public figures. And the relevant committee of the State Duma believes that federal decisions are already enough, noting that the regions themselves have the right to accept the necessary documents.
Why do we need a unified information system?
Russia needs a federal system for collecting and processing up—to-date and reliable information about animals - qualitative and quantitative characteristics of their population, excesses involving animals, and activities carried out with them. This is the conclusion reached by the authors of the second special report of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation "Formation of responsible attitude towards animals in society" (Izvestia has it). It refers to all animals that may come into contact with humans in one way or another, the report says.
In some regions, problems related to the practice of handling animals without owners are still acute, mainly stray dogs, the authors of the report noted.
"It is noteworthy that criticism of federal legislation in this area, attempts to justify failures in their own work by its imperfection, come from the same regions where problems with the implementation of the law on the treatment of animals were previously noted," they stressed.
They named Buryatia, Yakutia, the Trans-Baikal Territory, Astrakhan and Orenburg regions among such regions. But in the regions of the central and western parts of Russia, the problem is less acute, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Leningrad regions are listed as positive examples.
Earlier, Izvestia wrote that Krasnodar Krai became the anti-leader among Russian regions in terms of the number of dog attacks on people in 2024. Last year, doctors in the region recorded more than 14,000 bites, which is 7% more than in 2023. In January – February 2025, the number of such incidents in the region has already reached almost 2.5 thousand.
The report explains that up-to-date and reliable information is necessary for the preparation and adoption of management decisions, and now they are "not collected and used by authorized bodies to the required extent."
What else can be in the system?
The effectiveness of the authorities' work should be assessed across the entire spectrum of interaction with animals: these may include contacts with rare species, the use of animals in the agricultural sector or scientific research, the authors of the report noted.
For example, this year there have already been cases of attacks by wild foxes in the Magadan region. And in Primorsky Krai at the end of May, a bear attacked a 32-year-old man.
"The analysis showed the systemic nature of the shortcomings of state regulation of solving complex problems of animal treatment," the document emphasizes. — Regional officials actually have no idea about the problem they are trying to solve. Moreover, in the absence of these data, it is not possible to assess the effectiveness and quality of their work."
This leads to the fact that, on the one hand, there is "unjustified complacency and lack of real action on the part of the leadership of some regions," and on the other, the great resonance about each tragic case with animals "demotivates those responsible to comprehensively and purposefully solve problems."
"The current legal system also contains the possibility of imitating these activities carried out at the expense of budgetary funds at various levels," the authors of the report believe.
It is necessary to develop and adopt at the federal level a concept for the formation of a responsible attitude towards animals in society, which will contain both the ideological foundations of state policy and specific roadmaps for solving numerous problems of human-animal relations, according to the OP RF.
— It is important to take an adequate and responsible approach to the perception of reality: to know and understand the current state of affairs, to be honest, admit mistakes and call a spade a spade. Sometimes it may be unpleasant for someone, but as a bitter medicine it is necessary to move forward," believes Elena Sharoikina, chairman of the commission of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation on Ecology and Sustainable Development, one of the co-authors of the report.
In addition, the report recommends analyzing and bringing the legislation of the subjects into line with federal law in order to eliminate possible contradictions and eliminate provisions that help circumvent certain requirements.
The report will be sent to the administrations of all subjects of the Russian Federation, deputies of the State Duma, the Federation Council, as well as representatives of public organizations and all interested parties, the press service of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation told Izvestia.
The document has not yet been submitted to the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, the ministry's press service said, but noted that "the ministry always takes into account the position of the experts of the Public Chamber when forming legislation."
Powers are assigned to regions
Some regions already have effective methods for counting neglected animals, Vladimir Burmatov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ecology, told Izvestia.
"For example, Tatarstan, Nizhny Novgorod, and St. Petersburg have effective systems for counting and recording stray animals," he said. — And in a number of subjects, they simply take the numbers from the ceiling and "draw" in contracts that 5,000 animals need to be captured this year. Why 5 thousand, if you already caught 4 thousand last year? Are you catching them, and there are more of them? How is it if you don't let them out of the shelter?
In such cases, he said, questions arise about where the funds are being spent.
— Rospotrebnadzor statistics show that the number of attacks in the whole country is falling. It has been declining quite smoothly — about 12% over the past four to five years, but the movement is steady. The number of bites began to decrease as soon as the shelter system was introduced by federal legislation," the deputy emphasized. — The number of deaths is also decreasing.
However, the decline shows only general figures, while there is a tragedy behind each of them, he recalled.
"We will be satisfied with reducing deaths only to zero,— Vladimir Burmatov assured.
According to him, the regions currently lack not federal decisions on animals, but a regulatory framework at the regional level. For example, not all of them have established the responsibility of owners for dog walking.
— As for bringing to justice those who threw the animal on the street, we have given such a right, but not many regions implement it, — Vladimir Burmatov added. — About 20 subjects have introduced the registration of pets, half of them are entering it into a single database that will allow it all to synchronize.
Preferential sterilization of owned animals is also not available in all regions, as well as support for NGOs that help homeless quadrupeds.
The solution to the problem, according to the legislator, depends not on the amount of money in the region, but on the desire of local authorities not to ignore the situation, but to deal with it effectively. According to him, all legislative mechanisms have been created for this purpose.
What does animal legislation say?
The issue of the legal status of animals and responsibility for harm caused by them remains one of the most confusing and sensitive topics in Russian law, lawyers interviewed by Izvestia noted.
Formally, animals in Russia are recognized not as subjects, but as objects of law, but with a special status. In other words, the ownership regime is applicable to them, but with restrictions, said Alexey Gavrishev, Managing Partner of AVG Legal.
The regions can independently establish the rules for trapping and sterilization, the procedure for interacting with shelters, requirements for the treatment of aggressive animals, and rules on the responsibility of owners, the lawyer added.
"However, such acts should not contradict federal legislation, especially regarding humane treatment, the prohibition on killing animals and conditions of detention," he stressed.
Currently, laws have already been adopted in a number of regions that establish the procedure for dealing with animals without owners, said Vladimir Kuznetsov, deputy head of the Federal Mediation Center. Some regions (Buryatia, Tuva, Udmurtia, Astrakhan, Magadan and Orenburg regions, Altai Krai) have adopted laws allowing the killing of neglected animals in certain cases. However, as indicated by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, such measures should be applied only in exceptional cases and in compliance with the principle of humanity.
"Russian legislation establishes a comprehensive system of responsibility in cases involving domestic and stray animals," the lawyer reminded.
Pet owners bear administrative, criminal, and civil liability for improper animal husbandry and ill-treatment. For neglected animals, the responsibility for organizing measures for their treatment lies with the state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation and local governments.
The term "excess" used by social activists in the context of animal treatment does not have a special legal definition in Russian legislation, Vladimir Kuznetsov emphasized.
In law enforcement practice, excesses involving animals can be understood as various situations: from cases of cruelty to animals to harm to the life, health or property of citizens as a result of improper animal husbandry or attacks by strays, he stressed.
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