Question with a tail: a "dog concentration camp" is growing in the center of Shuya
For more than eight years, residents of Shuya, Ivanovo region, have been sharing creepy stories about the "dog concentration camp." That's what the locals called Olga Aravina's home shelter, where, according to neighbors, there are about 30 Labradors now. Loud barking, a pungent smell, and animal corpses in trash cans are just some of the things that people living in the heart of the city constantly face. Izvestia investigated what complaints they were making to the local authorities and why the case was not moving forward.
Per square meter
Previously, Olga Aravina was a breeder and bred Labradors, but over time she allegedly decided not to interfere in the breeding process of pets, as well as to throw off the responsibilities of finding food and walking on the animals themselves, writes IvanovoNews. As a result, photos of emaciated, sick dogs began to appear on social networks, which began to attack relatives and people. It was rumored that the mistress feeds the tailed puppies to their own puppies, and buries the bodies of the dead wards right on the plot.
Since then, caring people and animal rights activists have intervened in this story more than once — in 2020, a petition was published online to the governor of the region and the city authorities, which described the atrocities taking place on the territory of a private house. Police officers, representatives of the Shuya administration, the Rosselkhoznadzor and veterinarians came to check Olga Aravina, after which 60 individuals were vaccinated against rabies. Olga herself is not very calm either.: As the Zoo Patrol group IvanovoNews reported, during one of the volunteers' visits, a woman bit the hand of a girl who came to feed hungry animals.
The Shuys repeatedly contacted the administration, the police and other regulatory authorities, but the would-be breeder ignored all the requirements and checks. Several attempts at lynching by neighbors did not affect her opinion either — a private house was set on fire a couple of times. During the last fire, rescuers pulled about 50 dogs out of the fire, correspondent Alina Marycheva reported.
In 2022, the cry for help cut through the city's social networks again: Olga Aravina and her nurseries moved into an apartment building in the center of Shuya. Others complain about the constant barking and stink in the entrance. According to residents, cockroaches have got into the house, and the woman is now allegedly burying the corpses of dogs right under the windows.
How dogs bark
Olga's neighbor Irina told Izvestia that the woman moved into their house in December 2022.
— The first time I saw that they had stopped by, there were a couple of dogs, but there was no such barking. Then everything increases: more and more. In January, the peak happened on Christmas Day: she was not at home, something happened, dogs were screaming in the apartment. I called the Ministry of Emergency Situations and said, "What should I do?" Then I called Aravina and said, "Something's going on there, run to save the dog." She came in after a while, as I understand it, the basin fell on the dog. We calmed down," says the interlocutor of the publication.
Barking became permanent in the fifth house on Streletskaya Street. At first, the neighbors tried to fight him through negotiations: they asked Aravina to calm the dogs down, they explained that they could not sleep. But Olga was getting more and more pets — by the summer of 2023, there were about 20 of them living in the apartment.
"She won't let anyone in the apartment. We started going to the administration, then towards the end of the summer she had a trial with the place where she had set up her first shelter. We came out as witnesses and victims from this house. We talked, she brought some arguments, we turned on the recordings of conversations, the trial ended," Irina explains.
The court partially satisfied the demands of the citizens, obliging the breeder to keep the Labradors in appropriate conditions.
— She calmed down, inspired, and everything started all over again. He never walks dogs, I've never seen one in so many years. She has one dog that walks around the city with her, and I can't remember how many of them there are. In winter, the dog bled out here near our front door, walks around the little one with blood. We tell her that something is wrong with the dog, she got sick, and Aravina doesn't make any attempts to cure her," Olga's neighbor complains.
Also, the residents of the house complain of a strong smell. The noise has subsided — probably the animals are too exhausted to bark.
— At the beginning of August this year, on a Sunday at five in the morning, I woke up to a cat throwing itself at my window. I look out, and Aravina is standing there, and her dog is dying. She wants to bury her under my window," Irina is indignant. After a verbal altercation, the neighbor left to "dispose" of the animal by her own methods — she threw it into a dumpster near the house.
Sometimes Aravina doesn't come to spend the night, at such moments the animals are especially hungry and start throwing themselves at each other, neighbors say. The absence of the hostess can be delayed for a week. Residents of the apartment building cannot influence her — Olga learns about the inspections in advance and prepares for them.
— Someone informed her that the service was coming, and she took all the dogs out of here the day before, in the early summer of last year. I came back in the fall. We lived in peace and quiet all summer, we got rid of the smell, and when everything subsided, she brought them back. We talked to her both in a good way and in a bad way, and swore, and called. Nothing affects her," Irina says.
At the same time, according to neighbors, Olga has real estate in a less populated area of the city, but she does not explain her desire to live with a nursery in the very center of Shuya. Statements were written against the woman more than once, the police were called, but this did not lead to a long—term result - citizens' appeals are simply ignored.
Izvestia sent a request to the Shuya city Administration and the Department of Rospotrebnadzor in the Ivanovo region, but at the time of publication of the material they had not received a response.
How it should be
General requirements for the maintenance of pets are prescribed in the federal law "On Responsible Treatment of Animals and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation," Vladimir Kuznetsov, Vice President of the Association of Lawyers for Registration, Liquidation, Bankruptcy and Judicial Representation, told Izvestia. Thus, Article 13 obliges pet owners to comply with the requirements for their maintenance in an apartment building.
— Animal owners should not violate the rights of neighbors and other persons: to safety — therefore, dog walking is allowed mainly in specially designated areas using a muzzle, to the right to sanitary and epidemiological well-being — the owner of the animal is obliged to clean up after his animal, to silence — to take all measures to prevent the occurrence of loud noises at night, — Yulia Lapina, a lawyer at the St. Petersburg Bar Association, comments to Izvestia.
At the same time, the activities of breeders are also regulated by regulations relating to breeding. According to Vladimir Kuznetsov, breeders must provide animals with conditions appropriate to their species and individual characteristics, including sufficient space, proper nutrition, veterinary care and socialization.
Yulia Lapina adds that all breeders must be of legal age and be registered with a dog training organization.
In addition, according to the lawyer, owners of breeding dogs are responsible for:
— maintaining a Book of registration of mating and pupping of bitches;
— control over the breeding use of dogs belonging to them;
— the organization of qualified control over pups (the birth of puppies), if necessary, the organization of obstetric care with the involvement of veterinary specialists;
— timely deworming and vaccination of puppies and breeding dogs;
— timely branding and (optionally) chipping of puppies;
— timely examination of litters.
The law does not clearly regulate how many animals are allowed to be kept in an apartment. However, according to Vladimir Kuznetsov, the area standards per animal can be set by regional regulations. For example, in some regions, restrictions may be imposed on the number of animals kept in an apartment, based on sanitary and hygienic standards and the area of the living space.
Violation of the law on silence may result in administrative liability. In most regions, a warning or an administrative fine is provided for the first violation, explains Vladimir Kuznetsov. For example, in Moscow, a fine of 1-2 thousand rubles is provided for citizens for violating peace and quiet.
— For repeated violations of the law, responsibility is usually tightened. This may be an increase in the size of the fine, and in some cases, bringing to more serious types of administrative responsibility. In some regions, with systematic violations, it is even possible to be evicted from a residential building by a court decision if the owner does not take measures to eliminate violations and this makes it impossible to live with him in the same residential building," says the specialist.
For cruelty to animals, administrative or criminal liability follows. If this is not a crime, the fine can range from 5 to 15 thousand rubles, Yulia Lapina notes. According to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, this is a punishment in the form of fines, correctional labor, forced labor, restriction of freedom, arrest or imprisonment for up to five years.
Natalia Bazarkina, a leading specialist at the Verniy Moscow and Regional Animal Protection Society, believes that the problem with Olga Aravina can only be solved by "knocking on all authorities."
— First of all, of course, the police. Then you need to go to the prosecutor's office, to the court, to the governing body. We need to call federal channels and ask them to tell us about the situation. They'll scratch right away. In my practice, after a federal television report, all issues were resolved almost immediately," Bazarkina tells Izvestia.
Yulia Lapina suggests solving the problem by organizing control at the local level of such "problem apartments" by periodically checking the conditions of animal husbandry. But for this, at the federal level, it is necessary to develop appropriate regulations that fix the number of pets per family, the breed of animals, based on the size of the room in which they are kept, she notes.
Lawyer Vladimir Kuznetsov recommends that local residents record all the facts of violations "as fully as possible": photograph, film, record audio recordings of dogs barking, witness statements, and submit collective appeals to the authorities, since the signatures of several neighbors "give the statement more weight and demonstrate the seriousness of the problem."
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
