To keep a tail: the State Duma called for tougher measures to combat stray dogs
Russian regions should introduce tougher measures to combat stray dog attacks on humans, including banning stray dogs from returning to their former habitats, and in some cases, killing them. This was called for at a meeting of the relevant working group of the State Duma on May 25. The discussion materials included data from Rospotrebnadzor — the number of incidents with animals increased from 330 thousand in 2022 to 390 thousand in 2025. However, experts are confident that harsh measures will not solve the problem, since in most cases it is not strays that bite, but domestic dogs. They call mandatory registration of animals the only effective way to reduce the number of attacks.
How the law works
The State Duma conducted monitoring of how the regions apply the Extraordinary Situation Regime (EOS). It allows local authorities to capture all stray animals under certain circumstances, and euthanize some. The document, presented on May 25 during a meeting of the working group on the preparation of proposals to improve legislation aimed at protecting citizens from attacks by stray animals, was reviewed by Izvestia.
For example, 35 Russian regions have introduced regulatory legal acts (NPAs) that regulate the killing of animals. They are still under development in 12 other regions. And in 34 legislators either opposed extreme measures or did not adopt the NPA at all. Earlier, an extraordinary situation regime had already been introduced in Tuva, Khabarovsk Territory, Astrakhan, Orenburg and Penza regions.
However, other figures were mentioned at the meeting itself, as we received updated information from the regions.
— Legislative acts were adopted in 38 regions, and in 17 of them during the last year, that is, when the group was already working. Legislative acts are being developed in 10 regions," said Nina Ostanina, head of the State Duma Committee on Family Protection, Fatherhood, Motherhood and Childhood. — When we began to analyze all these adopted regulatory documents, most of them turned out to be just tracing paper from the 498th basic law. Toothy dogs, but the laws are toothless.
According to her, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment constantly indicates that the regions have all the powers to resolve the issue. At the same time, the committee gave the subjects samples of regulatory documents "that work, which have already been protested by the court." As an example, Nina Ostanina cited the Orenburg region, whose governor Evgeny Solntsev, according to her, monitors the summary of incidents every morning and controls the situation.
"If all the governors had set themselves such a task today, I believe we would have been able to restore order in this area," she said.
According to Rospotrebnadzor, the number of animal bites, salivations and scratches has been increasing for the fourth year in a row. In 2022, more than 330 thousand such incidents occurred in Russia, and in 2025 — more than 390 thousand, that is, 18% more.
Izvestia was also informed about the increase in the number of incidents in the medical organizations of the regions. An increase in indicators in 2025 relative to 2024 was recorded, for example, in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Omsk and Oryol regions.
In Buryatia, there has been an increase in attacks by both dogs and cats, and not only stray ones. "Of the dogs that have bitten citizens, 685 are domestic, 462 are street dogs," the local authorities said.
Domestic dogs were also more likely to be bitten in the Yaroslavl Region last year: they accounted for 60% of all incidents. Victims are often diagnosed with wrist and hand injuries. Children have head injuries.
In January and February 2026, injuries were most often recorded in the Central Federal District - more than 14 thousand cases. The largest number of incidents occurred in Moscow and the Moscow region. Slightly less — in the Volga and Southern Federal districts.
How to solve the problem
The chairman of the foundation "In Memory of Vita" Ksenia Bulasova made a request to introduce an EOS regime in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. According to her, in recent years, stray dogs have mauled several people in the region, including a ten-year-old boy: she saw this tragedy personally.
Stray dogs were captured in the farming co-op where the volunteer lives. However, the problem remained in the neighboring partnerships.
— There are trapping operations in Krasnoyarsk, which are run by animal rights activists. They chip these dogs and bring them back. But at the same time, the teeth of the animals will remain, the pack instincts, the instincts of protecting their place of residence and the place of feeding will remain. This provokes more attacks," she said.
According to Ksenia Bulasova, the creation of a municipal temporary detention facility for dogs will solve the problem.
— Only the municipal PVS will be able to work impartially and without looking at finances, — she noted. — Dog trapping should be municipal. It should not be in the hands of individual entrepreneurs, who are always tempted to save money, leave something unfinished, or overlook the situation.
In addition, stray dogs are fed by pensioners. According to the chairman of the foundation, there is no law prohibiting them from doing this. Now activists are solving this problem with a statement demanding that an unauthorized food waste dump be removed.
—If they introduce a law that you can't feed stray dogs, if they put all the trash cans in order, then animals won't accumulate in these places," she said.
Why is trapping not working?
Russia has already had the experience of cleaning streets from stray animals, Svetlana Alekseeva, co-founder of the Take Happiness into the House charity foundation, told Izvestia.
— After eight years, we see that the situation in these cities has not changed in any way. She returned to her previous state. This suggests that no killing at all helps to ensure that there are no stray animals on the streets," the expert emphasized.
According to her, the area of pets is a human home, they should not be on the streets. And mandatory registration and state control over pet breeding will help to get out of critical condition, as it happened in other countries, Svetlana Alekseeva believes.
— When the vet's appointment begins with scanning the pet's chip, we will be able to say that the first serious step has been taken to solve the problem of animal homelessness. Similarly, it will be impossible to sell any dog without having a chip and entering data on the transfer of ownership rights into the database. It is not enough to adopt a law, we also need algorithms for its application in practice," she says.
In addition, according to the expert, pets are more likely to be attacked than strays. And the EOS regime, which allows the killing of dogs, is on the back foot in many regions, as it is considered an "unlawful act." And killing is a struggle with the consequence, running in a circle instead of eliminating the causes.
Today, in our country it is very easy to purchase a pet, including taking it for free, and it is also easy and without consequences to get rid of it or release it on its own. Irresponsible ownership is another source of homelessness, the expert emphasized.
According to Svetlana Alekseeva, two measures will help solve the problem of stray animals and guarantee the safety of citizens: mandatory registration of pets with chipping, which assigns responsibility to a specific owner, and the introduction of state regulation of breeding activities.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
