MOSCOW, March 30 (Itar-Tass) —— Unidentified slaughterers are poisoning the pets massively in the Russian capital. These reports are coming from people and veterinarian clinics, the centre of legal communications Publex reported. The sadists use easily accessible human medicines as a poison that when being mixed are lethally dangerous and result in the death of the pets.
“The criminals use as a bait sausage, pieces of meat, bones and porridge, which they are scattering in the places, where the masters are walking with their dogs most frequently, particularly at the dog playgrounds,” general director of the Publex centre Anton Samoilenkov told Itar-Tass on Friday.
The Moscow law enforcement agencies are taking search measures to open a criminal case against unidentified poisoners. “Meanwhile, the centre will give a reward of 10,000 roubles for any information that will help to detain the slaughterers,” Samoilenkov said. The information can be sent to the e-mail yad@izakon.ru .
The offenders should be punished right under several articles of the Criminal Code. They can be put in prison for two years under Article 245 Part 2 of the Criminal Code for brutal attitude with animals that envisages punishment in case of the death or wounding of the pet, if this crime was committed with hooliganism or corrupt motives, with the use of sadistic methods or in the presence of little children. “Meanwhile, Article 167 of the Criminal Code for deliberate destruction or damages to the property envisages up to two years in prison and can be used if a criminal dispersing the poison cannot rule out the possibility of poisoning the dogs, who have the masters, and, therefore, are the property of them under the law,” the specialist explained.
However, “verdicts envisage fines or suspended sentences in such cases,” she noted. “The punishment does not exceed two years in prison and if these people are associable (alcohol, drug addicts, homeless people, habitual offenders and others), the court finds it possible to improve the behaviour of the convict and passes a lenient verdict,” the lawyer explained.
The Moscow society for the protection of animals noted that the poisoning of pets is “very massive” and pleas from the injured parties are filed every day. “The criminals are feeling their arbitrariness and probably this is why they are poisoning the dogs. Such offenders should be punished according to the law, otherwise, the masters of the pets will settle the scores themselves with them,” the Moscow society for the protection of animals said.
The Moscow official authorities did not give any comments on the problem yet.