MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/. Frequent cases of stray dogs fatally attacking passers-by highlight the need to change the applicable laws and euthanize such animals, given the fact that they have no chance of being adopted from shelters after capture, Sergey Ivanov, Russia’s presidential envoy for environmental protection, ecology and transport said in a commentary for the Rossiya-24 television channel on Monday.
His statement followed an incident in Orenburg where a child died after being attacked by stray dogs and a criminal case was opened.
"[We need] to change the law. All stray dogs, of course, are to be captured and placed in shelters. Then the photos of such dogs and their description are published. Interested people, if they want to adopt a dog, come to see the animal and sometimes agree to take it home. But if nobody agrees to adopt this or that pet (of course, all will never be adopted) you have to be realistic. Excuse me for the terrible thing that I will say: such animals should be euthanized humanely, if we really want to have no killer dogs roaming the streets and threatening people’s lives," Ivanov said.