World Animal Day 2006

Kyiv city authorities have finally agreed to adopt a humane approach to stray animal control.

Naturewatch was delighted to finally secure a groundbreaking meeting on World Animal Day, 4th October) with the influential mayor’s office in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Leonid Chernovetsky is Kyiv’s first new mayor in a decade and, since his election in March, our representative in Kyiv, Tamara Tarnawska, has been seeking a meeting with his office in order to discuss Kyiv’s cruel treatment of stray dogs. The office of Mayor carries extensive political and municipal authority and when a meeting was agreed we were optimistic of a change of direction. 

Upon arriving in Kyiv, it was disappointing to learn that Mayor Chernovetsky had been called away by President Yushchenko to meet with the German President in Berlin.  However, his Deputy, Vice-Mayor Oles Dovgiy, had been given full authority.  

Attending the meeting in support of our proposed stray animal programme were Tamara Tarnawaska, President, Kyiv Society for the Protection of Animals – SOS; Christian Janatsch, President, Tierhilfswerk Austria; Ihor Prystavskyi, Deputy Minister of Culture; Boris Bespaly, Ukraine Deputy of Verkhova Rada (Parliament); Hanna Storozenko, President, Klitschko Charitable Foundation; and John Ruane, Director, Naturewatch.During the meeting, John Ruane presented Vice-Mayor Dovgiy with a letter from Caroline Lucas MEP, Head of Intergroup for Animal Welfare in the European Parliament, together with a Written Declaration, submitted on behalf of Naturewatch and signed by

MEPs, urging Ukraine to adopt a humanestray animal control programme. Fortunately, the Vice-Mayor speaks perfect English which ensured that nothing was lost in translation as can so often be the case.

After discussions, we are delighted to announce that Vice- Mayor Dovgiy has requested that Naturewatch Foundation nominate and appoint a ‘Special Advisor’ to the city of Kyiv. Naturewatch has therefore undertaken to provide the services of an independent, internationally-respected expert in this field to tackle the issue of stray animal control for the city of Kyiv humanely and effectively. Firstly, a full assessment of the current situation will be undertaken and then, based upon the findings, a workable set of solutions will be prepared which will then be presented to the city authorities.It will be up to the city authorities to implement and fund the proposal with regular, ongoing help and advice. We are expecting the assessment and programme proposal to be completed during the next few months with implementation commencing in Spring 2007.

This is the second ground-breaking success Naturewatch has achieved in the Ukraine so far this year. The first was the signing into law of Ukraine’s first Animal Protection Bill in March. The draft Bill was created by Naturewatch and the RSPCA with input from the World Society for the Protection of Animals.  

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