Corrupt authorities, animals killed ‘humanely’, officials pocketing vast sums of money as a result – where have we seen and heard all of this before ? – Clue: It is not the Ukraine but another part of Europe;
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European animal welfare advocates planning to seek closure of Kyiv Zoo
11:45
Kyiv, November 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – European animal welfare advocates are planning soon to ask the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) to push for the closure of Kyiv Zoo.
“I will propose that the EAZA leadership call for the closure of Kyiv Zoo… We [the European animal welfare advocates] consider this zoo as a prison for innocent animals, and we believe that it is better to close it. Such conditions do not meet European standards,” President of the Naturewatch Foundation John Ruane said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
He drew attention to the fact that the authorities of the Ukrainian capital had not given practical consideration to the issues of keeping zoo animals and that they were not planning to resolve the problem of stray animals in a humane manner.
“Yesterday [on November 10] we met with Mr. Holubchenko [Deputy Head of Kyiv City State Administration Anatoliy Holubchenko] and management representatives dealing with the issues of stray animals. We drew attention to the fact that the authorities either did not understand anything about or did not want to resolve the problem,” Ruane said.
He also said that late on November 10 he had received videotapes from various regions in Ukraine, mainly from the east, documenting cases of the poisoning of stray animals and pets.
“Upon returning to England, we will create a Web site that will show this awful video,” Ruane said.
He also noted that cases in the country linked to the illegal killing of animals, in particular, through poisoning with an unidentified poison, should be considered “at the highest level.”
The president of the Tierhilfwerk animal protection association, Christian Janatsch, in turn, expressed regret that there had been few achievements over the 14 years of their work in the fight for animal rights in Ukraine.
“We only ensured the closure of a knackery in Pyrohove (Kyiv region) and the appearance there of a shelter for homeless animals under [former Kyiv] Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko,” he said, adding that the Kyiv authorities then only “made promises, but the result is zero.”
President of the Kyiv Society for the Protection of Animals “SOS” Tamara Tarnawska predicted that the situation with the ruthless destruction of stray animals would only worsen ahead of the Euro 2012 European Football Championship.
During the press conference, journalists were shown a several scenes from the video showing dogs killed by an unidentified poison.
http://www.naturewatch.org/Foundation/Ukraine/News/2009/2009Nov-UEFAeuro2012Championships.asp
Ukraine
November 2009 – Corrupt council bosses in Lugansk are using the forthcoming UEFA Euro 2012 Championships to kill stray animals.
Corrupt council bosses in Lugansk are using the forthcoming 14th European Football Championship (UEFA Euro 2012) to kill stray animals. Here’s how it works:
Lugansk has an airport where football fans from Europe will arrive. The fans will then be transported by bus to Donetsk stadium where the matches will be played.
Corrupt municipality bosses are using this event, and the expected high number of visitors, to suggest that all stray animals must be killed for safety purposes. They believe this will also enhance the image of the city making it nice and clean and safe.
But to do this they need an allocation of money from the city. The corrupt officials then state a hugely inflated figure of strays and say they need 100h (approx 10 Euro’s) to kill each dog. Of course they say that this will be done humanely.
Then having received all the money from the city budget, they get together unemployed workers and send them out to kill strays by poison – maybe the cost is a few Euro cents per dog (after all how much does it cost to get some cheap poison and dig a hole to bury the animals – when the hole is full they just dig another one).
For every dog they kill they say they have killed ten or twenty or more. For every 100,000 Euro of budget, it is estimated that perhaps 1000 euros are spent and that leaves 99,000 Euros which is stolen and shared amongst the officials.
This kind of scam is operated in many regions of Ukraine with KYIV CITY MUNICIPALITY being the most corrupt. This has gone on for years and IS A BIG MONEY MAKER FOR MUNICIPALITY OFFICIALS. The corruption is AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL.
Naturewatch urges all football fans and all teams in Europe to write to the UEFA President urging that he takes action to stop this barbaric cruelty in Lugansk.
Write to:
Michel Platini
President
The Union of European Football Associations
Chemin de la route-46
CH-1260 Nyon
Switzerland
June 2010 – Euro 2012 director calling on Ukraine’s leadership to find humane solution to stray animals problem. More… (external link to Kyiv Post)
http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/69129/
UEFA Director for Euro 2012 Martin Kallen has asked Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov to settle the situation with stray animals in the country.
Euro 2012 director calling on Ukraine’s leadership to find humane solution to stray animals problem
Jun 9 at 17:58 | Interfax-Ukraine
UEFA Director for Euro 2012 Martin Kallen has asked Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov to settle the situation with stray animals in the country without resorting to killing them, president of the “SOS” International Society for the Protection of Animals Tamara Tarnawska said at a press conference in Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday, June 9.
“On June 1, I met with Mr. Kallen at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon (Switzerland). In response to my letter dated June 1, he on the same day wrote a letter to [Ukraine’s] Deputy Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov. We talked about the problem of cruel, barbaric and medieval killing of stray animals in Ukraine, and the use of mobile crematoria in Lysychansk, Mariupol and other cities. We paid a lot of attention to the situation with Kyiv Zoo.”
In his appeal to the vice prime minister, Kallen noted that UEFA does not support cruel methods of killing stray animals and has never encouraged the Ukrainian authorities to use such methods.
Tarnawska also said that the UEFA Director for Euro 2012 is receiving letters daily from around the world about the treatment of stray animals in Ukraine. This jeopardizes the reputation of UEFA, and harms confidence in the organization, she said.
The president of the SOS society stressed that in his letter, Kallen had asked Kolesnikov to meet with Tarnawska to work out a position concerning the further action. “A week has passed, but I haven’t yet received an invitation from the deputy prime minister,” she said.
In addition, according to Tarnawska, there is a threat that foreign fans might boycott Euro 2012 in Ukraine: “We have opened three Web sites – two in France and one in Switzerland, which have started calling for a boycott the Euro 2012 in Ukraine. The sites are planning to post the appeals to travel agencies, football players, officials, politicians and, certainly, UEFA to boycott the event in Ukraine.”
“These Web sites will do their negative work, I am sure,” the animal rights activist said.
Read more: http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/69129/#ixzz15599IdqA
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