"The cats are freezing, the situation is desperate." A shelter for 1700 animals in Volgograd is left without heat.
The Khvostaty Dom shelter in Volgograd is without heat. It currently houses 1700 cats and dogs, and how they will survive the winter is unknown. Yana Vodolazhskaya, director of Khvostaty Dom, told NeMoskva that there is currently no heating at all. The shelter's building covers approximately 1800 square meters, and the adjacent grounds cover another 7000 square meters.
"The situation is dire; the cats are freezing. We've raised money to buy and install two electric boilers that will supply warm water. But the temperature in the room won't be higher than 5-7 degrees Celsius, according to calculations. Meanwhile, the monthly electricity bill for our space will be around 400-500 thousand rubles, and we'll have to pay around 2 million rubles for the heating season. Raising this money is simply impossible, especially since it will be so cold that the water won't freeze to water the animals and clean them. But if we don't pay this amount for electricity, they'll shut it off. And if we manage to pay these bills, we won't have anything to feed the dogs—they need 1,5 million rubles a month for food. The situation is basically hopeless," says Yana.
Central heating could help. Last year, the shelter and several nearby social facilities were heated by Kontsessiya Teplosnabzheniya LLC. But in the spring, the company unilaterally terminated the contract, and the boiler house that supplied the area ceased to exist. A central heating pipe was installed in the area this summer and fall, and it was planned to reach the shelter as well. However, utility workers left about 500 meters unfinished.
"It's still a realistic possibility to get a pipeline to us. The dispensary, the penal colony, and the fire department were connected. When we realized in October that work to connect us to the heat wasn't underway, we started asking questions, and the workers said they wouldn't reach us. At first, the authorities said we were too far away. But the other day they responded: there isn't enough capacity to connect the shelter, and the hospital and fire department will be heating at the minimum. But there are five more buildings under construction nearby—they won't heat them either?" Yana asks, perplexed.
Now animal rights activists have created petition, are writing to regulatory authorities and the presidential administration. But for now, "the situation is dire," says Yana Vodolazhskaya. The shelter's 13 employees are also freezing along with the animals.
"No one wants to help, the administration refuses to communicate and offers no options. We don't know what to do anymore; we're giving up. Let them all out? It would be an environmental disaster. And we'll have nothing to give them water or clean up after them," the animal rights activist says.
She adds that the shelter regularly participates in city and social projects. Children and disabled people play sports with the shelter's sled dogs, and staff take them to schools and boarding schools. This year, the city organized a dog trapping campaign, which places the dogs in the municipal shelter. However, the animals aren't kept there; they are released after sterilization. From the "Tailed House," animals are only sent to foster homes. Today, Yana Vodolazhskaya visited the administration again, but to no avail.
