"By killing a dog, you're killing the human inside yourself": A picket against the poisoning of stray animals was held in Tomsk.
Despite minus-20 degrees Celsius temperatures, Tomsk residents held a picket against the killing of stray animals. Animal rights activists had previously reported At least 15 cases of animal poisoning, both stray and domestic, have been recorded in the city over the past two weeks. Children have even witnessed the dogs' agonizing deaths.
According to eyewitnesses, more than 100 people participated in the picket. People came and went constantly, and the event itself took place on the outskirts of the city, in a site uncleared of snow, because, as usual, all other locations in the city were already occupied.
"I came because I'm against killing animals—we found a poisoned dog near my house that spent several hours dying painfully, and now I'm afraid to walk my pets," "Mass poisoning of dogs is inhumane, and children see it," "Homeless animals are caused by humans, so we need sterilization, responsible owners, and support for shelters." "We want the police to investigate poisoning cases because capture should be humane, not lead to the death of animals." — say the picket participants.
During the protest, animal rights activists collected signatures for a petition to Tomsk Mayor Dmitry Makhin and President Vladimir Putin asking them to investigate cases of dog poisoning deaths.