City Hall Against Tails: Saratov Officials Evict a Homeless Animal Shelter

Saratov City Hall is refusing to renew the land lease for the "Dobrodetel" animal shelter because activists have built a 26-square-meter non-residential building on the site. Yesterday, the shelter's founder Elena Kuznetsova опубликовала a video message in which she again asked the regional governor for help. According to her, the deadline expires next week, however 

The Virtue Shelter was founded in 2021 when Saratov The problem of stray dogs was acute. Officials provided a plot of land where a landfill was located for this purpose. The order was given personally by the governor. Roman Busargin.

The shelter attempted to legalize the building, spending over 200 rubles on expert assessments. However, the court dismissed the claim. And now, according to Kuznetsova, the situation is "against the shelter and the little dogs living there."

In an interview with the local publication Vzglyad-Info, Kuznetsova said Olga,, that a few days ago she went to see the head of the city property management committee, Alexander Serebryakov, but “the conversation didn’t work out.”

“It was just rudeness on his part,” Kuznetsova explained. — He started making threats along the lines of: "That's it, I'm breaking the contract with you, throw out all your dogs." I pulled out my camera and asked him to repeat his words. Naturally, he didn't."

The Virtue Shelter has no budgetary funding and exists solely on donations.

According to the city administration's written request, the land lease agreement can only be extended following a competitive bidding process. However, several exceptions are provided, one of which is a direct order from the Governor of the Saratov Region.