Animal rights activists in Volgograd succeeded in stopping a house renovation to save swifts.
In Volgograd, volunteers and animal rights activists were able to temporarily halt renovations on a multi-story building during which workers were sealing swifts alive in their nests. The construction workers were cladding the facade and completely blocked the birds' exit.
Repairs have been suspended, but the birds are still trapped.
The management company began repair work on the facades of several buildings on Nikolaya Otrada Street last week. Despite vocal protests from local residents, workers refused to inspect the leaks and methodically covered them with cladding slabs. Furthermore, a management company representative cynically responded to all questions from residents.
However, after the intervention of activists from the Bird Island Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, the situation was finally resolved. Ultimately, utility workers were forced to temporarily suspend their work.
"The repairs have been suspended for three weeks, and local residents are monitoring and supervising them. The work has been halted, but we haven't yet recovered the swifts that were sealed in. We're currently preparing letters to request permission to open what was already sealed as quickly as possible," Arina Erina, the center's director, told NeMoskva.
Hellish oven in the heat
Animal rights activists are sounding the alarm, as the birds trapped within the walls could die in the near future from dehydration and overheating. Therefore, action is urgently needed.
"The birds are thrashing, screaming, and suffocating in the concrete, in this unbearable heat, when every degree of sun turns them into a hellish furnace! It's early July, and many of the birds still have chicks," the animal rights activists wrote.
Following widespread publicity on social media, concerned Volgograd residents began sending mass appeals to the prosecutor's office, Rosprirodnadzor, and the city administration. Residents are also demanding that the management company's management be held criminally responsible for animal cruelty.
Context: a systemic problem with utility companies
Unfortunately, this type of attitude toward urban animals and birds by public utilities is far from uncommon in Russia. For example, until 2019, residents of various regions constantly complained that management companies tightly sealed basement vents, condemning stray cats to a painful death.
At the end of 2019, the government officially banned completely sealing basement windows to rescue animals. However, despite the law, cases of walling up cats and birds continue to occur periodically in the Amur Region, Omsk, Izhevsk, Zelenograd, and other cities across the country.
