‘Kill 7 stray dogs a day’ task |
Enraged residents demanded the return of their animals from the administration, but learned that they had been destroyed
Dog catchers in Turkmenabad have been instructed to kill at least seven stray dogs a day. Local residents gave the information to the Turkmen service of RFE/RL. The authorities continue a cruel campaign against animals in the second largest city of Turkmenistan.
There are many stray dogs and cats on city streets. However, some residents complain that their pets are sometimes taken along for the daily schedule.
While shopping in a supermarket, a person tied up his dog outside and took it away.
This authoritarian Central Asian country has long been criticized for its systematic killing of stray animals using barbaric methods.
In Turkmenabad, which has a population of 250,000, communal administrations recruit people to pick up stray dogs and cats in the neighborhoods.
Pets are also taken away
It is reported that a company in Khimki region succeeded in eradicating street animals. The information was spread by RFE/RL correspondents with reference to officials and residents.
However, some of the dogs seized in Khimki were pets.
Enraged residents demanded the return of their animals from the administration, but learned that they had been destroyed.
Residents of the city are dissatisfied with the fact that animals are captured by cruel methods and kept in terrible conditions.
In one video, three employees are seen beating two barking dogs with sticks before throwing them into a garbage truck.
Another video sent from Turkmenabad shows animal corpses in dirty cages.
They are unhappy, but…
Residents told the radio that everyone is secretly unhappy with this cleaning operation, but they are reluctant to speak openly. Because the communal authorities that manage the houses give them certificates to buy cheap food from government shops.
Food has been scarce in Turkmenistan for at least the last five years. prices got up The population is highly dependent on government subsidized food. Certificates containing the address of each person and the number of members of a family must be updated every month.
Ironically, in a new law passed on July 25, the government bans animal cruelty.
Before this law, RFE/RL’s Turkmen service broadcasted information about cruelty to street animals. Law it prohibits injuring dogs, depriving them of food, water, sleep, and rest.
It is also prohibited to “unnecessarily torture stray animals during the capture or regulation of their numbers.”
“hypocrisy”
Activists call the law “hypocritical” compared to what is happening in the country, and say that the authorities will not follow the law anytime soon.
Until now, in Turkmenistan, dogs and cats have been poisoned, beaten and killed hungry– faced criticism for being killed by being kept without water.
Municipalities by paying local teenagers to feed them poisonous hot dogs to street animals, or bread animal rights activists say.
Witnesses who spoke to RFE/RL saw a supervisor in Ashgabat beating his dog and puppies with a stick in front of children in the garden.