[On the official letterhead of Kyiv Municipal State Administration]
Department of municipal improvement and environment protection
29.03.2017 No. 064-Я-5956-515 Michael Jacob
In pursuance of the order of the Deputy head of Kyiv Municipal State Administration P. Panteleyev dated 28.0.02017 No. Я-5956, the Ecology and natural resources division of the Department of municipal improvement and environment protection of the executive body of Kyiv City Council (Kyiv Municipal State Administration) considered your application regarding cruel treatment of stray animals in the city of Kyiv and informs on the following within its terms of reference.
The Law of Ukraine “On protection of animals against cruel treatment” (hereinafter – the Law) regulates the matters of animal protection against suffering and death caused by cruel treatment of them, as well as strengthening the adherence to moral values and humane attitudes in the society.
According to the Law, humane treatment of the animals are the actions corresponding to the requirements of protecting the animals against cruel treatment and envisage friendly attitude towards animals, support to their well-being, improving their quality of life, etc., in particular, it relates to stray animals which are former house pets left without human care or which have formed semi-free groups able to reproduce without human control.
This Law applies to the treatment of animals regardless of the ownership right and other material rights regarding them.
According to Art. 23 of the Law, capturing of stray (lost, abandoned, left without care and feral) animals is carried out in order to return them to the owners and regulate the size of their population according to the requirements of this Law.
According to Art. 24, if within two months upon the capture of a homeless animal its owner is not found or has not claimed his/her ownership right to this animal, the animal is transferred into the ownership of the local community where it was detected.
According to the charter activities, the municipally-owned enterprise “Animal Shelter” provides capturing of stray animals upon applications from legal entities (users or operators of property on the territory of which the animals stay), on condition of concluding a contract between the territory owner or operator and MOE “Animal Shelter”.
We hereby inform, that the stray animals are neutered, vaccinated against rabies and, if their owner is not identified, they are returned to their previous location (place of capture) under care and responsibility of individuals, enterprises, entities, organizations regardless of the ownership form, civic and charitable organizations.
The stray animals (except for aggressive and socially unadapted) which have been previously neutered, visually identified and returned under the responsibility of custodians.
According to Art. 32 of the Law structural subdivisions of the National Police ensure the enforcement of the Law provisions.
Moreover, the Regulations for holding pet dogs and cats in the city of Kyiv (hereinafter – the Regulations) approved by the decision of Kyiv City Council dated 25.10.2007 No. 1079/3912 establish the rules for holding, using, detecting the danger (social adaptation) level in urban settings, determine rights and responsibilities of the owners of dogs and cats, as well as control in this area.
According to para. 10.6 of the Regulations, housing and utility organizations (companies), regardless of the ownership and subordination form, including cooperatively-owned housing and development companies, associations of condominium co-owners shall maintain proper cleanliness of yards and adjacent areas of the buildings, ensure the respective control within their terms of reference (documenting the offenses and further submission of administrative materials to competent bodies), as well as inform the residents of the respective houses about the requirements of these Regulations.
Moreover, we hereby inform that Kyiv Municipal State Administration concluded a Memorandum on Cooperation dated 15.05.2012 No. 8 (hereinafter – the Memorandum) with the Deutscher Tierschutzbund, aimed to establish proper conditions in Kyiv for humane treatment of stray animals humane regulation of the stray animals population number (by neutering).
Since May 2012 the community-owned enterprise “Kyiv City Veterinary Clinic” is the key implementer of the memorandum. As the outcome of cooperation with Deutscher Tierschutzbund the enterprise specialists neutered 13531 stray dogs.
Considering the above, the capital takes actions on regulating the stray animals population number only by humane methods – by neutering, according to the applicable laws of Ukraine. The incidents of cruel killing of stray animals are under continuous monitoring by the municipal authorities, animal protection organizations, volunteers and law enforcement authorities.
Regards,
| Deputy Director of the Department – Chief of Ecology and natural resources division | [signature] | A. Malyovanyy |
