Despite tougher penalties for animal cruelty in the Uzbek legislation, animal rights activists and enthusiasts are worried about the increase in animal cruelty cases.
Shocking footage of animal cruelty flooded the Uzbek segment of social media, as well as local media. Similar cases occur in almost all regions of the country. Stray dogs and cats suffer from animal cruelty the most.
In June, a video of a 16-year-old TikToker torturing a cat appeared on social media. He tied a rope around a cat’s neck, dragged it around, and rammed it against the walls. There are many similar examples of animal cruelty and torture. The parents strangle a cat with a plastic bag in front of a child. Others pour boiling water on the dog when it peacefully sleeps just because it tore their clothes.
Animal rights activists record the extreme cases of stray animal cruelty. There were cases when, under the pretext of creating shelters and promising to provide good care and feeding for a fee, the animals’ stay there was turned into a real concentration camp. Dogs are eaten and sold as meat. People tie a dog to a car and drag it along the streets. Stray animals are skinned alive in front of children. Once, a cat was found and rescued with its nose cut off, whiskers burned, and claws removed. A dog was doused with gasoline and burned alive.
There are also numerous cases of the brutal beating of animals. An example is the case of a found large white shepherd dog [alabay] with a broken spine and legs, exhausted from hunger, and forced to die in agony.
These are just a few of the known animal cruelty cases. A large percentage of such violent cases is not covered in the media.
Mass Poisoning of Stray Animals
According to the Mehr va Oqibat Animal Protection Society, the number of complaints of animal cruelty in 2021 increased by almost 15 times compared to 2017 – 1500 and 100 accordingly.
For several years, Mehr va Oqibat employees receive reports from different regions of the country about the mass killing of stray animals. It happens in several ways. The most frequent cases are arsenic poisoning or feeding animals with snacks stuffed with nails and toothpicks.
Not only the stray animals suffer but also pets. Dog owners complained that during the walks, they often found animal food with deliberately inserted nails and other sharp objects. They also reported the cases of poisoning of their pets, after which the dogs hardly recovered.
Animal rights activists also complain they observe the violent mass trapping of homeless animals by public services. Recently, the most discussed case was the mass trapping and killing of dogs in Akhangaran district of Tashkent region.
Then, pets were also trapped. The dogs’ owners and volunteers arrived at the place but were not allowed into the territory; there was no response to their requests to return their pets. The locals saw a Daewoo Damas car with dead dogs inside that were taken out in an unknown direction. The volunteers and activists still managed to save some dogs and cats after the public disclosure of the incident.
The case had an impact – the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the country drew attention to this and promised to take the necessary measures.
Meanwhile, according to the decrees of the Cabinet of Ministers and the President of Uzbekistan, employees of the State Committee of Veterinary and Livestock Development must examine and quarantine stray animals. After quarantine, they must be sent to special shelters. The decrees state that stray animals can only be shot if they have rabies and pose a threat to people.
Who Is Responsible for Stray Animals?
Officially, the public and utility services of the country are responsible for the situation with stray animals. Their special-purpose teams are popularly called ‘trapping services’.
According to animal rights activists, several dozen dogs and cats are brought to the trapping service in Tashkent every day.
Usually, service employees come on call (most often, these are complaints of an animal bite or an attack). Having captured the dog, they take the animal to a special place, where they await the owners for 5 days.
According to Decree No. 202, after this period, purebred dogs with no disease markers can be transferred to interested parties who will have to pay for the care in an animal shelter.
According to animal rights activists, there are no animal crematoria in the country, even though article 6 of the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan “On measures to improve the activities of services related to the trapping and sheltering of stray animals” provides for the allocation of land for the construction of such crematoria in the country.
The officials mention the lack of funding. The trapping service disposes of animal remains in the Beccari (biothermic) pit – a specially equipped facility for the disposal of animal carcasses. According to animal rights activists, after 5 days, cats and dogs end up there.
Activists say the animals are not fed in the places where they are kept. Animals are not provided with veterinary services and often, dogs are left under the scorching sun without water.
Enthusiasts try their best to help such animals. For example, a group of activists goes to the trapping service of Bekabad district (115 km south of Tashkent) every day to bring food, water, medicines, and other things to somehow help homeless animals.
“Service’s employees stay in our way every time, find excuses – there is no gas, petrol, or something similar. Before the creation of our group, the animals were not properly fed and watered,” says an animal rights activist from Bekabad district.
Angry posts about the shootings of animals appear on social media. Often, these cruel scenes take place in front of children.
“After my son saw two men shooting a dog that was hiding behind a dustbin, he had a fever. He always has a fever when he gets very anxious,” a capital resident wrote in her post asking to consider the cases of the shooting of animals.
The problem of stray animal cruelty inflicted by trapping service employees was repeatedly raised by animal rights activists. The repeated complaints to deputies and khakims of districts remain unanswered.
The members of the animal protection Telegram group say they addressed the khakims of their districts many times but usually, they are not allowed to see them, or the problems are not solved.
Animal Rights Activists Try to Help but Their Efforts Are Not Enough
Enthusiasts do their best to help homeless animals. They unite and organise shelters for them. The largest shelters in Uzbekistan are “Hayot” and “Mehr”.
Hayot is the first official shelter in Uzbekistan. The founder is businesswoman Iroda Matkarimova. She personally knows each dog’s history. There are over 4,500 animals at the shelter and 1,000 at its branch “Af-Hayot”.
Animals are brought to these shelters from many near and far districts. After the dog enters the shelter, it is sterilised and vaccinated. The shelter has several foster facilities and a rehabilitation centre. All activities are funded by contributions from enthusiasts, volunteers, and one-time donations from large companies.
Thanks to the volunteers from foreign countries, dogs find owners in the USA, Russia, Turkey, and the Netherlands. The shelter covers all transportation costs, as well as vaccination, sterilisation or castration, and microchipping.
To solve the problem of violent trapping of stray animals, the Mehr va Oqibat Animal Protection Society proposed an addition to the decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On the humane solution of the problem of stray animals” – to transform the trapping service into a rescue service and build state and public-private shelters that will employ people who love animals.
Animal rights activists in Uzbekistan notice a multiple increase in the number of pets abandoned by their owners during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the quarantine, the trapping services of Qibray and Chirchiq districts of Tashkent region brought up to 15 dogs a week to the shelter but during the quarantine period, Hayot shelter received this number of animals daily.
Another problem is the lack of mandatory sterilisation and castration of pets and stray animals.
Since its inception, Mehr va Oqibat Animal Protection Society has launched a program for the sterilisation of conditionally owned animals and animals owned by low-income families. In 2021, more than 4,000 pets were sterilised. Four years ago, Mehr va Oqibat proposed a program for the sterilisation of animals to the capital’s administration. The proposal is still under consideration.
“We started our work to show the state that it was possible to solve the problem of the increase in numbers of stray animals in a humane way. Currently, we perform sterilisation and castration surgeries at our own expense. We have our own clinics where we perform these surgeries. We want to help the state, because we, animal rights activists, are also representatives of the state,” says Lyubov Votintseva, director of the Mehr va Oqibat.
The practice of sterilisation and castration of animals is developed only in the capital and other large cities. The regions often do not have qualified specialists. As part of educational work, Mehr va Oqibat together with the practicing veterinarians of the capital conduct courses on sterilisation and castration of animals for young veterinarians from the regions.
Mehr shelter is the first shelter in the country with veterinary and dog training services, where stray animals are socialised and prepared for adoption. The shelter was built by AKFA Group in 2021.
There are areas for walking, administrative and medical centres, a surgical department, disinfection barriers, and special blocks for puppies and nursing dogs on the shelter’s territory. The shelter receives animals at the request of citizens or trapping services.
The dogs living in the shelter were abandoned and betrayed by people. Each dog had a hard life; many of them were literally returned from the dead. For example, the dogs Bella and Silva have spinal injuries. The volunteers found Bella with serious injuries on the street. Her chances of surviving were slim but the shelter’s volunteers and veterinarians saved Bella’s life.
“Each dog in Mehr shelter is a living proof that human love and care work like magic,” anonymously says one of the shelter’s employees.
Mehr is a limited-access shelter. The shelter does not euthanise healthy and non-aggressive dogs but keeps them for a certain period or until their natural death. Only dogs in pain suffering from incurable diseases are euthanised.
First Successes
Volunteers and employees of shelters actively conduct educational work, including lectures for children. Their work already has positive results.
In 2019, the Mushukent project was launched; it focuses on the installation of outdoor cat houses in the capital. The project was launched on the initiative of the Mehr va Oqibat, Hayot shelter for homeless animals, and is supported by the capital’s khokimiyat, the Central Internal Affairs Department, and the Uzbekistan National Guard.
The first cat house was installed next to the Rehabilitation Centre for Homeless Persons and an institution for administrative detention.
Before deciding on a place to install the cat houses, project participants speak with the residents and representatives of the mahalla to find a compromise so that cats do not interfere with those who do not like them.
As part of the project, stray cats are sterilised and vaccinated. A vaccinated and sterilised cat can be recognised by a small cut on its right ear.
Since November 27, 2021, animal cruelty has become a criminal offense in Uzbekistan.
Article 202-1 (“Animal Cruelty”) has been introduced into the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan. It states that a fine of 25 to 50 minimum calculation indices (from June 1, 2022, 1 such indicator is 300,000 soms or $27.35) should be imposed for their torture leading to death or injury. In case of a repeat offence, criminal liability is provided.
Previously, animal cruelty was not a criminal offense.
Article 111 of the Administrative Liability Code was also amended. Animal cruelty, that is, their torture or infliction of harm for mercenary or other motives, entails a fine of 3 to 5 minimum calculation indices. The same offense committed repeatedly within a year after the administrative penalty, committed in the presence of a minor, or causing the death or injury of animals, entails a fine of 5 to 10 minimum calculation indices or administrative detention for up to 15 days.
Before the introduction of these amendments to the country’s legislation, the administrative liability in the form of a fine of 1 to 3 minimum monthly salaries was provided for such offenses; a fine of 3 to 5 minimum monthly salaries or 15-days administrative detention was provided for a repeated offense or offense committed in the presence of a minor.
The country does not have a database of pets. According to animal rights activists, creating such a database would help to prevent an increase in the number of stray animals. They suggest veterinary services and mahalla workers to conduct a census of all animals with the possibility of their identification; to conduct mandatory microchipping of animals to further identify the owners who abandoned animals, bring those owners to administrative responsibility, or return lost pets home.
“I support the idea of introducing a law on the responsibility of dogs’ and cats’ owners. They need to be fined. […] I propose to impose a tax on those who abandon their animals. You kicked an animal out – you pay money. Maybe, people will become more responsible,” says Iroda Matkarimova, Hayot shelter founder.
She has the idea of creating a Hayot project for 11,000 dogs. Now, they are raising money for its implementation. The future Hayot shelter will have a veterinary clinic, a quarantine zone, a crematorium, a pool for dogs, a kitchen, warehouses, a freezer, a separate block for shelter workers, a walking area, as well as a rehabilitation centre for children with disabilities who will receive animal assisted therapy.