Animal rights activists held a protest action called “Zoocide Is Unlawful,” on October 5 in front of the Verkhovna Rada, This nationwide action also took place in Sumy on October 2, and in Mykolaiv, Lviv, Kirovohrad, and Yalta on October 3. On October 4 the animal protectors held the Evening of Memory and Mourning for Killed Friends on the central squares of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Ternopil, Simferopol, Sumy, Berdiansk, and Dniprodzerzhynsk, and, on October 5, animal rights activists picketed in Kyiv, as well as in Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Berdiansk, and Dniprodzerzhynsk.
The main goal of the protest is to force the Verkhovna Rada to pass a revised version of the law “On Protecting Animals from Cruel Treatment.” The current law is absolutely inadequate, for it allows not only harsh treatment of animals but also rampant corruption in this field. Nor can the now applicable laws help achieve any practical result: the number of stray dogs on the streets rises with every passing year.
A total 70 people supported the protest action. Among the speakers were members of the Polish community in Kyiv and the Kyiv Salvation Forum. The organizers recalled that October 4 is The Day of the death of St. Francis who preached to both people and animals — for this reason this date was picked as the World Animal Day. Those present at the rally observed a moment of silence to honor the memory of our innocently massacred lesser brethren. After listening to a recorded heartbeat of a dying animal, they launched white balloons that symbolize the souls of the innocently killed dogs and cats. The whole action lasted for about two hours.
One of the next issues of The Day will carry a longer article on Zoocide Is Unlawful, and on the stray animal si-tuation in Ukraine, notably compared with that in other European countries.
