The life of a stray dog in Russia is worth roughly 130 euros. That is reportedly what government-subsidised volunteers would receive to go around and put down stray animals before the start of the football World Cup. The accusation was made by Ekaterina Dmitrieva, director of the animal welfare organisation City animal protection foundation.

A World Cup without strays

In June, Russia will host the twenty-first edition of the football World Cup. Just as happened during the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the Russian authorities apparently consider the large number of animals roaming the cities a problem, fearing they could damage the image of the World Cup. According to the Russian activist's allegations, the government would have allocated around 110 million roubles — over one and a half million euros — earmarked for the culling of stray dogs and cats in the eleven host cities: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Sochi, Yekaterinburg, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Volgograd and Samara.

Russia denies

The Russian government has rejected the accusations. Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko stated that the government has instructed the host cities to set up temporary shelters for stray dogs and cats. In these facilities, the animals will be cared for, vaccinated and sterilised. Ekaterina Dmitrieva has however claimed that the money for the shelters has instead been invested in purchasing poison and recruiting anti-stray squads.

The petition

To draw public attention to the matter, she launched a petition on Change.org, signed by more than 455,000 people, calling on Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Russian national team coach Stanislav Cherchesov and Fifa president Gianni Infantino to put a stop to the killing of ownerless animals.

Burmatov's appeal

Last month, Vladimir Burmatov, chairman of the State Duma committee on Ecology and Environmental Protection, wrote a letter to Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov, urging him to look into the situation, halt any culling of the animals and find a humane solution. "Our country's reputation is at stake," wrote Burmatov, "we are not so savage as to mass-kill animals in the street, throw their bloodied carcasses into vehicles and drive around the city."

The stray animal problem in Russia

It is therefore still unclear whether the accusations levelled at the government by animal welfare activists are well founded. What is certain is that stray animals represent a genuine emergency in Russia, the true scale of which is unknown. Equally real is the presence of so-called "dog hunters" — volunteers who exterminate stray animals (and not only strays) by scattering poisoned bait.

Fifa's inaction

The City animal protection foundation reported the matter to Fifa, the federation responsible for organising the football World Cup, but received an unsatisfactory response. "We understand the importance of initiatives such as yours, which deserve to be addressed and supported. We are, however, confident that you will understand that, due to the many planned commitments related to Fifa events, we are unable to support your cause more actively."