Legal issues of veterinary services for shelters for stray animals in the Russian Federation

Abstract

The important problem of urban and large rural settlements of the Russian Federation is the increase in the number of stray animals. The activities of shelters for stray animals are associated with a number of obligatory veterinary preventive measures. These measures require the development of a comprehensive system of veterinary services for animal shelters, including the procedure for the initial reception of an animal to a shelter, the procedure to identify an animal without owners showing unmotivated aggressiveness, a system of veterinary preventive measures in a shelter, a method of humane treatment of animals in a shelter, a typical staffing of veterinary shelter specialists and a typical diet for an animal in a shelter. In many constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the activities to regulate the number of stray animals are carried out by private specialized organizations in accordance with the concluded municipal contracts. The existing practice does not allow organizing a single effective system to regulate the number of stray animals. A regional system for the regulation of the number of stray animals could be organized under the leadership of the State Veterinary Service of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in cooperation with existing private shelters for stray animals. This system can not be created without an appropriate regional regulatory framework. The authors propose the development and implementation of a comprehensive system of veterinary services for animal shelters at the level of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation. This system will serve as one of the elements to maintain the epizootic and epidemic well-being of the territories of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation for zooanthroponosis, among which rabies is the most relevant.