Requirements for the placement of animal shelters will be prescribed in the legislation

Deputies in the course of the meeting of the Committee on Regional Policy, Local Self-Government and Housing and Public Utilities considered amendments to the law “On the Sanitary and Epidemiological Welfare of the Population”. The law-in-draft proposes to prohibit the placement of a shelter for keeping stray animals within the boundaries of a settlement. One more point is added to article 12 of the law on sanitary and epidemiological requirements for the planning and development of settlements. Shelters for keeping stray animals should be located outside the settlement at a distance of at least 300 meters, according to the proposed norms. The territory of the shelter must be bordered with a fence at least 2 meters high with a base that prevents animals from undermining.

The law-in-draft was initiated by parliamentarians Alexander Korshunov, Ruslan Gareev and Anton Onufrienko. The reason was repeated appeals to the Supreme Council of citizens who complained that it was impossible to live in houses with nearby animal shelters.

According to the current sanitary and epidemiological rules of the Ministry of Healthcare, the sanitary protection zone for farms with animals (pigsties, cowsheds, nurseries, stables, fur farms) up to 50 heads is 50 meters, and up to 100 heads – 100 meters. At the same time, the authors of the law-in-draft note in an explanatory note that requirements for nurseries of more than 100 animals have not been established. The animal shelter, which is located in the city of Bendery, reaches about 600 animals now. The distance from the residential area to the shelter is just over 200 meters.

There is a court decision that the premises where the shelter in Bendery is now located should be vacated according to the information announced at the meeting of the Committee. At the same time, the law on the republican budget of this year provides for 1 million rubles from the Capital Investment Fund for the creation of a Republican shelter for keeping stray animals. According to the authors and deputies of the relevant Committee, the Republican shelter should not be created within the boundaries of the settlement.

The deputies of the Committee, together with members of the Government, discussed one more point that affects the law-in-draft. These are temporary shelters that have been created by public organizations that support animals. Such shelters are located within the city. The issue concerning the activities of public organizations, the deputies will discuss in the second reading. While the law-in-draft of the group of parliamentarians, the relevant Committee has prepared for consideration in the first reading and will advocate for its adoption at one of the plenary sessions.