Requirements for placing dog shelters in settlements will be enshrined in the law

How far should dog shelters be from residential buildings? There are no norms and requirements in the legislation of Pridnestrovie for the placement of such centers for helping animals left on the street. The law-in-draft developed by parliamentarians Alexander Korshunov, Ruslan Gareev and Anton Onufrienko on amending the law “On the sanitary and epidemiological welfare of the population” is called upon to change the situation.

As an example of why legislative regulation of accommodation rules is necessary, the authors of the law-in-draft cite a dog shelter in Bendery. Local residents do not like such a neighborhood; citizens' complaints have been received by authorities and deputies for many years. There are more than 600 dogs in the shelter now, and the distance to the nearest residential buildings is about 300 meters.

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. There are no requirements for nurseries with more than 100 at the same time. There is no regulation of the activities of stray animals. Therefore, it is proposed to amend the legislation. Article 12 of the law on sanitary and epidemiological requirements for the planning and development of settlements is supplemented with one more clause, which will specify at what distance from residential buildings shelters for keeping stray animals can be located. This is at least 300 meters in the original version. But the question is debatable, as is the norm: outside settlements or within settlements.

Members had different opinions. Some parliamentarians spoke out against the adoption of the law-in-draft, believing that it could interfere with the activities of shelters and overexposure centers for dogs. The authors of the legislative initiative assured that a compromise solution would be found, and the norms should be written down at the legislative level. This will be the first step to start resolving the so-called dog issue in the republic.

As a result, the law-in-draft on amending the law "On the sanitary and epidemiological welfare of the population" was adopted in the first reading by a majority vote of deputies. Work on it will continue, it is planned to be adopted in the second final reading already on July 12. The Committee on Regional Policy and Housing and Public Utilities invites everyone interested to participate in the development and discussion of amendments.