Animal Rights Defenders Rally Outside Government Administration, Plan Repeat Protest on November 8

Animal rights defenders held a protest outside the Government Administration. Participants demand an end to possible inhumane treatment of stray dogs and punishment of alleged offenders.

Lasha Chkhartishvili said that if the government does not respond to the incident appropriately, the protest will also take place on November 8.

"Unfortunately, what we have been talking about for months at these protests has been confirmed: representatives of the Ivanishvili regime continue to mass-kill stray dogs instead of carrying out their sterilization and vaccination, which would be a way to reduce their numbers. I hope society will now become more active, because if we are not numerous, naturally they will not stop. As for the investigation, I have no hope in the investigation. I demand the arrest of the head of the monitoring service, Argveli. If nothing changes, we will gather again at the same time next week," said Lasha Chkhartishvili.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has launched an investigation under Article 259 of the Criminal Code into footage circulated about animal burial sites, which concerns torture, cruel treatment or other violence against animals.

On October 31, Tv Pirveli published material showing pits, animal burial sites and dog remains. After this, animal rights defenders created a petition on social networks and called on investigative agencies to look into the incident. They demanded an expert examination of the remains to determine the causes of the animals' deaths.

The Tbilisi City Hall called the information circulated false. According to the agency, the facts are distorted, with the claim that the Animal Monitoring Agency is carrying out "mass and targeted killing of animals". According to the City Hall, the video shows a process that is fully permitted by law. The burial site is intended for the remains of dogs that died from various causes in Tbilisi, including disease, road accidents, accidents and natural death. Across the capital, hundreds of animals are euthanized and thousands die of natural causes each year.