Tbilisi City Hall: So-Called Animal Defenders Threaten Animal Monitoring Staff

Tbilisi City Hall issued a statement saying that a group of people who present themselves as animal defenders is obstructing the work of the Animal Monitoring Agency, verbally demeaning and bullying employees, digging up burial sites, and endangering both stray animals and the residents of Tbilisi. According to the City Hall, they will be held accountable before the law.

The agency said that no violation of animal rights has occurred or will occur. The graves that were illegally dug up and from which carcasses were removed belong to LLC "Hermes" and are intended precisely for the burial of animal carcasses.

The City Hall writes that for several days threatening calls and bullying directed at municipal employees have not stopped on social media. According to it, "politically engaged groups" are publishing photos of monitoring representatives, calling them murderers, slanderers and people who bury animals alive, and threatening not only them but also their family members.

The agency also recalls the dug-up graves, the carcasses that were pulled out, and attempts to break into the animal shelter. According to the City Hall, this constitutes interference with the municipality's activities, disregard for the protection of people's personal data, and an attempt to harm their physical safety.

The City Hall explains that animals are buried at night because during the day a large number of carcasses arrive at the agency, both of animals that died naturally and of owned and stray animals killed in road accidents. During the day carcasses are collected, and at night they are buried. According to the City Hall, all procedures are public and are posted on the agency's website.

According to the statement, these graves also contain the bodies of animals that the same group took from the Gori shelter. Some of them died, and were then brought to the Monitoring Agency for burial. The City Hall calls a screenshot, which it says is being circulated as proof that the agency kills animals, "another lie and slander". The City Hall states that monitoring reduces only the stray animal population and does so through sterilization.

The City Hall calls on the relevant authorities to investigate the case and give it a legal response.