Rome Professor helps zoo activists to get land near Makhachkala

This week, "Ecolife" activists have begun building a centre for homeless animals near the dwelling settlement of Talgi near Makhachkala. The land plot was allocated by the authorities at the request of Professor Djalal Saidbegov, a native of Dagestan, who works at the University of Rome, an "Ecolife" source has stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the problem of stray animals in Dagestan aggravated after in February a nine-year-old schoolgirl was bitten to death by stray dogs in Makhachkala.

Victoria Shevtsova, the head of the "Ecolife", said that a great support to the construction of the centre was also rendered by Ms Leni Hart, the director of the International Fund for the Conservation of Marine Mammals from the Netherlands.

Ms Shevtsova has noted that the construction of the centre is "an activists' absolutely private initiative." However, as she believes, it does not solve the problems of stray animals.

The Mayoralty has also noted that the kennel centre could about 50 dogs, which is surely not enough; therefore, the authorities "do not object to the construction of more private centres for stray animals."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.