Thursday, Mar 28 2024
All Cities
Choose Your City
'That time Barnaul was undoubtedly the most cultural corner of Siberia. I named it Siberian Athens'
0

Stray animal catastrophe as they freeze to death on streets of the world’s coldest city

By 0 and 0 and 0
18 December 2020

0

At least one dog froze to death, with dozens seen helplessly waiting to be allowed by the blocks of flats, shops, or sleeping in the snow. Picture: Volontery_Ykt

Volunteers of Yakutsk call for urgent action to resolve the critical situation with stray animals falling victim of bone-breaking December weather.

In the past two weeks the capital city of the Republic of Sakha, the world’s coldest inhabited region, has seen temperatures plunging to -50C. 

While this is not an unusual situation for the hardy locals, who keep schools operating for primary age children in -52C in the village of Oymyakon, stray animals cannot bear such cold. 

Local volunteer group volontery_ykt with more than ten thousand supporters has been busy flagging cases of stray animals left outside. 

Their call for help came too late for a tragic mother cat, filmed meowing in the snow; she froze to death several hours later along with her litter. 

Video: Volontery_Ykt

At least one dog froze to death, too, with dozens seen helplessly waiting to be allowed by the blocks of flats, shops, or sleeping in the snow.

Many of the dogs have a numbered ear tags, signifying that they went through obligatory vaccination and neutering according to Russia’s new law on stray animals.

Yakutsk veterinarian authorities have said several days ago that they stopped releasing tagged stray animals.

But clearly some of them were already sent out when the big cold arrived. 

Stray animal catastrophe as they freeze to death on streets of the world’s coldest city


Stray animal catastrophe as they freeze to death on streets of the world’s coldest city


Stray animal catastrophe as they freeze to death on streets of the world’s coldest city


Stray animal catastrophe as they freeze to death on streets of the world’s coldest city


Stray animal catastrophe as they freeze to death on streets of the world’s coldest city
At least one dog froze to death, with dozens seen helplessly waiting to be allowed by the blocks of flats, shops, or sleeping in the snow. Pictures: Volontery_Ykt


By the beginning of December some 1,550 stray animals were neutered and tagged in the Republic of Yakutia.

Of these, 1,212 were released back on the streets. 

There are no clear statistics on how many stray animals live in Yakutsk. 

'One of the biggest issues with implementing the new law is the absence of shelters. There are two municipal shelters in Mirninsky and Lensky districts, and one private shelter in Aldansky district’, said the head of Republic’s veterinary department Petr Petrov. 

The currently-existing facility in Yakutsk does not meet the requirements of shelters, he said.

Cats and dogs are left at the mercy of extremely cold weather reaching -50C with no proper animal winter shelter in Yakutsk. Pictures: Alexander Dersu, Prokopy Nogovitsyn, Volontery_Ykt 

Stray animal catastrophe as they freeze to death on streets of the world’s coldest city


Stray animal catastrophe as they freeze to death on streets of the world’s coldest city


Stray animal catastrophe as they freeze to death on streets of the world’s coldest city


Stray animal catastrophe as they freeze to death on streets of the world’s coldest city

Comments (6)

What can we do to help these poor cats and dogs?
BrightMoon, Omaha
16/02/2023 23:28
0
0
I eeould plead for the compassion and kindness of those living in areas of extreme cold and other severe weather. Compassion and kindness shown tto the animals shaaring their world. Freezing to death in the cold is such a cruel and painful way to die. And a death that could easily be prevented by those who care about the welfare and safety of fellow creatures on our planet. We operate with less money than we had before the CoVid virus. Because of the 'precautions' our government has in place, our jobs are gone for now. But we would never turn away a cold and starving creature. Please develop and support a place(s) where these animals could be when the colkd is extreme and food not readily available. Please treat these animals with kindness and help through the bad times. Thank you to all volunteers and good people who help them.
Diane Nelson Roberts, Indianapolis, IN, USA
29/12/2020 05:04
7
0
Heartbreaking to see these poor animals left to suffer and die in the extreme cold. Bless all those kind-hearted souls standing up and calling for shelters. Thank-you for your efforts, don't give up trying.

I appeal to the local authorities to please provide a place where these creatures can be cared for, off the streets and receive food during the coldest months.

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened.” –Anatole France.
Carol Grayson, United Kingdom
20/12/2020 20:53
12
0
for those who are too ignorant to know the difference between climate and weather may they hold fast to their beliefs while their homes burn or get flooded
john askins, United States
20/12/2020 10:31
54
28
Call Greta and ask her to explain why global warming is not working ....
Gunnar Karlsson, Saint Germain du Bois​, France
20/12/2020 00:37
41
103
"Hear our humble prayer O God, for our friends the animals, your Creatures" St Francis Of Assisi"

Morally and ethically difficult to look at these captions and truly heartbreaking...However there is hope for these poor creatures thanks to the amazing efforts of the tens of thousands of volunteers at volontery_ykt and the vetinary staff who are doing their utmost to help them all. Bless you angels for blessing our friends in need...
Anonymous, Switzerland
19/12/2020 01:37
18
1
1

Add your comment

We welcome a healthy debate, but do not accept offensive or abusive comments. Please also read 'Siberian Times' Privacy Policy

Name

Town/Country

Add your comments

The views expressed in the comments above are those of our readers. 'Siberian Times' reserves the right to pre-moderate some comments.

Control code*

Type the code

* obligatory


News

Business

The Bank of Russia official exchange rates of foreign currencies
EUR99.71USD92.26GBP116.52Other...