Penza, 11 March 2016. PenzaNews. The Penza city head Valery Savelyev has inspected the facilities for dogs at the city stray animal quarantine station under the city cleaning municipal enterprise and the measures in place to prevent any attacks by strays.

Photo: Pgduma.ru

Together with Georgy Tyurin, deputy chairman of the City Duma, he visited the quarantine station on Friday, March 11, as part of the preparation before the session of the permanent City Duma committee on public safety, citizens’ rights protection, civil defense, emergency situations and fire safety.

The station is the only Penza enterprise that has the facilities for temporary dog quarantine, explained Sergei Starostin, director of the city cleaning municipal enterprise.

He also described the procedure used to catch aggressive stray animals.

“We are working under a municipal contract and catching animals on requests from individuals and legal entities that are received by the Penza city Communal Affairs Department. After the animal is caught and placed in a cage, it undergoes a 10-day quarantine, and is then sprayed or neutered. 20 days after the operation, the animal is released back into where it was caught or given away to a kind home,” Sergei Starostin clarified.

Valery Savelyev attracted the attention towards the complaints from the citizens who were injured by stray dogs.

“For example, I received a note that a man was attacked in the Yuzhnaya Polyana residential area. Does that that mean that in spite of the ongoing stray catch campaign, completing the objective in full is impossible?” the city head asked.

In turn, Sergei Starostin pointed out that the quarantine station can hold up to 28 dogs, while the current situation requires the facilities for up to 150-200 animals.

“To increase the numbers of strays caught, we need to have the quarantine station reconstructed, procure additional necessary equipment, medication, food and materials, which requires additional financing from the Penza city budget,” said the director of the city cleaning municipal enterprise.

Due to the urgency of the situation, Valery Savelyev offered Sergei Starostin to take part in the work of the permanent City Duma committee to help find the way out of the current issue.