Animal Welfare

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A protest for World Animal Day on 4 October in Baku, Azerbaijan. Photo: Ismayil Taghiyev.

Animal Welfare

Blood and democracy: the fight for animal rights in Azerbaijan

by Ali Malikov

•5 min read

In Azerbaijan, animal rights activists have been protesting the illegal shooting of dogs by municipal authorities, but are doing so in the face of legal challenges and police brutality. ‘We often see blood on the streets,’ says Kamran Mammadli, a 27-year-old vegan activist. Mammadli has been engaged in animal rights activism since the movement began to gain momentum in Azerbaijan, around four years ago. He tells OC Media that state violence against stray dogs played a driving role in the mo

Animal Welfare

Activists protest alleged dog-killings by shelter for strays in Baku

by Ismi Aghayev

•1 min read

Animal rights activists staged a protest in front of the Toplan Centre for Stray Dogs in Baku. They have claimed that rather than taking care of the stray dogs the centre kills them. The 8 July protest was attended by roughly two dozen protesters, who held up signs and chanted ‘don’t kill dogs’. Shortly after the demonstration began, police broke up the protest and detained five participants. Nijat Ismayilov, one of the detainees, told OC Media that police took the activists to a police sta

Animal Welfare

Hundreds of endangered seals wash up dead on Daghestan’s shores

by OC Media

•1 min read

Hundreds of seals listed in Russia’s Red Book of endangered species have been washing up dead on the Caspian coast in the Daghestan in what activists warn could amount to an environmental disaster. On Wednesday, ecologists found the remains of 125 Caspian seals on the shores near the capital, Makhachkala — a record for a single day. Ecologists and scientists studying the Caspian Sea have said that around 17–30 corpses are washing up per day. Footage of beaches littered with dead animals rel

The demonstration on 5 April 2021 was broken up by police as soon as it began. Image via Meydan TV.

Animal Welfare

Baku police disperse protest against ‘systematic killing’ of stray dogs

by Hamida Giyasbayli

•2 min read

Police in Baku have broken up a small demonstration by animal rights activists angered by the killing of stray dogs. Activists reported that six people were detained during the protest on Monday, with police not reporting the reasons for the detentions. One of the protesters, Sanay Yaghmur, told OC Media that there were around 15 people at the demonstration and that police intervened as soon as it began. She said that one of the organisers, Nijat Ismayilov, was detained in his home by police

A bear cub plays with a tree in the Zoological Centre for Bears near Tbilisi. Photo: Tata Shoshiashvili/OC Media.

Animal Welfare

The shelter saving bears from exploitation in Georgia

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•5 min read

Many bears in Georgia are kept in captivity — often as ‘decorations’ to attract tourists. One shelter near Tbilisi is trying to save such bears from a similar fate. Torgva was found 4 years ago in a forest near the town of Senaki, in western Georgia, and taken by local residents to their home. He was not deliberately harmed, the family treated him with love, but they were not able to provide the conditions he needed to live a good life. ‘He lived for 4 years in a basement, on the first floor

Animal Welfare

Man charged over ‘killing of dog’

by OC Media

•2 min read

The Rustavi District Prosecutor’s Office has filed charges against a 60-year-old man for animal cruelty, which is punishable by one year’s community service or a fine determined by the court, for allegedly killing a dog. On 16 June 2017, the man, who has not been named, is alleged to have beaten the dog to death with a plank of wood with nails attached. According to Netgazeti, the Prosecutor’s Office has asked that the court impose a bail of ₾5,000 ($2,000) before trial. Local news outl

Animal Welfare

Stray dogs shot in the streets in Daghestan

by Volodymyr Soboliev

•3 min read

The recent extermination of stray dogs in Kaspiysk, a town in Daghestan, with the support of local authorities there has caused outrage among animal rights activists. Photos killed dogs in the centre of the town appeared online at the end of May and spread fast among Daghestani Instagram and Facebook users. People reported in the comments that the animals were killed in plain sight of passersby. ‘They’ve repeatedly killed dogs and left corpses there right in front of children’, a