Sudden initiative of Moscow deputies!
Deputies of the Moscow City Duma will propose to introduce mandatory registration of pets at the federal level. About it information portal Lyudmila Stebenkova, member of the Moscow City Duma Commission on Environmental Policy, told m24.ru.
“The issue of regulating legislation on pets is at the federal level. Of course, there are many complaints from the population on this topic. There are proposals from voters for mandatory registration of pets. In the future, at the end of this year, we are going to consider this issue and propose mandatory registration of pets,” Stebenkova said.
The deputy explained that registration will help save the animal if the owner decides to throw it out into the street or take it to a shelter. It will be easier for an owner to be fined if his dog shits on the street. According to Stebenkova, first of all, this issue should be considered at the federal level in the State Duma of the future convocation.
In most developed countries, society is striving to bring the population of domestic and stray animals under control. It is known that animals become homeless due to careless owners. Some throw away their pets due to moving, allergies, individual intolerances, some simply lose them. If the animal survives, it produces offspring that are already perfectly adapted to wild urban conditions.
Animal owners have previously branded them, especially purebred dogs or livestock: they applied tattoos or put tags on them. IN Lately The USA, Japan and EU countries have begun to use chipping. The chips were first developed in 1989 by Texaco Instruments at the request of Dutch farmers. By the late 90s, they began to be used on dogs and cats in the States and Europe. Since 2004, all EU countries have required dogs, cats and domestic ferrets transported across borders to have an RFID chip or a distinct mark. In many countries, the owner must register the animal, obtain a personal number for it and microchip it. In this case, if the animal ends up on the street, the owner will be easy to find. If he refuses the animal, it will be placed in a shelter, and the owner will be charged money for maintenance. There are large databases with chip numbers, but they are still not centralized. The largest - TASSO.e.V and Europetnet - are united by the international search network PETAMAXX.
Despite the fact that microchipping animals clearly disciplines owners, a huge number of dogs and cats go missing every year in EU countries. In Berlin, about 2.5 thousand animals disappear every year. German animal rights activists believe that they are being stolen by hunters from underground wool factories. About 110,000 dogs are lost every year in the UK, and in about half of the cases they are not returned to their owners.
Dog expert Viktor Galushka said that information about some domestic animals can still be found. "Let's start with the fact that registration of pets already exists, but not at the state level. For example, data on all purebred dogs recorded from the breeders, including pedigree information. There is a single database; if desired, you can identify who is the owner of the animal. Dogs that are adopted from shelters are also included in the veterinary database,” explained the dog handler.
Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Society for the Protection of Animals Kirill Goryachev hopes that the law on mandatory registration of all domestic animals will come into force in the near future. In his opinion, the difficulty lies in the fact that currently in Russian legislation “there is no unambiguous mutual correspondence between the animal and the owner.” “A dog that is walked on the street can run away and bite someone. This is where the owner of the animal becomes liable for causing harm to third parties. Now it is very difficult to prove who owns the animal,” Goryachev added.
The expert believes that the law should affect not only dogs and cats, but also rural animals. “We should not forget that Russia is not limited to cities: horses, sheep, cows and other domestic animals are kept in rural areas. For example, a herd may end up in someone else’s field - it is not so easy to find out who is responsible for the damage,” - Goryachev explained.
In his opinion, it is important to develop a clear system for the practical use of the law. “There must be a specific system, clear mechanisms, electronic registration,” Goryachev noted. “Mandatory registration is important - the owner will not be able to just throw the animal out into the street, but will be responsible for it not only in words.”
Russian citizens were excited by the news of the imminent introduction (beginning of 2018) of a tax on pets. Some news publications and Internet resources actively connected to the hot topic, talking about an “unprecedented law” that supposedly has already entered into force (or is about to come into force) and threatens unimaginable fees for everyone who has a cat or dog at home.
The people became alarmed and even panicked, and among the indignant voices, some common sense calls were lost to not rush and calmly sort everything out.
As it turned out, the law is only being discussed in the State Duma, and it has yet to undergo fundamental changes - after analyzing the opinions of all interested parties, animal lovers, veterinarians, animal rights activists, manufacturers and the rest of the concerned population.
In fact, this topic is far from new; the State Duma began to work closely on laws on domestic animals back in 2010, but they just can’t finish it.
Animal rights activists have long been calling on legislators to bring animal legislation to a manageable state. They offered their own options, but to no avail.
Things got to the point that the president personally demanded “to formalize a civilized procedure for the treatment of animals.” He did this in 2016, focusing on the problem of homeless animals and calling on parliamentarians to speed up work on this resonant issue.
Essence of the question
Less than a year had passed before parliamentarians responded to the president’s demand. The law being considered in the State Duma proposes to formalize human relationships with pets and introduce a financial component into them. This may include tax, registration and microchipping.
At first, only dogs and cats will have to be registered. The data will be entered into a database, indicating the characteristics of the animal and information about the owner.
Veterinarians and animal rights activists insist on paid registration. Residents of apartment buildings agree with them, especially those in whose entrances there live aggressive dogs or a dozen cats in one apartment.
While parliamentarians are thinking, in some places all this is already working - for example, in Crimea.
Registering a dog here costs 52 rubles, the procedure includes examination of the animal by a veterinarian, vaccination against rabies and entering data into a unified register for Crimea.
The owner is given a veterinary passport of the dog (you must pay 109 rubles), and the dog can receive, at the owner’s request, a metal tag or chip (764 rubles).
The most consistent supporters of microchipping are animal rights activists, veterinarians and breeders. They think the dog is mandatory must have a chip. Only in this case does the idea make sense and will protect the animal.
If the dog gets lost or gets hurt, it can be easily found and returned to its owner. If she causes mischief, the owner will have to answer for not looking after her well or not raising her properly.
What is especially important is that you cannot throw a chipped dog out the door, because the owner will be found and punished.
Voluntary chipping is still practiced today; it is done in veterinary clinics, and the data is entered into an international network.
The thought of a tax causes persistent indignation among Russian dog breeders and animal owners, despite the fact that in many countries taxes on dogs have long been introduced and are beneficial.
In Europe
Germans pay tax of 150-300 euros per year. If there are several dogs, the fee for the next one increases. You have to pay more for fighting dogs– 600 euros per year.
The tax on dogs in Holland has the same “progressive” character. If you have one dog, you pay 57 euros per year, but each subsequent one costs 85.
The Swedes pay less, the annual dog tax is 50 euros, the Swiss - 100.
For the Spaniards, an ordinary dog costs a ridiculous amount - 15 euros per year, and a potentially dangerous one - 35. If you adopted it from a shelter, then you do not need to pay tax at all. It is not charged even if your dog performs social function, for example, works as a guide.
There is no tax on pets in the States; this responsibility is assigned to food manufacturers.
But paid licensing of dogs is practiced, although in some states it is voluntary. Here it is believed that owning a dog is not only a right, but also a privilege, so this pleasure cannot be free.
The prices vary from state to state, but they are not low at all, and literally everything is paid for. A discount is usually applied for older owners.
In Canada, both dogs and cats are covered by this procedure; registration is mandatory for all animals. If the owner refuses, he is punished with a fine from $240 to $5000, depending on the circumstances.
At the neighbors
The issue of regulating relations with animals has apparently become so ripe that even the neighbors have begun to stir.
For example, Belarusians introduced an annual tax on dogs, making it dependent on the dog’s height.
In Ukraine, dogs run along the city streets, decorated with dog tags on their ears; such dogs have been spotted in Dnepropetrovsk and Kherson. Chipping is not yet necessary, but it is about to become so. However, there is no tax on animals yet.
In Russia, many people like to keep animals close to them; there are about 20 million dogs, and even more cats, 25-30 million.
Now imagine that all these individuals are covered paid registration, even at the meager Crimean price of 52 rubles. More than 2.5 billion rubles. will go to the budget! True, one-time.
There is also chipping, which will cost owners much more. Today the cost of the procedure ranges from 1000 to 4000 rubles., depending on what region we are talking about (depending on the status of the veterinary clinic).
Not all owners do it yet, but you can oblige everyone who has dogs! This will result in a substantial contribution to the state treasury.
Financial services have probably estimated the possible revenues from the animal tax, but these estimates are only theoretical. In the near future, apparently, they will remain there.
Speculation on a resonant topic, petitions
Fake news about the animal tax has agitated citizens, especially since the topic is sensitive. As a result, a petition appeared on the international platform https://www.change.org calling for a ban on the law introducing a tax on animals in Russia.
In general, the entire process of misadventures of animal laws is accompanied by heated discussion in society. New initiatives are constantly being born on social networks, often resulting in petitions. Their direction is different, it is dictated by the interests of the authors.
Animal rights activists, for example, have long been pushing for the introduction of registration and microchipping of animals. On their behalf, a petition has been posted on change.org demanding that they finally adopt laws that have been stalled for 20 years.
The word “tax” always evokes an unambiguous reaction – a sharp protest. In comments and on forums, residents of the Russian Federation express their opinions directly, without any diplomacy: “Oh, they are introducing a tax again due to numerous requests from workers!”
And immediately the deputies and officials get the nuts; they are traditionally persuaded, regardless of what tax the conversation turns to.
As for the tax on dogs and cats itself, there are often words in support of it in the comments. It is considered as an effective regulatory mechanism in relations between humans and animals. Provided, of course, that the money collected will actually be used to create shelters, special sites, sterilization of stray dogs and other measures in this direction.
Many do not welcome the idea of a tax, but they agree with veterinarians and animal rights activists that the registration of pets should be paid. However, this must be done within reasonable limits, taking into account the social status of the owner.
That is, a tax as a way of withdrawing money from the population, of course, causes unanimous rejection. At the same time, citizens agree to discuss the specific type of tax on pets, and some perceive it as something quite useful.
After all approvals, State Duma deputies will adopt the main document, the law “On Veterinary Safety of Domestic Animals,” and the by-law, “Rules for the Accounting and Registration of Pets.” The bill “On the Responsible Treatment of Animals” is also awaiting consideration.
There is no talk about a tax on animals yet. Although animal rights activists still consider the introduction of a tax for dog owners necessary measure. They also object to the voluntary nature of microchipping and insist that the owner must pay for the registration of a pet - this will help awaken in him a sense of responsibility for his actions.
At the moment, the law under discussion does not indicate any amounts; perhaps registration will even be free. As for chipping, it will remain paid and, apparently, voluntary for now.
All innovations will not be introduced simultaneously; a transition period is provided for this. Here sudden movements are harmful, since deep connections and multilateral relationships are affected. But there is no need to delay, changes are long overdue.
Animals and people are forced to coexist in one common space, and it must be adapted to ensure that everyone is comfortable. Without a cat or dog, we are missing something in life. Probably warmth, devotion, affection and just love.
For our part, we must be guided by the parting words of Saint Experi: “We are responsible for those we have tamed.” In this case, it should be understood absolutely literally, and not complain if this responsibility takes a monetary value. For example, a pet tax form.
In October last year, a law on keeping pets came into force in the Tver region.
From now on, owners are prohibited from appearing with dogs on playgrounds and leaving them alone for more than a day. In addition, the law obliges owners to walk dogs of medium and large breeds muzzled and on short leash, prevent the appearance of unwanted offspring, clean up after animals, and much more. etc. But the main thing: owners must now register each dog at their place of residence.
Where and how to “legitimize” four-legged friend, told readers and. about the head of the State Budgetary Institution “Zapadnodvinsk Station for the Control of Animal Diseases” E. O. EGOROV.
Elena Olegovna, where and how can I register? pet?
Only state veterinary institutions have the right to carry out the registration procedure. Zapadnodvinsk residents should contact the State Budgetary Institution “Zapadnodvinsk Station for the Control of Animal Diseases”.
Registration is given six months from the date the law comes into force, that is, until mid-April of the current year.
Pet registration can be combined with rabies vaccination. In rural settlements Veterinary service employees can travel at the request of the owner. The veterinarian will examine the animal, assign a registration number, and enter the registration data into the special register of domestic animals in the Tver region.
Every year the animal will need to be re-registered. This will reveal the true number of animals and the percentage of vaccinated against common diseases humans and animals.
Do cats need to be registered?
Only dogs are required to register. Cat registration remains voluntary. But, it is necessary to take into account the fact that without a registration document and a passport with a vaccination mark, the owners will not be able to transport the animal by rail or air.
Elena Olegovna, how much does the animal registration procedure cost?
Registration is free. You will only have to pay for the passport form (about 10 rubles). It can be purchased at a veterinary office. This document will contain information about the pet’s date of birth, breed and vaccination records. At the owner's request, the animal will be given an identification number - a brand, a tag on a collar or a chip.
Why do you need an identification number?
The identification number will allow you to identify the animal. For example, if an ownerless animal is caught on the street with identification number, we, using the database created in the Tver region, will be able to identify it and return it to the legal representative.
Will it become mandatory microchipping dogs?
Chipping payable service, therefore it is carried out only at the request of the animal owner. Microchipping is painless and safe for animals. A microchip with a number is implanted under the skin. From it it will be possible to determine all the information about the “carrier” - nickname, address, age, complete information about the owner. To do this, just point a special reader at the place where the chip is located.
Few people doubt the necessity of this law, but who will monitor its implementation and what will happen to violators?
Veterinary services and authorities will monitor the implementation of the new rules local government. In the next six months there will be no punishment for non-compliance with the law. This time is given for people to get used to the new rules, realize that an animal is not a toy, and begin to register their pets without coercion. And six months later the law on administrative violations will make changes and specify the amount of fines.
P. S As we learned, the State Budgetary Institution “Zapadnodvinsk Station for the Control of Animal Diseases” will soon have its own electronic website (zdsbbj. 3dn.ru). One of its sections will contain information about animals kept in the holding center that need new owners.
The government will approve two lists of animals. The first will include animals, which owners will be required to register in a special state register. The second will indicate those animals that should not be kept at home under any circumstances.
Such innovations will be spelled out in the future law on the responsible treatment of animals. Now the document is planned for the second reading in the State Duma, it is included in sample program parliamentary work for May. And the government is actively preparing amendments that will give the project its final form. The draft amendments have already been sent to the concerned departments for approval.
Propaganda of cruel, inhumane treatment of animals and calls for cruelty to animals will be prohibited. So such sites will be blocked. And it is proposed to establish administrative liability for the dissemination of terrible footage of animal cruelty.
It is expected that from next year it will be necessary to supply pets with a chip with a personal number
But some of the most resonant norms concern human relationships with pets. To register animals, it is planned to create a state information system “Animal Register”, the procedure for the formation and maintenance of which will be determined by the government of the country. So there are still no answers to many questions, for example, who will maintain the register, how to submit information there, and whether all animals will need to be registered. Everything will be decided in due time; the law will only give the government the appropriate powers.
However, information has already appeared in the media that by February 15, a “Road Map” should be developed for the implementation of a system of unique identification numbers for domestic and farm animals in Russia. It is expected that from January next year, Russian farmers and pet owners will have to provide them with chips, a tattoo or a brand with a unique identification number. Under this number the animal will be listed in the state information system, and some vital information about the animal itself can be stored in the electronic database. According to the plans, horses, cattle, deer, camels, Domestic bird, dogs and cats, pigs, rabbits, fur animals and some other living creatures. If the owners do not register the animal, they will fall under administrative liability. An administrative penalty will also be introduced for keeping animals included in the prohibited list at home. Fines will also be introduced for the creation of animal shelters in residential premises, in non-residential premises in apartment buildings.
Labeling, as planned, will take place in several stages. Cattle, will probably begin to be marked in 2018. Chips for dogs and cats will begin to be introduced in 2019. But here, too, everything depends on whether the State Duma has time to pass a law on the responsible treatment of animals, and whether the technical base will be prepared. Let us recall that the draft was adopted in the first reading back in 2011.
Direct speech
Alexander Khaburgaev, naturalist journalist:
This law has been long awaited. Today, housing and communal services have departments for urban fauna. But none of them can say how many dogs live in a city, region, or house. Moreover, we are talking not only about homeless mongrels, but also about purebred ones. After all, the breeder received, for example, a pedigree from the Russian Canine Federation, but wants to take part in other exhibitions with the dog. And therefore he receives another pedigree, but in a different association. And then in some other club. As a result, there is only one dog, but judging by the pedigrees, there are three of them.
To protect the rights of animals, each of them must be registered and have its own passport. For example, if in London they found lost dog, they will find its owner pretty quickly. She is usually microchipped. Using this chip, a veterinarian can easily determine the owner’s name, surname and address. And the latter will have to pay a fine.
We don't have that. All large animals must have such veterinary passports. This will help not only to find them, but also to treat them and maintain their health. Data about which vaccines were used and when can be relevant at any time.
However, the law does not establish any draconian measures against animal owners. The guardsmen will not go from house to house to punish cat owners for not getting vaccinations on time.
Within a month, deputies will decide how, where, in what time frame and for what money citizens will have to register their pets. The corresponding bill should be introduced into State Duma in the near future, confirmed the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ecology and Protection to the Parliamentary Newspaper environment Vladimir Panov.
The deputy said that the document may include payment for identification of pets. It is planned that registration, that is, informing the state that a citizen keeps an animal, will be free, and identification will most likely be paid.
“The cat has four legs, a tail and a head, and several color options. We understand that it is impossible to identify an animal using these signs. Therefore, it is proposed to identify it in one of the ways of the owner’s choice,” Panov said.
It is assumed that there will be two such identification methods. Less expensive is tagging: the owner receives a number, attaches it to the animal's collar, and it is considered identified. The second method is more complicated and more expensive - microchipping, which pet owners now do voluntarily so as not to lose their pets.
If animal identification becomes mandatory, this, according to Panov, “will make it possible to return a lost animal to the owner and, most importantly, will increase the owner’s responsibility both for the maintenance of the animal and for its actions if it causes harm to the property and health of other citizens.”
The parliamentarian does not see any danger that such increased responsibility will scare off owners and people will not want to adopt cats and dogs.
"If a person kind heart, he will take the animal and register it,” he believes.
It is not yet clear how much of a burden the need to register an animal will fall on the shoulders of the owners.
“I sincerely hope that this will be a simple procedure, but this is purely the authority of the government,” the parliamentarian said. “We, as deputies, will ask questions, propose improvements to the by-laws, in order, together with the Ministry of Agriculture, to create a civilized institution that works in many countries and that will be comfortable, understandable, and transparent for citizens.”
Enough time will be given for registration, the deputy assured. “No one is talking about the absurdity that you bring a puppy home and have to register it within a day.”
In addition, specific administrative liability is not yet provided for the owner’s failure to register his pet. This article may appear in the pending bill “On the Responsible Treatment of Animals” or later, the deputy explained, but in any case it will only apply to those who miss the end of the transition period. The transition period is envisaged for three years from the date of adoption of the rules for registration and identification of animals, approximately until 2020.
The list of animals subject to registration and identification has long been available and it was approved by the Ministry of Agriculture last year. This includes cats and dogs. But its provisions are not yet in effect. “Even if you wanted to, you would not be able to register the animal yet, because there are no rules for registration and identification,” said Vladimir Panov.
The by-law “Rules for registration and identification of animals” to the law “On Veterinary Medicine” being prepared by the Government should establish the rules of how, where, and at what cost you will need to register your animals.
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