Picket Outside Kharkiv City Council Building

On December 20, 2017, animal protection organizations held a protest outside the Kharkiv City Council building during a session where officials were considering a mass animal killing program.

The proposed program mirrored previous initiatives under which the municipal enterprise “Center for Animal Management” had killed approximately 60,000 dogs and cats over five years.

The 2018 budget allocated 23 million hryvnias for the Center’s operations, compared to 16 million in 2017. Officials attributed the 7 million hryvnia increase to rising costs and staff wage increases.

The 2018 program targeted eliminating 7,000 animals — 4,000 dogs and 3,000 cats in Kharkiv alone, though the Center also transported animals from other Ukrainian cities to Kharkiv for euthanization.

Despite animal protection objections, 53 city council deputies from the “Vidrodzhennya” party voted in favor of the animal killing program.

In response, local animal advocates organized a New Year’s flash mob protest.