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April 21st, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Russsia’s equivalent of the Riviera is Sochi, the home of the next February’s Winter Olympics. This resort town is seeking to rid its beaches, seaport, and streets of 2000 stray cats and dogs.
Sochi Olympics officials announced their extermination plan on Wednesday. “It’s obvious that there should be no animals on the streets. We have responsibilities to the international community,” said Sergei Krivonosov, a government official from Sochi, in an RBC Daily article. “Killing (the animals) is just a faster way to solve this task.”
The budget-strapped Olympic organizing committee has only $54,000 at its disposal, and corralling animals into safe shelters is much more expensive.
Make no bones about it, animal rights activists are in uproar. Many well remember the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics where officials also sought to exterminate homeless animals. These plans were scuttled when humane societies objected.
Rekindling this fight are regional, animal safety groups who have rallied to protest these actions. “The authorities in Sochi seem to have forgotten that the Olympics are a demonstration of not only sporting achievements but also principles of humanity,” as Gleb Festisov, chairman of the Green Alliance-People’s Party, is reported as saying.
These organizations are bolstered by the Humane Society International’s recent opposition. “It’s an attempt to beautify the problem and in effect it gives a rather graphic and horrific (picture of the city),” said Andrew Rowan, the HSI’s president and CEO in a USA Today article.
The contentious issue has been escalated, with Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev asked to intervene.
If Athens is any benchmark, the Sochi Olympics organizers may run away from these plans with their tail between their legs.
Source Article from http://www.examiner.com/article/sochi-olympics-resort-is-overrun-with-dogs-and-cats?cid=rss
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