Last week, Steven Shaklan and Evgenia Mussuri debated Kyiv’s stray-dog dilemma. Steven thinks strays should be humanely, yet swiftly, put down while Evgenia argued such a solution is a cop-out. This week’s top dog and Retort winner is Mykola Ogir, who’ll be dining (with a four-footed friend?) at Time Out.
Hornby’s dictionary describes a dog as a “common domestic animal, a friend of man.”
Note the use of the word domestic instead of stray. Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote that we have to answer for those we have domesticated.
People have lived together with dogs since the Mesolithic period. A plethora of books and movies have been dedicated to them. Grateful men have even erected monuments in their honor.
The fact that the stray dog population began increasing a few years ago was one of the first signs that Ukraine was experiencing misfortune. Unfortunately, nobody paid attention to this sign of society’s burgeoning sickness. Later, the same thing began happening with old men, children and women – and the way society treats them is also an indication of the state of its health.
Jack London reminds us that mercy isn’t a bone given to a dog, but it’s a bone shared with it. So if my letter wins me a lunch, I’ll share it with the stray dogs near Sports Palace. If not, I propose that the eventual winner do the same.
– Mykola Ogir
The problem of stray dogs should be addressed but surely not before someone does something about “domestic” dogs. Those dogs are much more awesome and actually represent more danger and generally poison our lives more than the scared, hungry and often sick stray “Bobiks.”
Killing stray dogs? The next thing to be proposed would be to fight world hunger by reducing the number of mouths. It’s as easy as that – dog owners should pay a tax big enough to allocate money to help the stray dogs.
Hey, leave the Bobiks alone; they have enough problems already.
– Yuri Bovsunovsky
My first reaction to this debate is a line from the film “The Fifth Element;” “Shoot first and ask questions later.”
What is a dog? It is a wolf – maybe just a little more civilized. It has lived as a beast for hundreds of thousands of years. And then a man came along.
But these nice creatures haven’t lived with us all that long. And even man, the most intelligent creature on earth, turns feral after living outside society long enough.
What can I say about dogs? Just that the regression is quicker. And what does the rule say? Kill or be killed.
Let’s obey the rules.
– Vladyslav Polishchuk
I don’t think any personal experience or likes or dislikes matter in this case. And arguments like “Would you kill the poor creature yourself?” don’t hold water.
Stray dogs, or any dogs for that matter, are just animals – and to be human means to make sure that animals don’t suffer, either while living or dying.
You can’t stand the sight of a sick and hungry dog in the street? Take the poor thing home then, or kill it quickly and painlessly. I once had to have a veterinarian give a lethal shot to my dog. He had caught a very bad virus and there was no hope for recovery. By the way, we had taken that dog in off the street.
– Alexander Shabotenko
I hate stray dogs.
When I am passing by a market or any place where stray dogs live and see these dirty, foul and ever-hungry creatures, I feel nothing except disgust. I hate them even more when my female dog is in heat and a pack of stray dogs is following her down the street.
I am sure that they are dangerous for pet dogs, they are dangerous for children and they’re dangerous even for adults. If a pack of stray dogs attacked me, I’d try to kill them all. They certainly deserve death.
And I am sure that many people feel the same way and would wish to kill the stray dog that has just barked furiously at them. But what will happen if you try to do so? The dog will put its tail between its legs and take to its heels. How many people are actually able to kill such a pitiful creature?
I am sure that there are not very many such people. I am certainly not able to do it, because at such a moment, I feel nothing except pity for them. So, let them live.
– Igor Bogatsky
How kind Steven and Evgenia are! Steven proposes killing stray dogs, and Evgenia proposes that he do the deed himself!
But how can we really solve this problem? We should take in the strays and find a way to make them useful. Some households need good guards. Scientists could study them as part of their research on animal psychology. Children whose parents don’t allow them to have a pet could come to the shelters and help take care of the dogs. We should promote kindness toward stray animals in general and publicize information about how to help them.
– Inessa Raina
My day was ruined today because I did not sleep last night. A stray dog decided to break out into a fabulous solo beneath my bedroom window and was soon joined by a harmonious choir. In a word, I was totally deprived of long-desired sleep, and ended up a miserable wreck. Not comfortable.
I myself was also bitten by a stray – and wound up with 40 injections in the posterior as a result. Even less comfortable.
But speaking of comfort, Evgenia, wasn’t it you who once so glowingly depicted the feel of a fur coat – ignoring what it was made from.
Don’t you feel sorry for the poor little chinchilla doomed to sacrifice its life in exchange for a mere magic touch?
If stray dogs pose a danger to my health and life, of course I would throw away all these sentimental feelings and find the will to destroy these animals – though I’m also a sensitive woman.
– Helena Nikitina
I am dog lover. My parents have always owned one or two prize bitches. And I’m strongly on Steven’s side.
Don’t you know that stray dogs are hosts for every kind of vermin? With or without tenders, stray dogs must be killed. Procrastination leads to poisoning not only them but many pets – and possibly homeless people, too.
I understand, of course, that Ukrainian citizens are themselves stray dogs for the authorities – and their criminal negligence of the sanitary state of the capital is just more proof of that.
– Yevgeniy Perkovsky
As a profound lover of animals I would like to think we would take every possibility to cure this most disturbing problem!
I myself have two pets and find their company and loyalty very comforting. Maybe we could start a grassroots program and shelter them on some nice big farm in the countryside? Maybe we could find some volunteers to help clean up these animals so they would be more attractive to prospective owners?
Anything above destroying the helpless animals would be the civilized thing to do. Maybe a neutering program could help reduce the population. There are a number of possible alternative solutions.
– Jay Simon Catena
