Some people look at them with disgust and call them 'monsters,' others regard them as saviors. But in reality they are dog catchers, who work for the municipal organization Animals in the City.
Every day the firm's 15 catchers go out to hunt stray dogs around Kyiv, acting on notifications from municipal authorities about new packs of wandering animals in their area.
Dogs roaming Kyiv streets usually are peaceful, some even cross the street on green lights together with people. But their quantity and wild nature is what worries dog catchers most.
'A stray dog in a Western country is usually the one that's lost by its owners, whereas in Ukraine it's a dog born in a pit with rubbish, and most likely his parents were born exactly the same way,' said Animals in the City veterinarian Ihor Derevyanko.
Last year, Animals in the City catchers rid the capital of some 12,000 dogs. The figure may look impressive, but in fact the company's operation to eliminate stray dogs from Kyiv is only beginning.
'There is an estimated 120,000 stray dogs living in Kyiv now,' Derevyanko said. 'Since the issue wasn't tackled for two years before our department was started, we still can't reach a point of balance.'
Kyiv's problems with stray dogs date back to 1997-98, when authorities were investigating allegations of malicious treatment of dogs brought against Animals in the City's municipal predecessor by a non-state-run animal welfare group.
During the investigation, which forced Kyiv authorities to close the old dog catching company and hire new people to set up Animals in the City in 1998, stray dogs were propagating uncontrollably.
Now the number of dogs is so large that Animals in the City acknowledge they are hardly able to keep the dog population from growing.
'During the time dog catching was suspended, the number of people bit by stray dogs grew by 67 percent,' said Animals in the City Director Nina Samofalova. 'The situation is such that it demands radical action, but dogs must be treated humanely.'
All captured dogs, loaded in a special van, are delivered to Animals in the City's dog shelter located in a village some 50 kilometers away from Kyiv. Shelter workers spend several days examining the newly delivered pack and select the better-looking dogs in case they turn out to have been lost. These are put in the shelter's cages until their owners are found.
The other dogs – most of them old, sick, or especially ferocious – are put down with an injection of drugs.
The bodies of dead dogs are taken to a special plant for disposing of biological substances outside Kyiv, where they are processed into fertilizing material for use in agriculture. However, Animals in the City plans to open its own crematory and a dog burial ground at the shelter soon.
'We've already tested it once: an American, who wanted to take the ashes of his dead dog back home, gave it to us to cremate,' Samofalova said.
Animals in the City's catchers usually have to put up with harsh rebukes from observers who sometimes accuse them of killing dogs by feeding them poisonous meat.
'When we are trying to catch a dog, people around us start calling us 'monsters' and other unpleasant names,' Derevyanko said.
'There are many people who occasionally give food to stray dogs in the streets, and these object most of all. But when we say, 'O.K., then take care of them,' there is nobody willing to do that, because then you'll have to feed the dog every day and make sure it is vaccinated every year.'
But the unluckiest catchers are those from Animals in the City who have been ordered by the courts to seize someone's pet for an offense such as biting a passer-by.
'Usually, rulings on such lawsuits are taken even if the dog's owner doesn't show up in court,' said lawyer Zhanna Shymanko, who was involved in one such case last year.
'So the family may have no idea that its pet is about to be taken away until a team of dog catchers rings the doorbell.'
More rarely, dog owners, who have no longer want their pets bring them to the shelter to dispose of them.
'Some people buy a little cute-looking puppet, but then grow to dislike it as it becomes older,' Derevyanko said. 'Eventually, they either set it free on the streets or bring it to us.'
Sometimes, dog owners don't hesitate to demand that their pet be put down immediately.
'Recently a man brought us his dog after it bit someone in his family and demanded that the animal be killed,' Samofalova said. 'Moreover, he wanted to observe the procedure.'
Samofalova said that last year a total of 170 rejected dogs were brought to Animals in the City's shelter, where about 200 dogs are kept at any given time.
Sometimes, owners change their minds and take their pets back, but in most cases Animals in the City has to look for a new place for the abandoned dogs to live, she said.
'It so depressing when people think of us as monsters,' Samofalova said. 'On one hand they reproach us that there are too many stray dogs in the city, on the other, they criticize us for catching them. 'But almost all of us have dogs at home,' she added.
