ASHGABAT — Former public-utility staff in Turkmenistan ordered to cull dogs and cats have offered particulars concerning the systematic nature of the killings, which continued by the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
There have been quite a few reviews in earlier years of the inhumane killing of dogs and cats within the Central Asian state, although Turkmen authorities have by no means formally acknowledged the apply.
But former utility staff talking on situation of anonymity advised RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service how they had been tasked with killing the animals — appearing on “orders from above” — as one animal rights activist describes it.
“If you need to, carry [the dog or cat] from home, however the plan needs to be carried out,” one employee mentioned he was advised by his superior.
Officials at public utility firms problem a quota of animals to be killed and demand that workers implement a particular plan to hold out the killings, which often includes poisoning, ravenous, or beating the animals to loss of life. Others are shot. In order to satisfy the quota, family pets can be focused. Workers who protest the orders are threatened by their bosses.
Those who refuse to hold out the killings are generally additionally made to pay individuals keen to kill animals, with managers deciding how a lot ought to be paid for the job, the previous staff advised RFE/RL.
SEE ALSO: Pet Patrol: Turkmen Dogcatchers Assigned To Kill ‘Seven Stray Dogs A Day’
Recounting an incident from a number of years in the past, shortly earlier than a presidential go to was to take place, a employee from Turkmenabat defined how he was ordered by the deputy mayor to kill two dogs.
“People approached [the dogs] from 4 sides, together with the deputy mayor. I refused to take part, explaining that I used to be only a forklift operator and janitor. Then the dogs had been brutally crushed to loss of life, there was blood in all places on the street, and the corpses had been loaded onto our automobile. My boss and the deputy mayor then threatened that they might speak to me after work.”
After leaving his job and beginning work at a landfill website, the identical employee famous how useless dogs and cats had been introduced there in vehicles.
“There was a watchman who supervised the entire course of. He had a ebook during which he recorded what number of dogs and cats every automotive introduced. Even if the animals had been nonetheless dwelling, they had been buried alive [with the supervisors] not caring that they had been whining.”
Some staff are specifically appointed to kill dogs and cats — their sole obligation in Turkmenistan’s utility providers. But it’s not solely utility staff who’re tasked with the organized killings. City officers have additionally supplied kids small quantities of money to spherical up and cull strays utilizing poisoned sausages or bread.
SEE ALSO: Turkmen Authorities Hire Children To Help Cull Stray Dogs, Cats
Initially used as a way to exterminate the quickly rising animal inhabitants after 1000’s of residential buildings had been demolished within the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, the slaughtering of animals unfold to different areas. Roundups typically intensify within the run-up to necessary state and authorities occasions, corresponding to a go to by authoritarian President Serdar Berdymukhammedov or his father, Gurbanguly, who he changed in 2022.
The barbarism of the apply is commonly raised by animal rights activists.
Speaking on situation of anonymity, one detailed a recent incident that occurred in Ashgabat. “In a park close to a hospital, 18 dogs and cats had been crushed to loss of life with iron rods in entrance of sufferers and folks visiting them. Everyone who photographed this brutality had their telephones confiscated and the images erased.”
The killings ceaselessly take place in full public view. The identical activist advised RFE/RL about one other recent incident at a playground. “One utility employee was holding a canine whereas one other stabbed it within the neck with a knife, as if it was a sheep to be sacrificed. The canine whimpered loudly. It’s arduous to even think about. When the youngsters noticed this they ran home in tears.”
These incidents are occurring regardless of a state regulation adopted in July 2022 towards animal cruelty. It includes a provision that regulating the inhabitants of stray dogs ought to be carried out “by strategies that exclude cruelty and pointless struggling.”
At the identical time the presidential administration takes nice delight in its native canine, the alabai.
In 2020, then-President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov unveiled a 6-meter-tall golden statue of an alabai in Ashgabat and designated the final Sunday of April 2021 a nationwide vacation devoted to the Central Asian breed. His son, Serdar, presides over the Turkmen Alabai International Association.
SEE ALSO: ‘Poisoned Sausages’: Ahead Of National Dog Day, Turkmen Officials Accused Of Killing Pets
In 2021, the facility to confer the honorary titles of “distinguished canine breeder” and “individuals’s canine breeder” was granted to the president.
People wrote on social media that the killing of dogs and cats continued to be carried out throughout the monthlong Ramadan vacation, which ended on April 10.
