Tbilisi City Hall: So-called animal rights activists are engaged in destructive activities - We call on the relevant authorities to investigate the case and take appropriate legal action
“A group of individuals hiding behind the guise of animal rights activists, obstructing the work of the Animal Monitoring Agency, verbally abusing and bullying our employees, digging up burial sites, and endangering both stray animals and the residents of Tbilisi will inevitably be held accountable under the law,” Tbilisi City Hall said in a statement.
According to the statement, no violations of the law concerning animals have taken place, nor will any occur. The burial sites that were illegally dug up and from which animal remains were removed belong to LLC Hermes and are specifically designated for the burial of animal carcasses.
City Hall claims that the so-called “animal rights activists” are engaged in destructive activities and calls on the relevant authorities to investigate the matter and take appropriate legal action.
“We would like to once again respond to threats circulating on social media against employees of the Tbilisi Animal Monitoring Agency.
For several days, threatening calls and online bullying directed at municipal employees who are conscientiously performing their duties and serving the capital have continued unabated.
Politically motivated groups are publishing photographs of Animal Monitoring Agency representatives on social media, calling them murderers, torturers, and people who bury animals alive, and threatening not only them but also their family members.
The so-called animal rights activists, who have no genuine connection to protecting animal rights, let alone the rights of citizens, are engaged in destructive activities.
You may recall the animal burial sites that were dug up, the remains that were removed, attempts to break into the animal shelter, and now direct threats against the families of people who are simply carrying out their professional duties.
This constitutes obstruction of municipal activities, disregard for the protection of individuals' personal data, and attempts to violate their physical safety.
Taking into account the public interest, we would like to reiterate that no violations of the law concerning animals have taken place, nor will any occur. The burial sites that were illegally dug up and from which animal remains were removed belong to LLC Hermes and are specifically designated for the burial of animal carcasses.
Animals are buried during nighttime hours because numerous carcasses are brought to the agency throughout the day, including owned and stray animals that have died of natural causes or in road accidents. They are collected during the day and buried at night.
All procedures are public and available on the Animal Monitoring Agency's website.
The remains of animals that were brought from the Gori shelter by those same so-called animal rights activists are also buried at these sites. Some of those animals died, after which the activists contacted the Animal Monitoring Agency to arrange their burial.
As for the so-called screenshot that is being deliberately circulated as supposed proof that the agency kills animals, this is yet another lie and an act of defamation.
The only thing the Animal Monitoring Agency continuously seeks to reduce is the stray animal population, and this is achieved through sterilization.
We call on the relevant authorities to investigate this matter and take appropriate legal action,” the statement reads.
