Well, who isn’t looking forward to the Sochi Olympic games? I know many might not really care, but they usually don’t have anything against it. Well, I do. I always seem to see the other side of things. Due to the Sochi Olympics, there are some animal rights problems. And I will share them with you!
1. Cat & Dog Cull
2000 cats and dogs will be culled for the Olympic Games. The Russian city of Sochi city has hired a private company to exterminate stray dogs during the 2014 Winter Olympic games. Claiming that it has an “obligation to the international community,” one politician from the regional parliament, Sergei Krivonossov, says that there is “an obvious problem with animals living on the streets” and that “exterminating is the fastest way to solve the problem.”
The city of Sochi stands to make 42,500 euros on the killing of the animals.
Animal activists have been protesting the Sochi government’s decision to cull stray animals and called on other solutions, such as sterilization and the creation of shelters. While the authorities have said they would build shelters, activists contend that there is no evidence that any have been built.
This is outrageous, and we need to take action! Sign this petition:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/972/019/713/2000-street-dogs-and-cats-will-be-killed-for-the-olympic-games-in-sochi-in-2014/
2. Dolphin Performance
A dolphin from Sochi’s Sea Star dolphinarium is scheduled to take part in the Sochi Olympics torch relay three days before the opening ceremony in a small pool in the Black Sea resort on February 4.
The torch will be transported by train to Sochi, and take a ride on a Ferris wheel before swimming with the dolphin. An animal trainer will hold onto a dolphin’s fin with one hand and the torch with the other.
Russia’s Olympic torch had exploded and was engulfed by flames when it passed through a small city near Moscow, on October 18,- as reported by RIA Novosti here; http://en.ria.ru/sochi2014/20131023/184292519/Olympic-Torch-Erupts-in-Flames-During-Relay.html
Russia’s Olympic torches are produced by a factory that also manufactures parts for Russian ballistic missiles, submarines and the space rockets.
Urge the President of the International Olympic Comittees to protect the dolphin to keep her out of the Olympics. Dolphins in their natural ocean habitat, never in contact with fire and, accordingly, have a natural shyness and fear of fire. There is also the risk of another accident in which the dolphin could suffer extremely painful burns, or be killed during training exercises or at the Olympics. Dolphin performances are also inhumane.
Please sign these petition to try and put a stop to this:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/485/027/140/cancel-dolphin-performance-at-sochi-2014-olympics/
There have been animal rights controversy in the Olympics over the years.
The 2012 London games were notable because of a controversy regarding the use of live animals during the opening ceremony. Critics argued that under the 2006 Animal Welfare Act, the animals in the opening ceremony would be subjected to “undue fear and distress.”
Four years earlier, the 2008 Beijing Olympics came under fire after a plot to kill stray cats was uncovered. The cats were taken to “death camps” in order to clean up the streets. As many as 500,000 cats were killed in this plot.
Sochi’s dog killing program is not wholly unprecedented. In preparation for the 2004 games in Athens, the government planned to poison 15,000 stray dogs. This sparked a public outcry.
The 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano also had links to an animal rights controversy. An animal rights group claimed that officials were rounding up macaque monkeys on the outskirts of Nagano. The monkeys were then allegedly shipped off to China, to be used in scientific research.
Well, what a great start to the Olympics!
The Cow With The Big Brown Eyes 