Sample Letter to Wildlife Organization Organization Re: The treatment of stray and wild animals in the Ukraine Dear Sirs, I am writing to express my concerns about the treatment of stray animals in Ukraine. Having watched video footages and read statements of witnesses, I am shocked by the acts of cruelty towards stray and wild animals in many regions of Ukraine. Despite of new Animal protection laws signed in 2006 and 2007, the situation there did not change for the better. Animal services still use dithylinum (suxamethonium chloride), which was outlawed in Ukraine last year, a poison which paralyzes the animal and causes it to die of suffocation in a few hours of agony. There is ample evidence that the poor creatures are still conscious and feel all the pain before they die. Witnesses in Ukraine state that throughout the last year, there were numerous cases of puppies, dogs and cats being intentionally shot by hunters. Authorities of small Ukrainian communities use different kind of poison - rat poison and Isoniazidum (Tubazidum) anti-tuberculosis drug causing cheap, but very slow and painful death. According to Kiev Environmental and Cultural Centre (http://www.ln.com.ua/~kekz/) in 2006 in Ukraine 2,348,000 birds and animals have been killed during sport hunts which are impossible to be considering a proper moral argument for taking life of animals because they are beeing killed for fun. Among them 78 percents of all population of foxes, half a population of wolves and one fourth quails, coots and ducks have being killed for fun. According to their calculations, about 156,000 stray cats and dogs are annually shot in Ukrainian cities and towns. About 2 millions of chicks and hens in lay annually perish in Ukrainian poultry farms because of awful conditions of their keeping. 3,600 animals, most of them are mice, are killed in Ukrainian reserves and national parks for scientific purposes which are most often doubtful from the nature protection point of view. About 200 animals are annually lost in zoos of Ukraine. The total number of lost animals in agricultural farms and circuses, on roads because of traffic, during field and building works, timber extraction, pesticides' use, vivisection and educational experiments in high schools, in drainage channels, sedimentation tanks, electric lines and spring and autumn grass fires, from commercial catching, for collections and for sale, during sport and industrial fishing, and from other necessary or senseless human needs is unknown. And another tragedy was discovered during private investigations by some Ukrainian journalists (http://www.cripo.info/?sect_id=7&aid=37654 in russian) - hunters also kill The Red Data Book Animals in Ukraine. THE STATE NATIONAL PARK "BELOVEZHSKAYA PUSHCHA" (http://bp21.org.by/en ) informs that the number of bisons, Red Data Book Animals, in Ukraine catastrophically decreases. I appreciate your attention to this matter. Such mistreatment of animals can in no way be counted as "humane" and I am asking for your help and trust the organisation like yours can make a difference and influence the Ukrainian government. More information is available here in English: http://www.naturewatch.org/foundation/ukraine/docs/kyiv_stray_animal_control_briefing.pdf - Barbaric Slaughter in Kiev http://www.luckylovers.net/petrescue.html http://forum.doggy.kiev.ua/viewtopic.php?t=13784&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= - The Bloody Slaughter in Chernihiv, May 2007 in Russian: http://ntn.tv/news/ukraine/07/10/04/18/02.html - International Animal Protection Day - Slaughter in Ukraine - October 4, 2007 http://h.ua/story/45580/ - Zaporozhie April 2007 http://animalprotect.org/about/faces/market.html - Black market for animals http://kp.ua/daily/180907/10719/ - Animal cruelty non-stop 1, Septebmber 2007 http://www.kp.kiev.ua/daily/140907/10585/ - Animal cruelty non-stop 2, Septebmber 2007 http://h.ua/story/21505/ - Animal cruelty non-stop 3 http://forumspaskiev.org.ua/databox/2005/10/15001.php - Animal cruelty non-stop 4 http://politsovet.info/news/3873.html - illegal shooting Zaporozhie, May 2007 http://kp.ua/daily/061007/11676/ - illegal shooting Kharkov, October, 2007 http://www.gpu.ua/index.php?&id=151022&eid=313&lang=ru - illegal shooting Lvov, February 2007 If you need more information, you are welcome to contact 1 Kyiv Society for the Protection of Animals - SOS (SPA-SOS) +380 442294295 english and russian 2 Kiev City Society for the Protection of Animals http://animalprotect.org/ +380 44 241 0435 and +380 97 564 5907 russian only 3 Naturewatch http://www.naturewatch.org - 01242 252871 english 4 THE STATE NATIONAL PARK "BELOVEZHSKAYA PUSHCHA" http://bp21.org.by/en - pushcha-xxi@tut.by, npbpby@rambler.ru phone +375 (01631)56169 fax (01631)25056 Sincerely, [Your name] [Your address]