“Beyond all moral boundaries”: Georgia’s National Food Agency slams false allegations of burning stray animals

The National Food Agency of Georgia (NFA) on Wednesday issued a stern response to recent allegations regarding the mistreatment of stray animals, describing claims of burning live animals as “completely groundless” and a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.

To address the hyperpopulation of stray dogs across the country, the NFA has developed a comprehensive management program. According to the agency, the initiative is designed to balance animal welfare with public safety.

The program, which will be implemented in stages, provides for the anti-rabies vaccination of dogs, microchipping, registration in a unified database, and castration and sterilisation, “which will allow us to protect them from diseases, as well as ensure the safety of the population”.

“The hyperpopulation management program has so far only been launched in pilot areas (Imereti, Kakheti, and the Zugdidi municipality), and therefore reports about the mass capture of dogs are not true. We emphasise that the National Food Agency is gradually returning dogs captured from these locations to areas near where they were taken. A different approach applies to animals captured from the territories of schools, kindergartens, and hospitals - they are relocated farther away from those areas”, the statement said.

Addressing the most serious allegations, the NFA labeled the claims of burning animals as a campaign that “transcends all moral boundaries”.

“As for the completely unfounded and false allegations regarding the burning of animals, the dissemination of such claims goes beyond all moral boundaries and represents a deliberate attempt to mislead the public”, the statement noted.

The National Food Agency also addressed concerns related to a shelter in Gori, noting that an inspection conducted by the Environmental Supervision Department found no violations.

“We would also like to state that employees of the Environmental Supervision Department’s Shida Kartli Regional Division promptly inspected the shelter for stray domestic animals in the city of Gori, operated by the Intermunicipal Agency for the Management of Stray Domestic Animals of Shida Kartli. As a result of the inspection, no violations were identified”, the agency noted.