Activists in Sochi, Russia, the host city for this year's Winter Olympics, are rushing to save the city's 2,000 stray dogs from a pest control company that Sochi officials contracted to kill them.
Officials wanted strays off the streets so the city would look more civilized before the Olympics came to town, and though they made a promise last year to build a shelter for the dogs, that never happened. The hunt for Sochi's strays sparked outrage among Russian animal rights activists, and many of them —including a Russian billionaire— are trying to save the dogs by taking them off the road and giving them temporary homes until activists can find something more permanent.
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Some in the group have put dogs up in their own houses, according to the Associated Press. Others have dropped the strays off in temporary shelters or have driven them as far as Moscow so the dogs can have an intermediate place to stay.
And any strays that have not already been saved may wind up in a nearby shelter financed by Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire who has already heavily invested in these Winter Games, according to Reuters. Deripaska, reportedly a dog lover himself, put up $15,000 for the shelter and committed to giving it $50,000 more per year for the foreseeable future.
Deripaska's shelter is called PovoDog, which, according to the New York Times, is a play on povodok, the Russian word for leash. Its rescue effort is being coordinated by Olga Melnikova, who searches for strays by riding a golf cart around the Olympic village. She works for Volnoe Delo, a charity organization also financed by the Russian billionaire, and the shelter is now home to around 80 dogs, including a dozen puppies.
PovoDog sits on a hill in Baranovka, a town on the outskirts of Sochi, and looks more like a row of outdoor dog houses than a conventional shelter. That's all anyone has had time to build for now, because the demands on PovoDog increase every day. Locals continue to drop off more dogs but have not provided much in the way of supplies such as food or collars.
Despite the pressure, the New York Times reports that every animal receives medical treatment upon arrival at the shelter, and all the dogs can be adopted by anyone, including people just stopping by for the Olympics.
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