Animal rights activists demanded that the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs punish the police officer who shot and killed an aggressive dog.

      The Sverdlovsk Main Directorate of the Interior Ministry has opened an inquiry into a police officer in the town of Sukhoy Log who shot dead a dog that had shown aggression toward people. Animal welfare activists asked for the officer’s actions to be reviewed, reports the EAN agency.

      The incident occurred on November 19. An Alabai dog ran loose around Sukhoy Log for several hours without an owner and was showing aggression. A law enforcement officer arrived in response to residents’ calls.

      As volunteer animal-rights activist Alena Bielitski told Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the police officer, a former K9 handler, called her to consult on how best to deal with the dog, and Alena gave him contacts for a dog shelter. But when the man tried to calm the animal, the Alabai lunged at him, and the officer used his service weapon.

      “Almost immediately locals began loudly protesting from their balconies: in their opinion the dog could have been subdued without shooting,” writes RG.

      An official investigation into the Interior Ministry employee has been opened. “According to preliminary information from the head of the territorial police department, the Interior Ministry representative used his service weapon lawfully,” said Valeriy Gorelykh, head of the press service of the Main Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry for the Sverdlovsk Region.

      In 2019, in the Sverdlovsk Region, an Alabai fatally mauled a resident of Talitsa who, having been drinking, had wandered onto an area guarded by the dog.