Today I want you to become a witness of a large-scale crime against homeless animals that will soon take place in Kazakhstan. I want you to say out loud that you won't forget and won't forgive the suffering of innocent souls. 

It has been only 4 years since Kazakhstan adopted spay and neuter policy to the relief of animal lovers in Kazakhstan, but the joy was brief and now the government wants to abandon the program as "not effective". What they will put in place is skin-crawling scary. They want to euthanize animals. But meanwhile animals are waiting for their death sentence (anywhere between 5 to 14 days), they will deny them food, water and medical assistance. Again, no water, no food for 5-14 days while waiting for their death sentence. 

This is barbaric and cruel to any animal. Old dogs, sick dogs, puppies, cats, kittens —  all will go through the suffering of thirst, hunger, illness and then eventually death. The greedy politicians don't want to "waste" money on animals who will die anyway. If this makes you wonder how humanely euthanasia will go, you are right to be concerned. Let me spare you gruesome details, most of the time it won't be by a painless injection (because they will steal the money meant for the euthanasia meds). 

You might say "it's just a bill, it's not the law yet", but the reality is that in Kazakhstan most bills become laws, because there is no true democratic process in place. If they are talking about it, they want it to happen, they will make it happen.

According to some reports in media, we are talking about 35 000 animals per year that will go through this torture.

But their cruelty does not stop there. They will also treat any reports of "excessive" barking of pets as the reason to order cutting of the vocal cords. If you decline to do so, they will take your pet away and euthanize them. 

Science has long spoken on the matter of animals. Dog's intellectual skills are of a 2-2.5 year old child (Dr. Stanley Coren’s research). While a cat's intellect is of a 1.5-2 year old (Dr. Atsuko Saito). And we are not talking just smarts here, they are sentient emotional beings capable of love, joy, curiosity, loyalty — but also capable of fear and emotional pain. As we would step up for a 2 year old being abused, we need to step up and speak up for those animals in Kazakhstan. Speak up for those who are speechless and mute. 

Animal lovers in Kazakhstan are making efforts to defend animals against this bill, but we are experiencing pushback from the government. The request for a peaceful protest in Astana has been denied. The attempt to start a petition against this bill through a governmental agency has been shut down by one of the ministries. We are at our wit’s end. 

You might think that if you are not Kazakhstani, your voice does not matter, but it DOES. The corrupt government of Kazakhstan is very careful about the country’s international image. They want to be viewed as a well-developed, economically stable nation embracing the Western ideals. They buy villas in Europe, they send their kids to the best universities of the UK and the US. They want to be seen as equals. Tell them that being barbaric to animals is not a part of Western ideals. Tell them this law will put a blood stain on the face of Kazakhstan. Shame them! 

You may wonder if I am too idealistic, but there is a well-established alternative to euthanasia. Humane spay and neuter program that has proven itself effective in countries like Bhutan, Netherlands and Italy. The key is that it takes time to show results. 14 years in the example of Bhutan to spay and neuter all animals (150 000 of them), 10 years for Italy to see 30% stray population decrease. 

Another issue that I would like to point out is the second hand assistance of the international companies like Coca-Cola, Nestle, Philippe Morris International, Procter&Gamble, Unilever, FedEx, DHL — to name just some. They are all officially present in the country and are big tax-payers, which means their taxes will also fund the killing of homeless animals. I don’t expect them to lobby against the bill, but they could recognize their tax impact and start an animal welfare foundation or fund animal shelters in Kazakhstan. There are currently only a few animal shelters in the country. Each run privately by volunteers. Each operating with zero support or funding from the government. Each being at their full animal capacity. 

I am asking you to speak up and share this petition with as many people as possible. There is still a small chance that enough public pressure from the international community will make them reconsider this vile bill. But if there is nothing we can do about it, we at the very least can promise to never forget and never forgive the suffering and death of the animals that are about to take place in Kazakhstan.