Stray dogs caught, killed in lead-up to Sochi Games

Thousands of stray dogs have been living amid the mud and rubble of Olympic construction sites, roaming the streets and snowy mountainsides and begging for scraps of food.

But as the games drew near, authorities have turned to a company to catch and kill the animals so they don’t bother Sochi’s new visitors - or even wander into an Olympic event.

Alexei Sorokin, director general of pest control firm Basya Services, told The Associated Press that his company had a contract to exterminate the animals throughout the Olympics, which open Friday.

Sorokin described his company as being involved in the “catching and disposing” of dogs, although he refused to specify how the dogs would be killed or say where they would take the carcasses.

The dogs have been causing numerous problems, Sorokin said Monday, including “biting children.”

He said he was stunned last week when he attended a rehearsal for the opening ceremony and saw a stray dog walking in on the performers.

“A dog ran into the Fisht Stadium, we took it away,” he said. “God forbid something like this happens at the actual opening ceremony. This will be a disgrace for the whole country.”

The strays tend to gather near construction sites where they have gotten food and shelter from workers. Dogs have even gotten inside the Olympic Park and accredited hotel complexes and villages, in the coastal arenas and venues up in the mountains.

A pack of at least a half-dozen healthy-looking dogs roamed around a loading zone of a gondola, 400 meters (1,200 feet) above the Gorki Plaza in the mountain venues for the Olympics as construction work continued late Sunday.

Olympic volunteers patted and cooed over strays that trotted into the park Monday. Another dog dropped to the ground, sunbathing under the Olympic Rings near a public site where medals will be presented to athletes during the games.

Animal activist Dina Filippova is among the opponents of the latest dog-culling plan, saying city authorities are using the Olympics as an excuse to cover an ongoing practice.

AP