The nomination "Responsible for those ...": A veterinarian from Chelyabinsk saw an advertisement for the sale of an owl under the guise of a "parrot" on Avito and immediately contacted the police.
Karen Dallakyan, founder and head of the Save Me Wildlife Shelter, constantly encounters similar entrepreneurs. Therefore, monitoring ads on Avito and other platforms is a common thing for him. After all, it is there that they are trying to sell various exotic animals and birds almost openly. That's what happened this summer, when one of the locals decided to enrich himself and sell a "baby parrot" for 15,000 rubles. But in fact, an ordinary tiny owl, which was taken from the nest.
"All owls are protected by the international CITES list, they cannot be sold. We made a test purchase together with the police. The money was marked, the operatives went with us, it was good that the young man did not fight, he was afraid. He told us that he had found an owl and wanted it to fall into normal hands. We took the bird for rehabilitation," Karen Dallakian said.
According to the animal rights activist, wild birds were often taken out of their nests to be sold later. In this case, the chicks were waiting for their mother to come to feed them. These flocks do not move on their own, they have not yet taken to the wing. And unscrupulous people take advantage of this and take birds from the wild. The situation is especially alarming where there are Red Book birds. The chicks are not just removed from their nests, but also ringed before sale to show that they were allegedly born in captivity.
"Our owl was born one and a half to two months old. While he was considered evidence, he lived with us. But in any case, the bird had to go through quarantine, recover from what he had suffered, he was exhausted. We eliminated all diseases, and then he was kept like a wild bird. He lived separately in an aviary, and when he started killing chickens and mice himself, we let him out. The owl is not tamed, the feathers changed, stood on a wing and flew away," Karen Dallakyan continues the story.
This year, the Award Organizing Committee received applications to nominate a Chelyabinsk animal rights activist from several residents and public organizations, including the All-Russian Popular Front, of which Karen Dallakyan is co-chairman in the Chelyabinsk region.
The Save Me shelter, unique for the region, has been repeatedly reported in the media, and journalists and AiF – Chelyabinsk have talked about how the shelter has introduced the practice of pets rescuing and feeding wild animals.
The story of the owl is not an isolated one for the Save Me shelter this year. It was only for a couple of summer weeks that Karen Dallakyan found those who were trying to sell live "goods" for exotic lovers: two lion cubs, a leopard and a tiger cub. In Surgut, it got to the point that the predator was taken away from the seller along with the riot police.
To change the situation in the animal world for the better, Karen Dallakyan is preparing an appeal to the State Duma of the Russian Federation with specific proposals. In his opinion, it is necessary to toughen penalties for the sale and breeding of predators, and conduct regular raids to identify such violations.
Photos from the personal archive of Karen Dallakyan and the All-Russian Popular Front in the Chelyabinsk region.