As part of the ongoing work that I do in Ukraine I review criminal cases relating to animal abuse to see how we can adapt our campaign and our training to tackle crime in Ukraine and help the animals.
Crime in Ukraine – A Tragedy in Kharkiv
Another shocking crime in Ukraine came to court in the last week and made waves across tabloids worldwide. It involves the rape and murder of 6-year-old Miroslava Tretyak who was found naked with a broken skull in the ruins of an abandoned building in the village of Stary Saltov, Near Kharkiv where we visited in August 2019.
To the shock of the nation, the convicted person was a boy of just 13 years of age, a neighbour. Miroslava had gone with him to pick apples for her mother Tatiana.
Law 2351 that we’ve spoken so much about over the last 18 months has now lowered the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 14 years of age in Ukraine and we supported this change through letters that, as Campaign Manager, I wrote to the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada (Government).
Many will remember the tragic case in the UK of James Bulger that led to England and Wales lowering the age of criminal responsibility to ten years old and these two cases share commonality. The offenders committed animal abuse before they killed other children. Jamie Bulger’s killers put rabbits on the railway line to watch their death and Miroslava’s killer not only bullied other children but also hurt animals, on one occasion he beat a kitten to death against a wall, all well before his 13th birthday.
We know from many studies that animal abuse committed by a child is one of the strongest indicators they will go on to harm humans in the future, and yet public protection agencies around the world still miss this red light, either through not recording animal abuse cases properly or not asking the right questions at animal crime scenes. This is what my police training in Ukraine focuses on, and what I have also presented on in other countries, Canada, Italy, Moldova etc. The UK of course has a different protection model in that animal charities are responsible for violence against animals and the police for violence against people.
We must keep pushing this message though, clearly, as there are still far too many cases where perhaps violence against people could have been prevented.
There is still hope to tackle crime in Ukraine
This blog though is called downs and ups for a reason. There is still hope for significant and meaningful change to take place and tackle crime in Ukraine. Since Miroslava’s killer was sentenced (to juvenile confinement as he was found to be sane and cannot go to jail) social media and other media across Ukraine is continually repeating the messages and statistics that I use in the training, so the message is slowly getting out all thanks to the supporters of Naturewatch Foundation who have supported this project and campaign since 2018.
And there is also a positive message being shared too. Most of you who follow our social media channels will be aware of all of the great photos of police officers with animals and stories of how they are helping the stray and abused animal centres, showing how important pets are to their communities. Now the fire service is sharing images of daring rescues and even the military are attending awareness events they to show them the value of animals.
We need to continue this two-prong approach. We must find and convict those that abuse animals, and we must carry on spreading the positive message of how important all animals are in EVERY community.
Written by Mark Randell, Ukraine Animal Welfare campaign manager
