Asylum for confiscated animals opens in Moscow region

A CITES /the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Fauna and Flora/ centre on temporary keeping of animals, detained by customs officers in accordance with the CITES export and import regulations, opens in the village of Chashnikovo, 25 kilometres away from Moscow, on Thursday. The opening ceremony is timed to the World Animals Day. This is the first centre of this kind in Russia.

According to Deputy Natural Resources Minister Maxim Yakovenko, the problem is that not all the 302 species of wild animals, living in Russia and falling under CITES authority, are listed in the Endangered Species Record. In this connection, the ministry is drafting amendments to the legislation to bridge this gap.

The ministry will introduce a bill on payments for negative influence on the environment for consideration in the State Duma soon, Yakovenko said. In addition, the ministry will support the organisations building centres for temporary stay of wild animals.