Footage from an animal shelter in the Georgian city of Gori, published on October 15, has sparked a wave of indignation on social media, after which a protest action was announced. The 48-second silent recording shows hundreds of puppies huddled together in a small room. According to animal rights advocates, there were about three hundred of them.
The video was distributed by Mariam Tsertsvadze, co-founder of the organization Animal Project. She wrote that the footage had been sent to her. According to her information, the animals were kept hungry and doused with cold water from a hose, and live puppies were in the same room as dead ones.
The Inter-Municipal Agency for the Management of Stray Animals of the Shida Kartli region, which owns the shelter, issued an official statement. It says the video was filmed during scheduled cleaning and disinfection of the enclosures. The puppies, according to agency representatives, were temporarily moved to an auxiliary space, and the spread of the footage was described as "deliberate misleading of the public."
The agency also noted that dozens of puppies have recently been arriving at the shelter every day, and urged residents to treat animals responsibly and to have them sterilized in a timely manner.
The explanations did not convince animal rights advocates. Mariam Tsertsvadze believes that daily cleaning should not be carried out at the risk of the animals' health, and that overcrowding creates a threat of rapid spread of infections. The political movement "Sartuli" announced a protest outside the shelter walls. Another activist, Tornike Razmadze, called on citizens to take puppies from the shelter in Gori.
Letters