The government of Ukraine considers it inappropriate to create separate units for the protection of animals from cruelty in the National Police.
This is stated in the response of Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to the corresponding petition on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers.
The government explained that the powers of the National Police do include responding to statements and reports of offenses related to animal cruelty. In particular, law enforcement officers can draw up a report on an administrative offense or open criminal proceedings.
However, the current legislation does not empower the National Police to carry out preventive and supervisory activities on how citizens comply with the rules and conditions of keeping animals at home, says the response to the petition.
In addition, it is emphasized that currently police bodies and units take an active part in the defense of Ukraine, which is a top priority in the activities of security and defense sector bodies.
It was also noted in the answer that according to statistics, the number of offenses in the field of animal protection against cruelty is a small percentage of all crimes.
In particular, during 2023, the police detected more than 4.8 million administrative offenses, of which only 0.1% related to the relevant field, and out of 369 thousand criminal offenses, only 0.05% related to the field of animal protection.
"We believe that the creation of separate units for the protection of animals from cruelty in the National Police bodies is impractical today. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Police, taking into account the urgency of the issue of protecting and protecting animals from cruelty, are systematically taking measures to increase the level of knowledge of police officers in this area," the answer concluded.
- In 2017, the Kyiv City Council already appealed to the Verkhovna Rada with a proposal to supplement the law on the National Police with a clause on the creation of zoo police.