Japanese death trucks put down stray animals on the move

Gas-chamber-on-wheels scheme introduced after Tokushima residents said they did not want animals destroyed near them

Puppies at a pet shop in Tokyo. Japan had 336,000 abandoned dogs and cats in 2007/8. 
Photograph: Shizuo Kambayashi/AP

Moscow animal rights activists urge Russian president to protect 26,000 stray dogs

MOSCOW — Animal rights activists urged Russia’s president Wednesday to reject a plan by Moscow authorities to send 26,000 stray dogs to a facility outside the city that critics say will be cramped, spread disease and mean certain death for many of the canines.

About 50 activists lined up outside the presidential administration building to submit signed petitions to President Dmitry Medvedev denouncing the move.

“We’ve come here today to ask him to protect Moscow’s dogs,” said Yelena Nadyozhkina, an activist with Russian group Save the Animals.

Though City Hall has shelved the plan for now, the activists want assurances that it will be abandoned once and for all.