Authorities and activists are trying to stop what they say is the mass killing of stray dogs in Russia's Daghestan region following a girl's death in what reports said was a dog attack.
Officials in Daghestan's capital, Makhachkala, called on residents to stop shooting stray dogs on February 27, warning that killing animals is punishable by law. http://www.mkala.ru/info/news/2017/02/27/news_13369.html
A petition on the Change.org website to protest the mass killing of dogs had received some 20,000 signatures by February 28.
Media reports on February 19 said that a nine-year-old girl was killed by a pack of stray dogs in Makhachkala.