Sochi Culling Stray Dogs Ahead Of The Olympics

The city of Sochi has quietly hired a private company to kill as many of its stray dogs as possible ahead of the upcoming Winter Olympics, ABC News has learned. The city’s move came after it publicly backed off plans to do so last year amid outrage from animal rights groups.

The owner of the company, Alexei Sorokin, told ABC News by phone that he did not know how many dogs his company has culled so far and would not say when it was hired by the city of Sochi. He suggested the strays posed a threat to the games.

Yet Sorokin also displayed a clear disdain for the strays.

“Let’s call things by their real name. These dogs are biological trash,” he said.

“Russia, in general, has irresponsible dog owners who, when they get bored of their home pet experiment, kick them out on the street,” Sorokin said. “So parks are dumping grounds for unwanted dogs. We end up with many stray dogs who pose a threat to population.”

"A dog ran into the Fisht Stadium, we took it away," he said. "God forbid something like this happens at the actual opening ceremony. This will be a disgrace for the whole country."

WHAT? ... SERIOUSLY? Humans killing all these dogs is A DISGRACE. They are not.

No shelter.

Sochi city hall last year announced a contract "to catch and dispose" of strays in Sochi — a move that animal activists vehemently protested. Authorities pledged to give up the practice and build animal shelters for strays instead.

Activists say there is no evidence that a shelter has been built. But city hall said in a statement on its website that it had opened a dog shelter Monday for 100 dogs.