Poor/working people are forced out to to build facilities ($$$$$$ for developers who support the current government) for the games.

I won't be watching any of this shit this year. Nothing should have to be evicted or die over a sporting event.

Even if it IS the Olympics...it's still not that important in my opinion.

It's for the heartless only.

as well as his country's.

Fuck Putin.

have become part of the Sochi community. They are very friendly and they look healthy. Somebody or somebodies have been watching out or them.

and the stray dogs in Russia riding the subway. They just climb on and some seem to have specific stops they get off at.

My wife has spent some time in Russia, and told me all about these dogs. Most of the Sochi dogs probably are strays, but they're not the sort of feral dogs people think of when they think of strays.

kinda semi-domesticated strays.

I am not, however, surprised at dogs recognizing subway stops. My own dogs will recognize places that I drive to. I particularly noticed it with Mitzi, my first dog, and one that I probably doted on more and trained more than my later dogs. When I took her to either my parent's house or my country property, I could tell that she KNEW when we were getting close to those places. She started to get excited when we started to get close. She recognized the scenery or the routes or something.

Always possible, of course, that she was reading ME though. Perhaps my own body language would tell her when we were starting to get home.

Last edited Thu Oct 30, 2014, 05:09 PM - Edit history (1)

My sister's dog once got loose and met up with a pack of strays -- had he not been a bulldog, he probably wouldn't have survived their attack. The cops finally had to arrange to have the pack tracked down and killed. So when they showed a dog walking right up to a group of athletes last night, I held my breath.

But the dog immediately began interacting with the athletes as if he'd known them all his life. And I thought all the dogs I saw looked rather clean and healthy for "wild," feral strays. It all looked terribly odd to me, but I figured maybe it was because I've never owned a pet myself. It all adds up to one thing: those dogs became strays VERY recently.

P.S. Thanks, Keith.


rocktivity

indicates they are fairly well adjusted. Those dogs were loved. What they're doing in Sochi is a canned dog hunt.

they are paying a pest control company to slaughter them.

In recent months, residents of Sochi have reported seeing dogs shot with poisoned darts, then tossed into waiting trucks. Aleksei Sorokin, the director general of a pest control business, Basya Services, has confirmed that his company has been hired to catch and kill strays, telling local journalists the work was necessary.

The effort to remove the dogs began in October, as did initial efforts to gather up strays and shelter them. Tatyana Leshchenko, an animal rights advocate here, said about 300 dogs a month were being killed in Sochi, at a cost of $25 to $35 each.

Now they are shooting their dogs.

I hate Putin, just hate him. I hope these Olympics are nothing but embarrassment to him.

I am disgusted at the Olympics this year. Am not watching much of it this time. Am really disgusted at Putin. He is a fucker.

Very much sarcasm. Hold the card high.
Will not watch.
Between the corporate aspect, gay trashing, dogs, poverty untold.
Too much like the hunger games.

about this and posted on Facebook about it this morning. Interestingly people seem to be talking about this issue quite a bit. Apparently folks were moved to make room for the athletes village and they were not allowed to take their pets. A local billionaire is funding an effort by local advocates to take in the dogs and re-home them. So sad.

Here's the article -- http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/sports/olympics/racing-to-save-dogs-roaming-around-sochi.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

Thank you for posting the link. At least someone cares enough to try. Blessings on that anonymous billionaire and those doing the heavy lifting in their effort.

Fuck the athletes, Putin and the Olympics.

in progress, refuse to watch any of it.

To boycott as well.

Agree!

Cities hosting the Olympics have a long-standing record of "cleaning up" the city - pushing out the poor, killing stray and feral animals, all that "gentrification" bullshit.

...can sit back and enjoy the Olympics.

I don't care if it is stray dogs or pet dogs....this is so horrible it makes me sick to think about it.

Be it stray dogs, or stray people (an overexageration, I know). What I don't understand is why they don't make a permanent Olympic sight. Greece being the obvious choice. This would eliminate all of the billions of $$$$$ wasted every 2 years (summer and winter games) to provide the venue.