Impersonator Threatens Voronezh Man Over Stray Dog Complaints
Given: SNT «Shinnik-1» (a horticultural partnership on the left bank in Mashmet, Voronezh), hordes of stray dogs on the streets torment local residents, animal rights activists have taken patronage over the packs and assigned a caretaker named Lyudmila to them. And the only person trying to fight for his human rights to health, life, and a safe environment is Andrey Shabunin. He is fighting, by the way, for rights guaranteed to him by the Constitution.
The question: what to do if the state itself is hindering you in this?
«I»ll fix you. We«ll probably deal with you»
I have no reason not to believe Andrey Shabunin. My computer is filled with videos he shot of packs of strays overrunning the settlement, crawling out from holes under fences and attacking people, Shabunin in particular. Shabunin does not provoke or in any way infringe on «dog rights» — a note for the animal rights activists, who are very concerned about them.
In the video, caretaker Lyudmila — the kind feeder of the stray packs — sincerely tells Andrey that she loves dogs more than people and that his struggle will come back to him with great troubles.
From the facts gathered by Shabunin, a classic scheme emerges, whereby local officials—adepts of the hypocritical law «On Responsible Treatment of Animals» No. 498-FZ—together with animal rights activists, are breeding stray packs on the streets that threaten sanitary-epidemiological well-being and human lives. Initially, a kind-hearted old woman collected homeless dogs from all around on her plot in «Shinnik» — behind that green fence. The grandmother died, the plot passed to her son. And the kennel, logically, turned out to be unnecessary to him. But the «kind» curator Lyudmila appeared.
«I don»t know who she is to the son of the deceased grandmother — the current landowner. Possibly, no one,« Andrey reasons. »But she constantly shouted at me at the top of her lungs, claiming these are «her dogs». Although, according to my information, Lyudmila doesn«t have a plot in our SNT, she»s an outsider who, essentially, just took responsibility for these dogs upon herself. She comes only to feed them a bit. She apparently has keys to the plot because she freely enters there. Though she doesn«t only feed these, others too, right in the middle of the street, on the ground or in some dirty bowls.»
There is audio where Lyudmila and her husband curse Shabunin foully, stating clearly: the dogs, they say, are homeless, and what would they eat if not for us. The husband promises Shabunin «to deal with him», and Lyudmila chimes in that «it»s better to get rid of him« — meaning Shabunin. But that»s another topic. And the pack behind the green fence, which can«t hold the dogs back, according to Andrey, is only one of three that have terrorized »Shinnik«.
«They tore clothing, bags with groceries»
Shabunin is 27 years old, a design engineer, married, raising a three-year-old daughter and two cats. He has lived in «Shinnik» for as long as he can remember: «First with my parents on Fourth Street. And about three years ago, I bought a plot on Fifth Street, built a house, and now live there with my family.» That«s why he got involved in all this, because he fears for his wife and daughter: »It has already happened that these dogs barked and lunged at them. And at other local residents too — they tore clothing, bags with groceries...«
Andrey can be understood — this autumn in an SNT near Kazan, a pack of fed stray dogs mauled a schoolgirl to death as she was simply walking home. And in that SNT, there was also a conflict between local residents, afraid for their children, and those people who fed the pack.
Andrey says his parents have two dogs — a shepherd named Karat and a mixed-breed dog named Graf, he grew up with them:
«Karat is well-behaved, doesn»t stick his nose beyond the plot. And Graf is a hooligan, so he«s kept on a leash, let off only at night. I love animals. But I»m for reasonableness and safety.«
He recounts the chronicle of his struggle for human existence amidst the kennel, commenting on his own videos:
«I started doing this in the summer of 2024, soon after the city hall opened a hotline for complaints about stray dogs. Here»s a video from July 17, 2024 — a pack of black dogs. Since then, not a single one has been taken away. And here — the main bitch has whelped a second time, and all the born puppies have grown up. The first litter all disappeared somewhere. The second grew up — and that«s when I sounded the alarm. After a year — see the video from June 28, 2025 — a third litter appeared. Eight puppies! By today, some have disappeared, and others have grown — seven big black dogs are running around. And this is a recording from September 11, 2024. A second bunch of dogs. The worst one. Behind this green fence — one, two, three... nine! Actually, there are ten here.»
In the frame — identical grayish-red muzzles with identical snarls and tags in their ears. Yes, all videos, Andrey says, he forwards to me from that very city hall chat for receiving complaints: «The state is aware of everything!»
Shabunin«s correspondence with »the state« is attached: »By the way, when dogs are well-fed, they are, naturally, calmer,« »the state« suggests to the citizen who is afraid to walk the streets and doesn»t want to become food.
«To have catchers come here, I saw it once,» says Andrey. «Back then, they were still contractors — not from the municipal shelter, as now. They took three dogs. But after that, no one else came in my presence, and the dogs kept breeding. Only last December did they finally catch another one — from the black ones.»
«We will initiate a check on why you are not mobilized!»
Andrey throws me files one after another: his complaints to the police and the regional veterinary department and brush-offs from there with the general message that nothing can be done: our law is such, humane to dogs, but not to people. Meanwhile, in one of the veterinarians« responses — signed by deputy head Olga Ratnykh — it is noted that at the address indicated by Shabunin, their commission discovered seven (!) large mixed-breed dogs in enclosures (curator Lyudmila managed to put them there), not vaccinated against rabies, yet they vaccinated only two, because the rest »could not be secured«. Apparently, out of an excess of canine kindness. By the way, the veterinarians considered the dogs as owned, probably Lyudmila»s. And now to the main topic of this text.
On January 17, 2026, a certain woman called Andrey Shabunin, introduced herself as «Maria Alexeyevna», an employee of the city administration — from the «department for work with stray animals». And after mentorly admonitions that he is actually meddling in not his business, she began to threaten: first with prosecution «for inciting discord in a difficult time for the country», and then with a check on why he still hasn«t been mobilized. I recommend listening to the recording to the end, this, dear readers, is beyond the pale.
A quick check of the number from which «Maria Alexeyevna» called showed that it belongs to a representative of Voronezh animal rights protection named Maria. On her old VKontakte page, there are photo reports of canteens for stray dogs at bus stops and in city courtyards.
How this correlates with sanitary-epidemiological well-being is a second question. I sent the full audio of the conversation of their alleged «colleague» with Shabunin to the city hall, the response was expected:
«The indicated person does not work in the administration of Voronezh and is not related to the Municipal Budgetary Institution »Municipal Animal Shelter«. Moreover, the city administration has no departments.»
Departments indeed do not exist. Only «Maria Alexeyevna» for some reason is aware of the entire history of Shabunin«s public struggle and the content of his complaints. Coincidentally, Lyudmila — the curator of the packs in »Shinnik« — has Anna Zolotareva, an employee of the city hall»s ecology department responsible for handling stray animals, as a friend on her personal VKontakte page. The main ideologist of OSVV* in Voronezh — Deputy Mayor Lyudmila Borodina — does not hide that they, officials, closely cooperate with animal rights activists and curators of stray dogs in particular.
***
On January 19, the city hall answered me with this:
«As reported by representatives of the municipal animal shelter, last year, visits were made to the indicated address to identify and capture animals that have not undergone the OSVV program or display unmotivated aggressiveness. Animals were found that have undergone sterilization and vaccination procedures, not displaying aggressiveness. In December, specialists captured one individual that had not undergone OSVV for the procedure. A repeat visit to monitor the territory will be conducted on January 20.»
But the visit ultimately did not take place — now promised in the coming days. And Andrey Shabunin this coming Thursday, the 22nd, when the local police officer for SNT «Shinnik-1» has reception hours, will go to write a statement against «Maria Alexeyevna» — let the police now sort out the connections between officials and so-called animal rights activists, and with their threats against the Voronezh resident too. We will continue the topic.
* OSVV (acronym for «capture — sterilization — vaccination — release into the natural habitat») — a state program for handling homeless dogs, where after rabies vaccination and sterilization/castration, they are returned to the street.
