Saratov Announces Tender for Stray Animal Management

Saratov is seeking a contractor for comprehensive work with stray animals. A tender has been announced for services including their capture, housing, veterinary care, and return to former habitats under a city program. The first procurement will be for services in the Oktyabrsky district. The contract is planned to be signed by the end of 2026.

The contractor will carry out planned and emergency capture, transportation, temporary holding, vaccination, and sterilization of animals. The main goal is to return healthy, vaccinated, and sterilized animals to their previous environment, except where prohibited, and to find new owners for them. The budget allocates 1.8 million rubles (approx. $20,000) for this.

A similar tender has been announced for Saratov«s Leninsky district. Services here must be provided until November 2026. Requirements for contractors and work standards are identical. However, the amount offered is lower—1.2 million rubles (approx. $13,300).

The contractor must capture animals on a scheduled basis (at least once per quarter) and in response to emergency requests from residents—within three days, or within 24 hours in cases of attacks on people.

Additionally, they will handle temporary placement of animals in specially equipped points (for no more than three days) and in shelters (paid for up to 13 days). Animals are entitled to mandatory clinical exams, quarantine, rabies and other vaccinations, and sterilization.

Shelters must be in separate buildings at least 100 meters (328 feet) from residential areas. For dogs, individual or group enclosures with insulated kennels and exercise areas are required. Facilities must have ventilation, water supply, and cleaning systems. Special requirements apply to quarantine zones and veterinary stations.

All animals must be registered in a unified electronic system and tagged with special non-removable identifiers. Information about found animals will be published online to find former or new owners. Healthy, non-aggressive, vaccinated, and sterilized animals will be returned to their former habitats.

The entire process, including capture and return, must be video-recorded. Strict humane standards prohibit cruelty. Both tenders are being held for the second time; the first attempt failed with no bidders. Saratov faces a severe problem with stray dogs, which often show aggression and attack people.

In late November last year, a stray dog attacked a woman and bit her face. Doctors concluded her upper lip could not be reattached, requiring plastic surgery. The local Investigative Committee opened a negligence case. Also, on October 13 in the Leninsky district on Lunaya Street, a pack of stray dogs bit a local resident as she took out trash.

It later emerged that since 2023, funding for stray animal capture in Saratov has steadily declined. Over two years, funds dropped from 31.5 million rubles (approx. $350,000) to 14.5 million rubles (approx. $161,100), reported 164.RU citing acting deputy head of Saratov«s administration for urban improvement and development Tatyana Rykhlova.