Tbilisi City Hall condemns threats against Animal Monitoring Agency staff as illegal harassment

Tbilisi City Hall has issued a statement condemning targeted threats against staff at the municipal Animal Monitoring Agency, warning that the campaign amounts to unlawful interference, a breach of privacy, and a threat to personal safety.

The municipal authority raised the alarm over targeted online harassment and hostility aimed at municipal employees carrying out their public duties across the capital.

City Hall alleged that politically motivated groups have been posting photographs of monitoring officers on social media, branding them “killers”, “torturers”, and accusing them of burying animals alive, while making direct threats against the workers and their families.

Municipal officials dismissed the self-styled animal rights campaigners involved in these actions, accusing them of engaging in destructive antics, including illegally exhuming animal burial sites, scattering carcasses, attempting to storm the city animal shelter, and terrorising municipal staff.

Addressing public concern over animal welfare practices, City Hall firmly denied any illegal treatment of animals. It clarified that the burial sites illegally excavated by activists belong to the municipal service provider Hermes and are designated specifically for animal remains.

Burials take place at night due to the high volume of deceased domestic and stray animals collected during the day following natural deaths or road traffic accidents. The city emphasised that all monitoring and disposal procedures are fully transparent and available on the agency’s official website.

City Hall further clarified that the animal remains unearthed at the site included stray animals previously taken from the Gori animal shelter by activists themselves, who subsequently requested the agency bury them after the animals died. Statements circulating online alleging systematic culling by the agency were branded as complete fabrications and defamation, with officials reiterating that population control is carried out strictly through humane sterilisation programmes.

Calling on law enforcement agencies to investigate the intimidation campaign, City Hall warned that individuals masking destructive behaviour under the guise of animal welfare, endangering both strays and city residents, will face full legal accountability.