ASHGABAT -- Authorities in Turkmenistan's capital, Ashgabat, have started hiring children to help rid the city's streets of stray cats and dogs ahead of the early session of the parliament's upper chamber.
Animal rights defenders in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic complain that in recent days not only workers of industrial facilities but also children have been hired for small money rewards to locate, catch, and kill the animals or bring them to a hangar in Ashgabat's outskirts, where they are left to die without food and water.
The animal rights activists, who have raised the issue online, have faced pressure from authorities, who have visited their homes and offices warning them of possible repercussions.
The campaign to liquidate stray cats and dogs was launched as the country prepares for the Halk Maslahaty (Peoples' Council) session scheduled for February 11.
Such stray animal roundup campaigns have been held for years on the eve of important state and government events.
Meanwhile, RFE/RL correspondents report that Halk Maslahaty members have been held in quarantine at one of the hotels in Ashgabat since January 10 to make sure that "no respiratory disease" could affect the parliamentary session.
Turkmenistan's government has been clinging to its narrative that the country has no cases of coronavirus despite serious doubts raised about the claim.