Two websites for people who poison stray and domesticated dogs are officially included to Russian Internet blacklist, with more similar webpages to follow.

      Russia has a thriving underground community of vigilantes who kill off arguably dangerous stray dogs in areas where animal control measures are ineffective. They explain their activities by the big amount of attacks on people by hungry or sick stray dogs. However, there are also a lot of domestic dogs who were killed by accidentally swallowing the poison, and the great danger for little children to do the same.

      The court ban was imposed at the request of city prosecutors, who said that the doghunters' websites violate Russian laws on information, the animal world and protection of minors.

      The move may spell a change in Russia’s approach to doghunters, none of whom have so far been found guilty of animal abuse. The country’s animal rights legislation only criminalizes animal abuse committed out of hooliganism, for profit or in front of minors.

      At the same time, nobody in Russia can deny the fact that the problem of stray dogs on Russian streets is extremely urgent today. There are an estimated 1 million strays roam the streets nationally. In 2008, the last year for which statistics are available, some 16,600 people were attacked in Moscow by stray animals alone.

      It is the first time Russia blacklists websites accused of animal abuse. The country already censors online “extremist” content, pirated films and websites deemed to promote suicide, illegal drugs and child pornography