http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
A very brief and very angry diary. The sorry bastards-in-power in Sochi have ordered the murder of stray dogs in and around the facility.
But as the games drew near, authorities have turned to a company to catch and kill the animals so they don't bother Sochi's new visitors — or even wander into an Olympic event. Alexei Sorokin, director general of pest control firm Basya Services, told The Associated Press that his company had a contract to exterminate the animals throughout the Olympics, which open Friday.
The company won't say how it plans on killing the dogs. Bet I can guess a few likely methods.
More across the orange TNR symbol.
Animal activist Dina Filippova is among the opponents of the latest dog-culling plan, saying city authorities are using the Olympics as an excuse to cover an ongoing practice.
"We should understand that it is done not only before the Olympics but constantly," she told the AP in an interview in downtown Sochi, where she was trying to find homes for seven puppies she recently rescued near the Olympic Park. "Two killers from that company work for the city to kill 300 dogs a month."
"It is not humane," she added. "There is a humane way of solving the problem of stray dogs which is used in Europe and the United States and even in some countries of the former Soviet Union — that is a mass sterilization which eventually leads to no stray dogs on the streets."
I've informed NBC Sports that I won't watch a second of the Olympics because of this. If NBC doesn't take a strong, principled stand against this, I will work on a boycott of that network -- and invite you to join. This should expand to key sponsors and the USOC.
If I have to tell you how terrible this is, then you probably stopped reading this diary already.