Russian Railways announced changes to the documents regarding the transportation of pets on long-distance trains, after the high-profile case of the death of the cat Twix, whom the conductor threw out of the car at a parking lot in Kirov.
The company called the reason for the incident “lack of mutual responsibility of staff and passengers,” a coincidence of circumstances and “individual shortcomings of regulatory documents.”
According to the new rules, train conductors will be prohibited from disembarking animals; they will be required to hand over discovered animals at stops to representatives of animal protection organizations, Kommersant reports.
The incident occurred on January 11 in the carriage of the Yekaterinburg – St. Petersburg train. It was reported that the cat’s owner was transporting him in a carrier, from which the animal got out and began to walk around the carriage. The conductor, noticing the cat walking around, dropped him off in the cold, mistaking him for a stray. Volunteers searched for the pet; on January 20, the animal’s body was found in the snow near the railroad.
According to RIA Novosti, a petition addressed to Russian Railways appeared on the Internet demanding that the conductor be fired.
The Federal Passenger Company, commenting on the incident, indicated that the cat’s owner contacted the conductor only 10 hours after departure from Kirov; initially, he had no complaints against the train crew employees.
Source: Rosbalt
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