More than 1,200 stray animals have been caught in Mykolaiv, 900 of which have been neutered since the beginning of the year
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- Darina MelnychukCorrespondent
Featured image: ‘NikVesti’In the first half of 2026, the municipal organisation «Animal Protection Centre» caught 1,211 stray animals. Of these, 963 have already been neutered, 967 have been vaccinated against rabies, and new owners have been found for 84 animals.
This was reported by Oleksandra Kupinets, director of the «Animal Protection Centre», during a staff meeting on 4 August, according to NikVesti.
According to her, in 2025 the organisation carried out a census of stray dogs on the city’s streets to assess the effectiveness of its work and track changes.
«A comparative chart shows that the number of stray animals is decreasing, but not as quickly as we would like. In 2025, a very high percentage of the animals on the streets were potentially owned. This points to the irresponsible behaviour of owners who allow their pets to roam freely. The 2026 count showed that their numbers had fallen, but the problem remains a pressing one. That is precisely why we want changes to be made to the rules on keeping pets, making their registration within the city mandatory. This will help identify the owners of animals left to roam freely,» said Oleksandra Kupinets.
According to the organisation’s data, 4,971 stray dogs were counted on the streets of Mykolaiv in 2025, and 4,021 in 2026. Of these, 2,686 and 1,942 animals respectively were unneutered. The number of dogs potentially with owners also fell over the year — from 812 to 406.
Stray animals within the city are neutered using a trap-and-neuter programme. According to Oleksandra Kupinets, this approach is the most humane and effective. After being caught, the animals are dewormed, vaccinated against rabies, neutered and, where possible, rehomed with new families.
«If you look at the statistics for 2023–2025, you can see that the organisation traps, neuter and vaccinates a significant number of animals every year. At the same time, the number of animals finding new owners has been decreasing in recent years. All animals rehomed from the centre are always registered in the new owners’ names,» she noted.
In addition, since June 2023, the «Kishka» project has been running at the centre in partnership with FOUR PAWS Ukraine. During this time, as of 1 July 2026, nearly five thousand cats have been neutered and vaccinated against rabies as part of the project.
«This is also a major problem. The waiting list for cat neutering has not shortened throughout the project’s duration,» added Oleksandra Kupinets.
She also explained that not all trapped animals are eligible for neutering. This applies, in particular, to aggressive animals or those that have already bitten people. Such animals remain at the centre and are not returned to the streets, so they do not require repeat sterilisation.
In addition, the «Animal Protection Centre» regularly holds adoption events in Kashtanovyi Square, where new homes are sought for stray dogs and cats. The organisation notes that all animals handed over to new owners have already been neutered and vaccinated against rabies. However, in recent years, the number of visitors to such events has been falling, making it more difficult to find homes for the animals.
As a reminder, in Voznesensk, a 7-year-old boy was injured after being attacked by a Central Asian Shepherd dog. The animal ran out of the yard of a private house and lunged at the child as he was walking down the street with his 14-year-old brother.
Prior to this, in Mykolaiv, a dog bolted from a private home and bit five people. They were taken away by an ambulance.
It was previously reported that most of the animals in the Mykolaiv region in which rabies was detected had owners. Last year, there were 18 cases in which rabid animals bit people. Fifteen of them had owners. In other words, the owners had failed to vaccinate their animals in good time.
