Mykolaiv has spent ₴14.2 million on the capture, neutering and care of stray animals
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- Yuliia BoichenkoReporter
A dog at the Mykolaiv «Animal Protection Centre». Photo: NikVestiIn 2026, the Mykolaiv budget allocated 20.1 million hryvnias for the trapping, neutering and care of stray animals. As of September, 14.2 million hryvnias of this sum had already been spent.
This is stated in the response from the Executive Committee of Mykolaiv City Council to an information request from NikVesti.
The funds are earmarked for the municipal enterprise «Animal Protection Centre». The largest portion of this year’s expenditure is expected to go towards the care of stray animals — almost 8 million hryvnias.
A further 5.5 million hryvnias have been allocated for the capture of animals, and 5.4 million for sterilisation. A separate 1.2 million hryvnias has been earmarked for the collection and cremation of deceased animals.
The city council noted that it is not yet able to provide information on the actual expenditure for each of these areas in 2026. The final figures will be determined once the relevant reporting periods have ended and the financial data has been collated.
By way of comparison, in 2025, 19.1 million hryvnias were allocated from the city budget for work with stray animals, of which 19 million hryvnias were spent. In 2024, funding amounted to 16.5 million hryvnias — almost the entire sum was also spent.
Thus, over three years, a total of 55.7 million hryvnias was allocated in Mykolaiv’s budget for these measures. Of this, 49.7 million hryvnias had actually been spent as of September 2026.
It should be noted that residents of Mykolaiv have been complaining about packs of stray dogs which, they say, attack passers-by. In the first nine months of 2026, 406 people sought medical treatment following bites from such animals. At the same time, more than 4,000 stray dogs have been counted in the city.
