MOSCOW, RUSSIA.- More than 300,000 people have signed a petition calling for the dismissal of a Russian train driver who threw a cat off the train because she thought it was a stray.
The white and red-haired cat, known as Twix, escaped from its carrier on a train going from Yekaterinburg to St. Petersburg on January 11. He was found by the conductor, who forcibly removed the animal from the carriage when the train had stopped in the town of Kirov, east of Moscow.
Hundreds of people came together in sub-zero temperatures to search for the animal, which was found dead on January 20, about 8 kilometers from the train tracks. Volunteers reported that Twix had died from the strong cold and that he suffered several animal bites.
The incident has sparked widespread outrage in Russia, and thousands of people have followed the story on social media accounts created to provide information about it. Others shared recordings that went viral in which the cat appears when it is thrown into the snow in temperatures close to 30 degrees Celsius below zero (22 degrees Fahrenheit below zero).
Apologies for what happened
A separate petition calling for criminal charges to be brought against the driver had gathered more than 100,000 signatures by Sunday, after being published on January 19.
Local authorities have declined to prosecute the driver, who has not been publicly identified.
In a statement, Russian state train operator RZhD said it was “sincerely sorry” for Twix’s death and promised it would change its rules on how employees should treat unaccompanied animals.
“We sincerely regret the death of the cat Twix and apologize to his owners,” the company said in a statement posted on social media.
“To ensure that similar incidents do not occur in the future, amendments are already being made to the documents used to transport pets on long-distance train journeys. “Drivers will be prohibited from removing animals from cars, and instead the animals will be handed over to station workers who can contact animal protection groups.”
Source: With information from AP
