Watch this short National Geographic video about stray dogs saved from a certain death in Sochi, Russia, prior to the Winter Olympics. They have travelled to the U.S. and new homes will be found for them.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.
The activity is suitable for intermediate students.
1 How many dogs came from Russia?
2 What is their personality like?
3 How long do dogs usually stay at the shelter?
4 What does Kelly describe the process of bringing the dogs as 'tremendous'?
5 What are the Sochi dogs ambassadors to?
To check your answers you can read the transcript below.
Bob Ramin:
We had a big day. We had some international visitors come. We had 10 dogs from Sochi, Russia arrive at our shelter.
They look like really nice dogs. I think they’ll be very adoptable, very soon.
They’re in the kennels now working with the staff, being really calm. Kind of a reinsurance that these are nice people here, they’re not going to harm them.
The average length of stay at our shelter, you know it could be anywhere from a week to a couple months. And we always want to make sure that we make the good match that will really stick.
Kelly O’Meara:
It’s been a tremendous process. It has been well over a month of back-and-forth leg work, paperwork. These dogs had to get vaccinated, they’ve had to get the health certificates required for transport.
Everyone was aware that when the olympics were happening, there was the highlight of the terrible dog cull that was in place in Sochi, and had been happening for several months beforehand. Humane Society International tried to address it at that point by reaching out to the Sochi government. But we also learned that there were organizations on the ground such as Povodog, who is responsible for these dogs being here today. They were taking in dogs and taking them off the street.
Humane Society International sees these dogs as wonderful ambassadors to the much larger street dog issue that exists around the world.
It’s been over a month since the Olympics and we’re just thrilled to have them here. Povodog is thrilled to finally be able to send them, and we’re all as excited to finally receive them, and we’re thrilled to be able to facilitate it.
