After the murder of animal rights activists in Almaty: Where should 90 homeless dogs go?

T he bar in Almaty, the largest metropolis in Kazakhstan, is busy this evening. A man and a woman are sitting at one of the tables. “Why should you kill an animal rights activist?” asks the woman. "You can barely make ends meet with a home for dogs. Who was he in the way?"

The man has an idea. “Maybe someone needed the property that the shelter was on?” he says. That doesn't convince the woman. "I heard that the property was leased. Plus, the animal shelter was far out in the steppe. There was nothing there except dog houses," she replies.

Anyone who listens to this dialogue will immediately know that it's about Vladimir Teplyakov. The animal rights activist founded a dog shelter called Twardowski House and named it after his deceased adopted son. Until October 2026, 90 dogs that Teplyakov had rescued and looked after for a long time lived here, in the middle of the steppe in the Almaty region. Teplyakov's body was recently found on the animal shelter's grounds with multiple gunshot wounds. After his murder, the dogs were left to fend for themselves.

The murdered man's wife, Tatjana, also puzzles over who could have had the idea to kill her husband. In conversation with journalists, she describes Vladimir Teplyakov as a quiet person who had no enemies.

Journalist from Almaty (Kazakhstan). Born in 1996. Has been working on Kazakh jurisprudence, public procurement and human rights violations in Central Asia for more than five years.

The family does not have much wealth - they looked after the dogs from their modest salaries. In addition, the area of ​​the animal shelter is far out in the steppe. It's hard to imagine that anyone could have laid claim to this property, she says.

Vladimir Teplyakov is also the subject of the three men standing and smoking in front of a shopping center in Almaty. "What kind of person do you have to be to kill the operator of an animal shelter? And what will become of the dogs?" they ask themselves. There is helplessness.

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90 hungry animals in the middle of the steppe – who would take care of them? A question that apparently concerns many other people in Almaty. And so animal rights activists, animal shelter operators, bloggers and committed citizens started a large-scale information campaign on Instagram. Within two days, 40 dogs found new homes. The remaining 50 four-legged friends were placed in other animal shelters by volunteers after two more days.

Finding space for 90 dogs in such a short time is a remarkable achievement. All animal shelters in Almaty are overcrowded, have financial problems and are financed exclusively by private donations. If one or two dogs find a new home within six months, that is a huge stroke of luck.

This is precisely why the murder of Vladimir Teplyakov has caused so much discussion among the residents of Almaty. On the one hand, the event leaves you stunned by the cruelty and cold-bloodedness of the perpetrator.

On the other hand, it can be observed how people come together in a difficult hour and - through their kindness and commitment alone - make the impossible possible. In moments like these you want to believe that there are more good people in this world than bad people. At least for every single criminal in this story, there are hundreds of compassionate and wonderful people.

It is currently difficult to say whether the murderer will be found. The investigative authorities are silent. So the only thing left for the people of Almaty to do is what they can: talk more often about the dogs from the Twardowski House so that they can find loving families.