Moscow drops plan to deport thousands of dogs

Moscow's thousands of stray dogs have something to wag their tails about - animal rights activists say the city has dropped a plan to round up the strays and ship them to a camp far out of town.

Animal rights activists had been pressuring the city to abandon the plan, which they said would endanger the dogs by placing them in an environment where diseases would run rampant.

The city government was expected to endorse the plan Tuesday, but Natalya Yunitsyna, head of The Hope Bringers charity, said the deportation proposal was taken off the agenda.

City hall officials were not immediately available for comment.

The Russian capital has an estimated 26,000 stray dogs, some smart enough to use the subway and others who intimidate or attack humans.