Malchik

Malchik (Russian: Мальчик, lit. 'Little Boy'; c. 1996 – December 2001) was a black mongrel stray dog living in Moscow, Russia. For about three years, Malchik lived at the Mendeleyevskaya station on the Moscow Metro. In 2001, he was killed when a 22-year-old woman, Yuliana Romanova, stabbed him with a kitchen knife.[1] The incident sparked a wave of public outrage regarding the treatment of animals, and, in 2007, a monument was erected in Malchik's honour at Mendeleyevskaya station.[2]

Malchik
Compassion monument on a 2019 postage stamp of Russia
SpeciesDog
BreedMongrel
SexMale
Bornc. 1996
Moscow, Russia
DiedDecember 2001
Moscow, Russia
Nation fromRussian
OccupationStation resident
Known forPopular resident at the Mendeleyevskaya station, stabbed to death by a railway commuter
AppearanceBlack

Life at Mendeleyevskaya station

Malchik was a black mongrel stray dog, who lived at the Mendeleyevskaya station for about three years. He became a popular station "resident" among commuters and railway employers, who often brought him food,[1][3] and he often defended his territory against drunks and other dogs.[1]

Death

On a winter evening in December 2001,[4] 22-year-old Yuliana Romanova (Volkova) was passing through Mendeleyevska station with her pet Staffordshire Bull Terrier. They encountered Malchik in a pedestrian underpass, and the stray dog barked at the pair.[1] One report holds that Romanova set her dog on the sleeping Malchik.[5] Romanova reached into her purse, removed a kitchen knife, and stabbed Malchik six times in the back, chest and stomach.[5] The dog died several minutes later.[1]

Mendeleyevskaya metro station, where Malchik lived until its death

A shopkeeper from a nearby stall tried to prevent the attack, but Malchik died before the police and an ambulance arrived.[6] The woman was said to have fled the scene and there was no formal investigation initially.[6] However, Romanova was traced back as the killer by Irina Ozyornaya, an investigative reporter of the popular newspaper Izvestiya, who started writing articles about the incident, identifying Romanova as a young fashion model.[6] When contacted by the reporter, Romanova reportedly shrugged off the incident.[6] Later it was revealed that Romanova has a long history of cruelty to animals and psychiatric treatment.[7] After a year of campaigning, however, Romanova was arrested and tried, and underwent one year of psychiatric treatment.[1] The story of Malchik's death received widespread coverage in the Russian media.[3]

Monument

In February 2007, a monument entitled "Compassion"[2] (or "Sympathy";[5] Russian: Сочувствие) was erected at Mendeleyevskaya station.[3] The monument was funded by public donations.[3][8] It was erected on the night of 15/16 February 2007 and officially unveiled on 17 February.[2] A bronze sculpture of Malchik was placed on a monolithic pedestal of serpentine. Among the artists responsible for the monument were sculptor Alexander Tsigal, artist Sergey Tsigal, architect Andrey Nalich, and designer Peter Nalich.[2] The unveiling ceremony was attended by notable artists, many of whom had donated money for the monument's installation, including Andrey Makarevich, Mikhail Shirvindt, Veniamin Smekhov, Oleg Anofriev, Ludmila Kasatkina and Sergey Yursky.[2] The Russian inscription on the monument reads " 'Compassion' is dedicated to humane relationships with homeless animals."[9] The monument has been cited as one of Moscow's most unusual tourist attractions.[10]

Legacy

Joanna Bednarek wrote that Malchik's story typifies the "peculiar mix of cruelty and sentimentality present in our approach to domesticated animals, particularly dogs."[8] In 2019, the postal department of Russia released a postage stamp portraying the Compassion monument in the memory of Malchik.

See also

References
  1. Susanne Sternthal (16 January 2010). "Moscow's stray dogs". The Financial Times. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  2. "The unveiling of "Compassion" monument to stray pets". Moscow Metro Official Site. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  3. Buckle, Jackie (2019). Monumental Tales: The fascinating stories behind the world's pet statues and memorials. Cambridge, UK: The Lutterworth Press. pp. 102–3. ISBN 978-0-7188-9545-7.
  4. "Man brutally kills pregnant dog for no particular reasons". Pravda.ru. 19 November 2008. Archived from the original on 23 April 2010. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  5. "A group of Russian artists shocked with the young girl's brutality initiated the making of a monument to the killed dog". Pravda.ru. 9 November 2005. Archived from the original on 26 March 2010. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  6. "'Compassion', Moscow, Russia: A monument to Malchik, a stray dog who lived in a Moscow metro station until his tragic death". Atlas Obscura. AtlasObscura.com. n.d. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  7. Contrary to many news reports, Romanova was not a professional model: she made only one occasional shot with a Russian modeling agency "Art-Site"; see "Ну, подумаешь, собачку ножом пырнула" Archived 11 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Bednarek, Joanna (2017). "The Oedipal animal? Companion species and becoming". In Gardner, Colin; MacCormack, Patricia (eds.). Deleuze and the Animal. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 71–72. ISBN 978-1-4744-2273-4.
  9. Caldwell, Melissa L. (2017). Living Faithfully in an Unjust World: Compassionate Care in Russia. Oakland, California: University of California Press. pp. 1–2. ISBN 978-0-520-28584-2.
  10. Satenstein, Liana (9 May 2016). "Hidden Caves, Cosmonauts Alley, and More: Moscow's Unexpected Attractions". Vogue. Archived from the original on 20 August 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
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