Georgian dog auction draws howls

Dog-lovers say the Abashidze collection is vital for conservation

Plans to sell off a collection of rare pedigree dogs in Georgia have drawn sharp protests from dog-lovers in the small ex-Soviet republic.

The 80 valuable hounds belonged to regional leader Aslan Abashidze before he was ousted this month in Ajaria.

A government order to auction off his assets affects all the dogs but one, a giant Caucasian Shepherd.

So keenly did Basmach pine for his master that a plane was chartered in order to reunite them in Moscow.

As Ajarians celebrated Mr Abashidze's departure for exile in Russia on 8 May, Basmach refused to eat or play.

His loyalty became legendary and was widely reported on Georgian television, the BBC's Natalia Antelava reports from the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

The arrival of Basmach in Moscow on Thursday was widely reported on Russian TV.

Endangered breed

However, officials insist that everything else Mr Abashidze left behind will stay in Ajaria.

They plan to auction his fleet of foreign cars, expensive artwork, antique furniture and the rest of the dogs, which are still being kept in neat, spacious kennels just outside Ajaria's regional capital, Batumi.

In a country where the monthly salary of teachers and doctors is less then $50, our correspondent notes, it cost Mr Abashidze more then $20,000 a month to look after his dogs.

President Mikhail Saakashvili says he wants to use the money for schools and orphanages across the impoverished region.

But dog-lovers say Mr Abashidze's dogs are too precious to be sold off.

They credit the deposed leader with saving the rare Caucasian Shepherd from extinction and say that separating the dogs now will wipe the breed out forever.

Meanwhile, Basmach should not feel too out of place in the Russian capital: he was originally brought to Ajaria from Moscow as a gift from the Russian dog breeders' federation to Mr Abashidze.