Russia will open animal shelters after a parliamentarian complained strays were being killed in mass purges ahead of the World Cup this summer.

At a meeting with the heads of the 11 regions that will host matches, deputy PM Vitaly Mutko ordered them to organise temporary shelters for animals captured near World Cup venues. Some 2 million stray animals are loose in World Cup host cities, the parliamentary newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Last month, Vladimir Burmatov, head of the environmental protection committee, called on sport minister Pavel Kolobkov in a letter to stop the “mass destruction of unsupervised animals” in host cities and find a humane solution.

Many citizens and activists had complained that stray animals were being shot or euthanised, he told the parliamentary newspaper.