The latest response to the attempts by Sochi to slaughter more than 2,000 stray dogs living on the city streets comes, as these things often do, in the form of a Twitter tag. One of the most memorable aspects of the original report about the city in Russia where the Winter Olympics are to be held was how Alexi Sorokin, the owner of Basia Services, characterized the dogs that he’d been hired to kill. “Let’s call things by their real name. These dogs are biological trash,” Sorokin said, showing a stunning lack of media finesse.

The words “biological trash” are echoing around the Internet and have become their own meme. On Twitter, the tags #SochiDogs has taken off as a way for dog lovers to express their anger at the killing and the callousness behind it. To anyone who loves a dog as part of their family, the suggestion that they are “biological trash” that can be discarded as casually as the box to a microwave dinner is a red flag. And with the #SochiDogs hash, they’ve been making that very clear by having their own pets stand up for their Russian counterparts. It started with this picture, posted by canine Internet stars Pete and Tally:

With that, pets from around the world started posing, protesting the idea that they’re biological trash. Pete and Tally’s Facebook page has an extensive gallery of all the many pictures that have been posted on Instagram and Twitter.

And of course, being media hounds by nature and by environment, Dogster HQ’s resident pups Moxie and Beasley had to show their outrage as well:

In addition to all the homemade pictures speaking out for humane treatment of the dogs in Russia, this picture from Animals Australia has been circulating, and it’s a good one for you to send out on your own Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr. In case the Sochi officials are studiously ignoring social media, Animals Australia is encouraging people to petition the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee directly via a form on their page. Speak out as many ways as you can. In the meantime, remember that Russia has people like Vlada Provotorova who are working hard to save as many dogs as possible.

Via Pete and Tally Facebook Page and Buzzfeed