Moroccan Animal Rights Groups Protest Violent Stray Dog Control Methods

"Some municipalities continue to use violence against dogs, seeking to permanently remove them from urban areas, instead of treating them gently in accordance with the law," denounce these associations, who call for respect for the framework agreement signed in 2019 between the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Health, the Order of Veterinarians and the National Office of Food Safety (ONSSA) aimed at preventing the proliferation of stray dogs and cats, as well as certain communicable diseases transmitted by these animals, including rabies.

The international dog protection organization "Soi Dog" recently launched an online petition to protect stray dogs on beaches and in the streets of the kingdom, calling on local authorities to "end the culling" of these animals. "Morocco is one of the most attractive destinations in the world, but there are individuals who shoot at dogs, a practice condemned in most other countries in the world, because it causes serious injuries inevitably leading to a lot of pain, suffering and death," he told Hespress.

Salima Kadaoui, founder of the "Hayat" animal protection project, will explain that sterilization and castration of dogs remain "preferable solutions to the elimination of these creatures we must protect". For his part, Ahmed Tazi, president of the "Adan" association, indicated that "the killing of dogs does not correspond to the teachings of our Islamic religion, nor to the traditions of our Moroccan society, because we must prefer kindness to violence". Tazi then questioned the effectiveness of these "violent" measures, noting that "we have neither eradicated rabies, nor succeeded in keeping dogs away from the streets".

According to him, "the ideal solution is the effective implementation of the framework agreement signed in 2019. There