Tangier Authorities Face Backlash Over Mass Culling of Stray Dogs

About 80 stray dogs have been shot or poisoned. The photos taken of this carnage are of unspeakable atrocity. According to the media Le360, "this activity" of the City Hall was carried out by the services of the Municipal Hygiene Office (BMH), which depend on it. Part of the population would be outraged by this inhumanity.

However, things do not stop at this level. Le360 writes: "The inhabitants also face a health and security risk due to the use of this poison, hidden in pieces of meat, and the use of live ammunition". The media lists several neighborhoods of the city where this purge is being carried out: Mesnana, Malabata, Souani and the Corniche. The list is not exhaustive.

The City Hall had even triggered other options that almost made one believe that these uses, from another age, were over. Indeed, not so long ago, in 2018, the municipality and an NGO signed an agreement allowing this structure to house stray dogs and sterilize them. The City Hall even financed the operation, to the tune of 300,000 dirhams. And here the gunshots and poisonings start again, as if the consensus had been reached around this strategy. Many citizens of the city do not find this normal. They strongly condemn this kind of thing.

This is reminiscent of the massacre by fire of 40 cats in the city of Safi by an individual, recently. This led part of the population and NGOs to protest against this act of rare barbarity. A complaint has even been filed about it.