(IQ) Iraqis struggle to reduce vast number of stray dogs

[Guest guest]

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IRAQ

The New York Times in Baghdad

Mar 16, 2009

 

While human beings in Iraq were killing one another in huge numbers, they

ignored the dogs, which in turn multiplied at an alarming rate. Now, stray

dogs are such a menace that municipal workers are hunting them down,

slaughtering about 10,000 in Baghdad since December.

" Give us clean water instead of killing dogs! " Hussein Ali, 62, yelled at a

group of veterinary employees enticing a pack of strays with meat laced with

strychnine. " The dogs are not harming us, it is the water. "

 

Many Iraqis still lack the most basic services, such as sewage systems and

potable water.

 

One of the animal-control officers out poisoning dogs explained that he was

only doing his part, unglamorous maybe, to make life better.

 

" Iraq has many problems, " he said. " We are here on a mission to kill stray

dogs. "

 

With fewer bombs going off and hardly any bodies being dumped any more, the

dogs are perhaps the biggest problem on the filthy and rubble-strewn streets

of Baghdad. Packs of strays scare schoolchildren and people who get up at

dawn to go to work. They gather at open-air butcher shops where customers

choose their meat from flocks of live sheep.

 

Some people believe that the dogs spread disease, not a difficult case to

make in a society that generally shuns dogs as pets, believing them to be

contrary to Islamic edicts on personal cleanliness.

 

The dog problem is not just in Baghdad. The holy Shiite city of Karbala was

so overwhelmed with stray dogs last year that officials there offered 6,000

dinars (HK$41) for each animal caught and handed over to the municipality.

The dogs were shot and buried en masse.

 

In the capital, a programme began late last year in which the national

Ministry of Agriculture's veterinary services teamed up with the

municipality, the police, and even the army in some of the tougher

neighbourhoods, to tackle the problem.

 

Mostly the dogs are killed with rotten meat laced with strychnine. In some

cases, particularly around the city's sprawling trash dumps, the dogs are

shot instead.

 

By the time this campaign is over this month, perhaps 20,000 dogs would have

been exterminated, said Shaker Fraiyeh of the ministry's veterinary services

company.

 

" Our work may be against animal rights, but there is a more important issue,

public health, " said Dr Fraiyeh, a veterinarian in his 30s.

 

He cited two recent cases involving children who contracted rabies after

being bitten by stray dogs.

 

Abdul-Karim Ismail, another veterinarian with the state-owned company

dealing with the dogs, said building and maintaining animal shelters and

introducing other methods for controlling Baghdad's dog population - such as

vaccination or neutering - were too costly and complicated.

 

Some stray dogs have been fortunate enough to find new homes outside Iraq.

SPCA International, a Washington-based charity, began " Operation Baghdad

Pups " in 2007 to help American soldiers adopt and take home stray dogs they

befriended while serving in Iraq.

 

The problem of controlling the dog population was compounded, Dr Ismail

said, by most Iraqis' negative views of the animals. He was one of the few

who had owned them as pets, he said, but had not found it easy. Two of his

dogs attacked people, costing him money in compensation and police bribes. A

third, a female, " eloped with a pack of stray male dogs " , he said, smiling.

[Guest guest]

Surprising, that with so much information available on the futility of

catch and kill versus a catch-spay-vaccinate-and-return programme, that so

little is done to implement the latter.

 

While the article perpetuates the myth that Islam considers that dogs

are " unclean " , the following from the Holy Koran is worth reading and

understanding:

 

" There is not an animal that crawleth on this earth nor a bird that

flieth with its wings, but the same is a people (community?) , like unto you.

All God's creatures are His family " .

 

In the Holy Koran, the Saluki (one of the earliest recognised breeds -

from Yemen) is referred to as a " gift of Allah " and is called al-Hor (the Noble

One) or al-Baraha (the blessed one).

 

It is true that the Prophet (pbuh) did instruct people to wash off the

saliva of dogs from their body by multiple washings - so do medical

practitioners today who recommend that the site of a dog-inflicted wound be

washed thoroughly under running water. Since ancient Arabia probably had a

shortage of running water, multiple washing of the saliva was the next best

thing.

 

S. Chinny Krishna

 

 

 

aapn [aapn ] On Behalf Of

jwed

16 March 2009 14:39

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(IQ) Iraqis struggle to reduce vast number of stray dogs

 

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IRAQ

The New York Times in Baghdad

Mar 16, 2009

 

While human beings in Iraq were killing one another in huge numbers,

they

ignored the dogs, which in turn multiplied at an alarming rate. Now,

stray

dogs are such a menace that municipal workers are hunting them down,

slaughtering about 10,000 in Baghdad since December.

" Give us clean water instead of killing dogs! " Hussein Ali, 62, yelled

at a

group of veterinary employees enticing a pack of strays with meat laced

with

strychnine. " The dogs are not harming us, it is the water. "

 

Many Iraqis still lack the most basic services, such as sewage systems

and

potable water.

 

One of the animal-control officers out poisoning dogs explained that he

was

only doing his part, unglamorous maybe, to make life better.

 

" Iraq has many problems, " he said. " We are here on a mission to kill

stray

dogs. "

 

With fewer bombs going off and hardly any bodies being dumped any more,

the

dogs are perhaps the biggest problem on the filthy and rubble-strewn

streets

of Baghdad. Packs of strays scare schoolchildren and people who get up

at

dawn to go to work. They gather at open-air butcher shops where

customers

choose their meat from flocks of live sheep.

 

Some people believe that the dogs spread disease, not a difficult case

to

make in a society that generally shuns dogs as pets, believing them to

be

contrary to Islamic edicts on personal cleanliness.

 

The dog problem is not just in Baghdad. The holy Shiite city of Karbala

was

so overwhelmed with stray dogs last year that officials there offered

6,000

dinars (HK$41) for each animal caught and handed over to the

municipality.

The dogs were shot and buried en masse.

 

In the capital, a programme began late last year in which the national

Ministry of Agriculture's veterinary services teamed up with the

municipality, the police, and even the army in some of the tougher

neighbourhoods, to tackle the problem.

 

Mostly the dogs are killed with rotten meat laced with strychnine. In

some

cases, particularly around the city's sprawling trash dumps, the dogs

are

shot instead.

 

By the time this campaign is over this month, perhaps 20,000 dogs would

have

been exterminated, said Shaker Fraiyeh of the ministry's veterinary

services

company.

 

" Our work may be against animal rights, but there is a more important

issue,

public health, " said Dr Fraiyeh, a veterinarian in his 30s.

 

He cited two recent cases involving children who contracted rabies after

being bitten by stray dogs.

 

Abdul-Karim Ismail, another veterinarian with the state-owned company

dealing with the dogs, said building and maintaining animal shelters and

introducing other methods for controlling Baghdad's dog population -

such as

vaccination or neutering - were too costly and complicated.

 

Some stray dogs have been fortunate enough to find new homes outside

Iraq.

SPCA International, a Washington-based charity, began " Operation Baghdad

Pups " in 2007 to help American soldiers adopt and take home stray dogs

they

befriended while serving in Iraq.

 

The problem of controlling the dog population was compounded, Dr Ismail

said, by most Iraqis' negative views of the animals. He was one of the

few

who had owned them as pets, he said, but had not found it easy. Two of

his

dogs attacked people, costing him money in compensation and police

bribes. A

third, a female, " eloped with a pack of stray male dogs " , he said,

smiling.