The Animal Sanctuary Project launched a petition to save Moroccan stray dogs from mass murder and the inhuman conditions they live in once placed in shelters.
The project has a mission of rescuing and providing safe places for dogs, which is why they first launched the petition 10 months ago, but have been actively asking people to sign it this week following tragic killings of stray dogs in the city of Laarache.
The petition was first addressed to the People of ethical treatment of animals (PETA), the largest animal rights organization in the world.
“Right now, as you’re reading this petition, the Municipality of Fes, in Morocco, is gathering hundreds of stray dogs, on a daily basis to be voluntarily stacked in inhumane conditions, tortured, and left to starve to death. We need your help to get an immediate mandate to stop this,” said the Animal Sanctuary Project.
Animal Cruelty against Stray Animals is not recognized by Moroccan legislation and therefore is unpunished. This is why for the most part, anywhere in Morocco, stray dogs and stray cats get tortured without consequences.
Asma Derja, the petition’s initiator told Hespress En that municipal councils still choose to kill stray dogs despite the fact that this approach has not worked in more than 60 years in terms of limiting the number of stray dogs.
“Ending mass murdering of dogs in Morocco is long overdue,” said Asma, calling for international support and intervention to help advocate her mission to obtain an immediate mandate to stop “this deliberate and callous extermination of animals.”
Derja shared an agreement signed by the national union of veterinarians, the ministry of health, The National Office for Product Health Safety (ONSSA), and the ministry of interior that has many clauses and aims including ensuring free vaccines for stray cats and dogs and providing safe shelters for the vaccinated animals.
The agreement was signed on February 28, 2019, yet Derja said that it is neither respected nor applied.
On Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return (TNVR) subsidies, Derja stresses that only very few associations have access to them.
Asma declared that “Morocco is at the forefront of tourism, industry, and renewable energy and wants to be a role model in Africa, which cannot happen if we keep on turning a blind eye to the way Moroccan animals are treated: Mass murders, animal cruelty, abuse, and no consequences.”
She stated that stray animals can be controlled via TNVR, the model followed by every country that has successfully controlled its stray animal population.
“Animal welfare organizations are working every day to apply TNVR, image how they feel when the dogs they so carefully vaccinated and neutered are found murdered in the streets.”
Asma Derja owns a small dog sanctuary that she finances by herself. He has around 35 dogs that she rescued and provided a safe place to, as she tries to find them new homes and loving host families.
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