Nearly 30 animal protection associations, citizens, environmental protection, have signed a scathing petition for the authorities, calling for urgent intervantions to stop the scourge.
Moroccan animal protection organizations have expressed their “deep shock” and “indignation” at the measures currently being taken against stray animals in Morocco.
“Despite the instructions of King Mohammed VI, and the Framework Convention signed in 2019, under the aegis of the Ministry of the Interior, the TNVR program (capture, sterilization, vaccination and return to their initial environment) to end diseases such as rabies and other zoonoses, has still not been put into practice,” deplores the collective.
The NGOs indicate that the lack of implementation of this practice “gives room for brutal and inhuman acts” and points out that currently “catch and slaughter operations of animals (including puppies and kittens) throughout the country, including those already sterilized, vaccinated and identified” are taking place in several cities in Morocco.
“We strongly disavow the unacceptable excesses of killing these animals, either by killing them by poisoning or shooting live ammunition, or by letting them die of hunger and/or thirst or by capturing them in an appalling way,” say these associations who have denounced the mistreatment of animals on many occasions.
This action “gives a totally degraded and depreciated image of our country in the eyes of those who witness it,” say the organisations in a statement, citing the most vulnerable Moroccan citizens in particular, namelychildren who are witnessing these acts and are traumatized to this violence against harmless animals.
“Visible to all, these scenes also shock the tourists who are, in spite of themselves and more and more often, the frightened and indignant spectators… They then echo the international media who denounce, in turn and forcefully, this situation that causes considerable harm to our country, its tourist attendance and the vision of modernity in which it is part,” complain these associations.
Many blogs and social media accounts dedicated to travel and animals, and simple Internet users have mentioned and reported that Morocco “are not a country that respects animal rights”.
The Collective of Moroccan Animal Protection Associations thus calls for the immediate cessation of the capture and slaughter of street animals, in all cities of the country, and the application of the TNVR program following the recommendations of competent institutions such as the OMSA, FAO and WHO, which radically oppose the extermination of dogs, cats and equidae.
The collective calls for the integration of official and historical animal protection associations, throughout the process of the TNVR program, in a transparent manner as well as the “immediate dissolution of all fictitious private or associative entities, which would not be real animal protection associations in the field”, and which are easily identifiable in the light of the latest developments.
A message is addressed directly to the government, and it aims to urgently include animal welfare and the “A Single Health” approach in the objectives of sustainable development, both in its national government agenda and in the environmental agendas of the UN in 2030 and the African Union in 2063, in order to guarantee the sustainability of ecosystems, protect biodiversity as a whole, says the document.
The group calls for outlawing the systematic slaughter of animals that “would put an end to 60 years of slaughter practice – which have been a bitter failure in the eradication of rabies and other zoonoses and in the protection of public health”.
add your comment
Terms of publication : Not to offend the writer, people, sacred things, or attack religions or the divine self, and refrain from racist incitement and insults.