Rabat – A recent video of an animal abuse case documenting a young Moroccan girl appearing to encourage her dog to kill a kitten has sparked outrage online.
The heinous incident occurred Wednesday in Fes, where a young girl deliberately brought a small kitten for her dog, inciting him to attack her. The cat was tortured and abused before passing away.
In the video she shared on Facebook, she is heard addressing her dog, saying, “The kitten is ugly, isn’t it? Don’t you want to? I don’t like it either… I also do not like cats. Don’t know where to start? It’s okay, you killed the kitten.”
The video was widely shared by internet users who condemned the reckless and inhuman acts of animal abuse, urging the General Directorate for National Security (DGSN) to intervene and hold her to account.
A day after the scandal, the young girl in question took to her Facebook to “correct the misunderstanding,” claiming that what was shown in the video was not intentional.
“My dog has a problem following cats on the streets. The solution I thought of was to bring a cat so my dog can get used to it … I do not stand cats that is why I said what I have said in that video,” she noted.
“I only left them alone for 10 minutes, when I returned, the cat was no longer alive. I have proof that I don’t bring cats for my dog to turture and eat, I apologize and I should not have shared the video,” she added.
The young girl claimed that she wasn’t at the scene when the incident happened, however, many accused her of lying since the widespread video was captioned with “before [the dog] kills [the kitten].”
Animal welfare associations in Morocco have been notably active in recent years to fight against the mistreatment of animals but the government’s action towards animal abuse appears to be still lacking.
Articles 601, 602 and 603 of the Moroccan Penal Code “prohibits poisoning guard dogs, and unnecessarily killing or maiming guard dogs and pets on the animal’s owner’s land.”
According to the Animal Protection Index, Morocco still has to intensify efforts on the legislative side, describing the existing legislation as “limited and provides few protections for animals.”
“The existing provisions within the Penal Code have narrow application and are very limited on the animals that are protected, restricting protection to certain categories of domestic animals, such as those used for draught and farming purposes,” it added.
Morocco is also a member of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), an intergovernmental organization with a mission of improving animal welfare worldwide.
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