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Rabat – The cry for help from Morocco’s animal lovers is spreading online, protected stray dogs that have been tagged, nurtured, and vaccinated are now being killed on the streets of Tangier in the lead-up to the city’s hosting of the FIFA Club World Cup on February 1-12.
Morocco World News spoke with President and Founder of SFT Animal Sanctuary Salima Kadaoui on what she has described as the inhumane and unnecessary killings of stray dogs.
Prior to our interview, SFT shelter had taken to Facebook to call for help amid what the group says is becoming a desperate situation for dog lovers and animal rights proponents, and activists in Morocco. “Due to the FIFA visit the Wali of Tangier has given the order to kill all stray dogs and the dog killer contacted me to tell me all tagged dogs must be picked up,” SFT wrote in its Facebook cry for help.
The Moroccan Ministry of the Interior is said to have allocated up to MAD 70 million ($7 million) over the past few years to help with vaccination programs and ruled against killing stray dogs in 2019.
However, Kadaoui explained in our interview, her team recently found three dogs killed on the streets of Tangier. She explained that normally the Wali (Governor) contacts her and asks them to remove all their tagged dogs from the streets before any culling activity. On this occasion, however, the Wali has failed to do so or respond to their messages.
Officials in Morocco have previously lauded the SFT Shelter program, saying they understand that the group’s work takes the best interests of the animals and creates herd immunity for fatal diseases like rabies.
Kadaoui notably recalled that SFT Shelter had an agreement with the mayor of Tangier and received funding for their project Hayat, as well as a promise from the Wali himself that “these cullings would not happen again.”
Hayat Project
Since its inception in 2016, Kadaoui’s project Hayat has tagged, nurtured, and vaccinated over 3,400 stray dogs in Morocco. The project is in line with the country’s aim to stop culling and resolve rabies and overpopulation by sterilizing and nurturing the dogs in the humane way which they deserve.
In a heartfelt message, Kadaoui beamed: “Morocco is a beautiful country, with beautiful people and beautiful animals.” However, she claimed with a strong sense of regret, the local authorities are failing to protect their cities’ vulnerable animals while neglecting to show any “compassion or empathy.”
Sounding exasperated at a worsening situation she and her team have tried to improve over the years, Kadaoui vented her frustration with the general indifference over the situation of stray dogs and other vulnerable animals in Moroccan streets. “Morocco is supposed to be a Muslim country, Muslim meaning Islam, Islam is about humanity and humanity is about love, care, compassion, empathy, and understanding towards all,” she said.
As Kadaoui sees it, SFT Shelter is doing the “work of humanity” when it should be the authorities fulfilling this role. “The reason we do this [protect dogs] is to eradicate rabies and protect humans and animals while stopping the culling once and for all,” she stressed.
Through the efforts of their shelter, Kadaoui and her team have managed to sterilize 15% of the canine population — this figure also extends to dogs with families and rescues.
Moving forward, Kadaoui wishes to address the issue with King Mohammed VI, to help protect dogs in Morocco that are not a danger to themselves or others.
In a 2021 interview with National Geographic, Kadaoui emphasized that although adopting strays is essential, “the solution is for humans to learn to live in harmony with the dogs and to look out for them.”
Stray dogs at the shelter in Morocco.
History repeating itself
It has become apparent in the lead-up to this FIFA event and also in October 2022 that culling would soon be happening. Only this time SFT Shelter received no notice from authorities urging them to remove the protected, healthy, and safe dogs from the streets before the culling could start.
SFT’s founder told MWN she was even contaminated as she tried to save a dog that had been poisoned during a culling in October 2022.
In November of that year, the governor of Nador Province was convicted as he went against the Ministry of the Interior and allowed stray dogs to be killed. As a consequence, the governor was ordered to pay a fine of MAD 6,000 ($550).
The judge in the case stressed that developed societies are classed not only by how they treat people but how they treat their animals.
But now that the culling is back again in the run-up to the much-advertised FIFA Club World Cup, SFT’s fight for animals’ rights is increasingly turning hopeless when it is the authorities — who are supposed to punish the illegal cullers — that are promoting and engaging in the targeted killings of “street dogs.”
“The law says it is illegal to poison or shoot dogs… Looks like local authorities do not care,” SFT lashed out in its Facebook post. “Please remember that we never received a penny from the government and we have more than 3,500 dogs and about 2,500 cats. Ashamed of my authorities.”
