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Rabat – A video of abandoned stray dogs in a so-called veterinary shelter in Al-Arjat, near Rabat has sparked outrage among Moroccan netizens.
The video shows several hungry dogs locked up and left without food or water, while dozens of them are thrown dead due to famine inside the public veterinary shelter.
Activists and ordinary citizens alike reacted to the video with expression of shock and disgust, with many calling on authorities to hold the people in charge of the shelter accountable for leaving the puppies and dogs dying of hunger.
The political party Federation of the Democratic Left issued a communique today to condemn the facility staff’s abandoning of the stray dogs in “disastrous” conditions.
“The advisors of the federation in Rabat City Council received shocking photos from the new dog clinic in Al-Arjat, which was built by Rabat Region Amenagements,” the press release reads, referencing a company that is tasked to ensure the implementation of development programs in the Rabat region.
The veterinary shelter has been run for weeks by a new animal welfare association called “the Moroccan Association for the Protection of Animals and the Environment,” the statement added, noting that the shelter was meant to temporarily house stray dogs that authorities collect from the Rabat, Sale, and Temara for vaccination, sterilization.
Read also: Moroccan MPs Demand Solutions for Morocco’s Stray Dogs Problem
According to the statement, the municipalities of Rabat, Sale, and Temara signed an agreement with the association under which the association would benefit from MAD 12 million ($1.17million) over three years to run the shelter and help fulfill the local authorities’ pledge to vaccinate and sterilize stray dogs.
“The advisors of the Federation of the Left praised the initiative, but asked why the management of the shelter was given to an unknown association that had not previously been known for any activity in the field,” notes the political party’s statement.
“Through the pictures and videos that we received, it is clear that the association is mismanaged, leaving dogs without food, with some of them dying and left in the open,” the party fumed, stressing that the association had told the Rabat City Council it was headed by the regional director of the National Office for Health and Food Security (ONSSA) that its members included doctors and and veterinarians.
The videos referred to in the party’s statement show graphic content, including puppies eating carrion.
“We demand that all those responsible for this disaster be held accountable,” the party concluded.
The mistreatment of stray dogs and cats has been ongoing for decades.
One of the latest events documenting such concerns was the killing of stray dogs ahead of the previous FIFA Club World Cup which took place in Morocco in February.
In an interview with Morocco in the midst of that stray dogs killing scandal, President and Founder of SFT Animal Sanctuary, Salima Kadaoui, described the killings as inhumane and unnecessary.
In November last year, a Moroccan court convicted the governor of the Nador Province of killing stray dogs.
In that unprecedented verdict, the court ordered the governor to pay a fine of MAD 6,000 ($550) for the “uncivilized” and brutal shooting and poisoning of stray dogs in his city.
“Developed societies are not measured by how they treat humans only, but also how they treat animals,” the judge stressed while announcing his verdict.
Read Also: Morocco Launches Sterilization, Vaccination Campaign for Stray Dogs
