Rabat – Morocco’s Ministry of Interior issued a circular this week calling on local authorities across the country to avoid using violence against stray animals, particularly dogs.
The ministry has dispatched the circular to all municipalities across Morocco, calling on them to avoid the use of firearms and toxic substances against stray dogs.
According to Moroccan news outlet Le 360, the circular notably encourages authorities to exchange inhumane treatment, with different methods proving effective in tackling stray animals’ challenges.
Highlighted in the document is the urgency of promoting the Trap, Neuter, Vaccine, and Return method, also known as TNVR, an internationally approved and humane approach to controlling stray animals, including cat and dog populations.
The ministry also called for the organization of awareness-raising programs in municipalities, stressing the need to promote moral and effective solutions to tackle challenges associated with the growing stray dog population and other related issues like rabies.
The TNVR method suggests collecting stray dogs while taking into account a humanitarian approach, to allow experts to sterilize them, and vaccinating them against rabies. The approach includes identifying sterilized and vaccinated dogs with ear tags and returning them to the environment where they were collected.
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In 2019, several Moroccan institutions, including the ministries of interior and health, the Office for Food Safety (ONSS), and the National Order of Veterinarians signed a partnership agreement to activate the TNVR mechanism.
Despite pledges and agreements to this effect, welfare and animal rights associations have repeatedly decried the systematic mistreatment of stray dogs, including some cities and municipalities’ condoning of the violent killings of stray dogs to “clean” their streets.
Videos documenting the killing and other inhumane treatment of stray dogs have made the rounds on Moroccan social media platforms in recent months.
One of these still viral videos shows locked up and abandoned dogs left to die in a shelter near Rabat with no food or water. Another video depicts men capturing dogs, including puppies, with a tightly wrapped catching pole
Earlier this month, a group of animal welfare organizations in Morocco issued a joint press release to condemn the poor treatment of stray animals across the country.
The associations’ joint statement warned that mistreatment and brutality of stray animals affect Morocco’s image, especially as the country hosts millions of tourists annually. It also decried the lack of decisive action to humanely deal with the situation of stray animals despite King Mohammed VI’s instructions to the government in this regard.
“Despite the High Instructions from his Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him, and the Framework Convention signed in 2019, under the aegis of the Ministry of Interior, the TNVR program (Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Release to their initial environment) to put an end to diseases such as rabies and other zoonoses, has still not been put into practice,” noted the join statement.
