Rabat – A pitch invader disrupted the Club World Cup match between Wydad Casablanca and Manchester City on Wednesday, holding a sign that read, “Morocco: Stop shooting dogs and cats.” The act quickly went viral online, with many left outraged, not just by the disruption, but by what they saw as yet another uninformed attempt to shame Morocco based on stereotypes and half-truths.
The man, whose identity is unknown, is being called out by many Moroccans as an ignorant stunt that did nothing but cause chaos on an international stage. Critics argue that such stunts, far from raising awareness, reveal how easily some individuals follow narratives without any real knowledge of the context or the people they are accusing.
Blind judgment based on prejudice
The incident reflects a growing frustration in Morocco, and across the Global South, with how Western commentators and self-proclaimed activists treat countries they consider “less developed.” It’s a mentality rooted in ignorance and, at times, blatant racism, where non-Western nations are portrayed as incapable of humane governance, and their people reduced to caricatures of cruelty.
This paternalistic mindset was also evident when Morocco was announced as co-host of the 2030 World Cup. Instead of celebrating the achievement, many Western voices immediately began listing the supposed “risks” and “challenges,” painting Morocco as a country in need of supervision, rather than a respected partner.
Some even suggested that the country plans to cull millions of dogs ahead of the sporting event to “clean up” cities for tourists. Officials, including Mohamed Roudani from the Interior Ministry, have strongly rejected these claims of mass killings of stray dogs.
Instead, officials outlined the several steps Morocco has taken to manage the stray animal population humanely and sustainably.
By November 2024, the country had already spent MAD 80 million (about $8 million) on a national program to manage stray dogs. Then in May 2025, Minister of the Interior Abdelouafi Laftit unveiled a far more ambitious strategy: over MAD 1 billion (more than $100 million) pledged to humane solutions.
Among the measures is the TNR Program (Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, and Return), an internationally recognized approach that avoids killing animals. Stray dogs are captured, treated for diseases like rabies, vaccinated, sterilized, tagged for monitoring, and then released back into their environment.
The government has also signed cooperative agreements with the Ministry of Health, ONSSA (the national food safety office), and the National Order of Veterinarians to implement this humane approach nationwide. Plans are in place to construct shelters, dispensary centers, and sterilization clinics in multiple provinces.
A culture that cares for animals
What many of the critics fail to understand is that animals hold a special place in Moroccan society and culture. Across Moroccan cities and villages, it is common to see people feeding stray cats, caring for injured dogs, and involving local communities in efforts to protect them.
It’s this context that many, including the pitch invader, ignored; whether intentionally or through ignorance. His sign did not raise awareness, but instead it reinforced old colonial narratives about people in the Global South being inherently cruel or backward, in need of saving.
Critics of Morocco often come from countries that deal with stray animals by euthanizing them in large numbers, yet they rarely face international shaming. In the US and parts of Europe, dogs are routinely put down in shelters if they are not adopted. But such actions are seen as practical or humane when they happen in the West.
When similar accusations are thrown at Morocco, they are treated as evidence of moral failure. The real problem is not just ignorance, it’s arrogance. And it’s the same arrogance that sees someone run onto a football pitch, waving a slogan about a country they know nothing about, convinced they’re doing something heroic.
