Whats the story behind the killing of Jordan's dogs?

Jordan

Published: 2017-11-14 15:19

Last Updated: 2024-03-29 08:58


Editor: Dala Alhindi

Animal rights activists in Jordan are fighting to save the kingdom's dogs.
Animal rights activists in Jordan are fighting to save the kingdom's dogs.

A group of ِJordanian animal welfare activists took action on Saturday to save the dogs at Abu Alanda, Amman, after they received news that a shooting spree was taking place.

This comes after an unknown number of dogs were slaughtered in Jordan over the last few weeks, following several incidents in which people were bitten by stray dogs.

The group talked to the Abu Alanda’s Junior Governmental Official “Mukhtar”, Salah Al Hunaiti, about the issue, and offered to take the neighbourhood dogs to a safe place. The activists also suggested that they could feed other dogs that are further away from the area.

Hunaiti was reciprocative of the activists’ suggestions, telling Roya: “These dogs help maintain the balance in the environment, and in Islam Allah told us to treat them in a good manner.”

He added that the Abu Alanda residents are willing to cooperate with the animal activists to help the dogs and take them to a safer place.

“The number of dogs are around a 100 in our area and people are scared of them,” Hunaiti noted, adding that, despite suggestions to the contrary, “no dogs were shot at Abu Alanda”.

However, animal rights activists went to assess the situation to help any dogs that may be in harm or in need of basic care.

“Today we are going to feed the dogs in that area to show that we are doing something to solve this issue,” an animal rights activist, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, told Roya.

He added that activists were planning to secretly hiding vaccinations in the meat being fed to dogs, to help any of the animals in need of medical treatment.

The activist added that people who are killing dogs claim that they are following a Fatwa which says that stray dogs should be killed. However, this has been disputed by a Mufti from the Department of Issuing Fatwas, who asked to remain anonymous.

“Not every stray dog should be killed,” he told Ro’ya. “Only the dogs that have rabies and cause harm to the people should be taken care of”, he added.

The hashtag “#stop_killing_them_jo” is trending on Facebook by animal rights activists, who are calling to save as many dogs as possible and put an end to the shooting spree.

One Facebook user wrote that his own dog was killed when it was out in the garden, and he has no information on who killed her, adding that his dog did not look like a stray dog.

“I hope that the government find a better solution, I don’t want anyone to be in my shoes,” he told Ro’ya.