Don’t feed stray dogs: Ministry

Manama : People should not feed stray dogs so they would not inhabit residential areas in the Kingdom, Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry yesterday urged the public who were blamed by the ministry for the increasing stray dogs in the country.

“People feeding these animals are one of the reasons why they’re in residential areas,” the ministry said in a statement issued here yesterday in response to the public uproar over the “stray dogs madness” as it was described by some.

The stray dogs issue has emerged in Bahrain in the past few years, as their numbers have been noticeably increasing, especially in residential areas, without “an effective solution”. However, the ministry implemented a BD13, 000 plan two years back, with the aim of catching the animals by placing traps in different parts of the Kingdom and moving them to remote areas, in coordination with municipal councils in all four governorates.

One of the most discussed matters on social media in the past few days was the footage of a foreign woman freeing a dog from one of the municipalities’ cages in Tubli area. The one-minute video also showed a Bahraini woman suddenly interfering to prevent the foreigner from freeing the dog.

The woman was almost attacked by three dogs, few seconds after she grabbed the foreigner by the neck and screamed at her. The footage created a heated debate online and was viewed by more than 50, 000 people on DT News page on Facebook alone.

The public opinion on the incident varied, as thousands blamed the foreigner for opening the cage that was placed by the authorities, while an equal number of people criticised how the Bahraini woman attacked the foreigner and provoked the dogs that were being protective over the person that fed them.

No Law 

DT News spoke to Bahrain Strays Group Founder Fathiya Al Bastaki, who didn’t agree with the ministry’s call to stop feeding stray dogs, saying, “There is no law that prohibits feeding animals, in Bahrain or in any part of the world.”

Al Bastaki claimed that “the authorities aren’t doing enough to solve the stray dogs problem” suggesting that “sufficient funds should be allocated and more effective methods should be adopted such as the Catch Neuter Release (CNR) programme”.

Bahrain Strays is a group of volunteers feeding stray animals, mainly dogs, and calling for the adoption of an animal rights law in Bahrain.

The group has successfully neutered 300 stray dogs in the past three years, in coordination with several establishments of the private sector and donors.

Commenting on the video, the activist said, “The foreign woman in the video is a member of our group. She fed these dogs on a daily basis and was shocked to see one of them trapped in the cage on the day of the incident right at the doorsteps of her house. Her love for these dogs pushed her to immediately free the trapped animal without a second thought. The dogs barked at the local woman because of her aggressive approach. But that’s all the dogs do. They bark. They never harmed anyone as claimed by some online groups on social media networks.”

“I’m not supporting her move to open the cage and free the dog herself. The right action was to contact the municipality and have them release the animal,” Al Bastaki said, adding that “stray dogs caught by the municipality are taken to remote places where they’re not provided with sufficient food or water”.