Activists outrage at plan to shoot down stray dogs

Animal rights activists as well the BSPCA have criticised suggestions that shooting stray dogs may be a solution for the stray dogs issue.

In a statement released yesterday, BSPCA criticised the suggestions made by Northern municipal councillors on shooting stray dogs, echoing the concerns of animal rights activists.

“The BSPCA is totally opposed to the suggestion made by the municipalities that stray dogs should be shot. In 2012/2013 the society managed to obtain a grant of £50,000 from the Dogs Trust in the UK to carry out a CNVR programme on the understanding that the Bahrain government would allocate funds towards continuation of the scheme,” it stated.

“Additional staff plus vets, vet assistants and two catching teams (a van + 2 staff per team) were employed for the project. Unfortunately when the funding ran out, the BSPCA could not afford to carry out this on as it does not have the resources itself to run a nation-wide CNVR scheme.

The society would like to clarify that contrary to what was published recently it receives no government funding and relies entirely upon income earned from the thrift shop, its fund raising events and donations from the public. For several months now the Society has been advising the municipalities how to set up a CNVR programme and has provided details of what would be required for each municipality to deal with the problem.

In August 2015 it was agreed that it was the responsibility of the individual municipalities to operate such as scheme. However, since that time they have been unable to come to a decision as to whose budget it should go under. All that is required is for each municipality to hire one or two staff and purchase a vehicle and traps. The BSPCA has offered to train the staff and the municipality staff will take the a animals to the Ministry of Animal wealth to undergo the neutering operation and then return them. The society will continue to carry out free neutering for any strays (both dogs and cats) that the public brings to them but does not have the resources to catch them and asks that the dogs are brought to the AWC at Askar wherever possible. We would request people to first contact the AWC on 17591231 to ensure that three is space to hold the animal and that the vets are available.” BSPCA stated.

Animal rights activists took social media to express their outrage at the councillors suggestions. Muslim members opined that it is contrary to the tenants of Islam to take the life of animals. Others also pointed out that TNR programs are the right way to tackle this issue.