Egypt struggles to prevent animal cruelty
The torture and killing of animals by residents and security forces are widespread in Egypt, but animal rights associations have insufficient funding to spread awareness about the importance of animals and how to deal with them.
Several episodes of violence against animals, especially street dogs, has pushed the Egyptian media to highlight some of these incidents and shine a light on animal rights organizations. The first publicized incident was in December and involved a female dog named Heart, who was rescued after being tortured and burned by a caustic substance thrown on her. The second incident was the beating and slaughter of Max, known in the media as “Dog al-Ahram.”
A video showing the torture and death of Max spread through social networking sites in February. After presentation of the video and reports by citizens, a Shubra al-Kheima court sentenced the dog’s killers to three years in prison March 11. In an incident this month, someone killed six puppies and their mother with a stick embedded with nails.
Despite the media turning their attention to animal rights issues, Mona Khalil, head of the Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals, told Al-Monitor that the atmosphere in Egypt does not generate support for animal associations’ activities. Abdel Rahman Youssef, head of Cairo Animals Rescue Team, agreed with this view, and told Al-Monitor that the judicial ruling against Max’ killers does not mean that the government has changed its policies on animal rights. He thinks it was done simply to soothe opinions on social networks. Youssef said that cruelty toward animals is practiced by the police as well as the General Authority for Veterinary Services, which is under the Ministry of Agriculture.
On March 23, newspapers reported that a mad dog, a street dog thought to be rabid, had bitten 16 residents in the al-Nakhl neighborhood in the city of al-Senbellawein, in Dakahlia governorate. An al-Nakhl resident who requested anonymity reported to Al-Monitor via Facebook that residents were so terrified by dogs that they had asked for help from the police, who then shot and killed some 11 dogs.
