AMMAN —
Jordanians have taken to social media
platforms, calling on the government to address the problem of attacks by stray
dogs.
اضافة اعلان
The demand has
assumed more urgency after the recent increase in such attacks, with people
accusing the government, represented by the Ministry of Local Administration,
of staying completely silent and doing nothing about the crisis, especially
when it comes to children.
According to Russeifa Mayor
Shadi Al-Zeinati, “the
municipality gets dozens of complains on daily basis”.
“On Tuesday, we dealt with seven cases of stray dogs
that entered people’s houses,” he told
Jordan News, adding that the
municipality was unable to deal with dozens of other cases of stray dogs loose
in the streets.
By way of solution, he said he agrees with the
Animal Birth Control (ABC) program, which was set up by the Greater Amman
Municipality (GAM) last year to control the proliferation of dogs.
“However, this program has a high financial cost and
requires developed infrastructure, qualified and trained staff, and special
equipment,” he pointed out. This is financing that municipalities would be hard
pressed to obtain, if at all, he added.
At the same time, “we need at least one year” to
take care of the situation, “which is a long time” considering the urgency of
the situation and “the daily attacks on locals and some children”, he said.
According to Zeinati, shooting stray dogs had always
been a solution, until a decision by the Ministry of Local Administration
prohibited killing them in order to comply with the Kingdom’s commitments to
the international community.
“We used to kill stray dogs, and they did not go
extinct, and people were not harmed. Now we should choose between the lives and
safety of citizens or the lives of stray dogs,” he said.
Samia Saadah, grandmother of a five-year-old girl who
was attacked by a stray dog near her house in Salihiyat Al Abid, some 8km east
of Amman, told J
ordan News that “dozens of stray dogs live nearby and
attack people”.
Her granddaughter was attacked when she was walking
to a supermarket in her neighborhood.
“Luckily, she only fell to the ground and was
wounded. Thank God that doctors sutured the wound, which was above her eye,”
she said.
Hazem Al Yacoub, an animal rights activist, told
Jordan
News that “the solution is to activate the ABC program,” which has already
been implemented in some parts of Amman and Aqaba “with impressive results,
since complaints about stray dog attacks in those areas has significantly
decreased.”
However, Yacoub agrees that the ABC program requires
a large number of workers, special equipment, and infrastructure to ensure that
the desired results.
Jordan News tried to no avail to contact the
Ministry of Local Administration in order to get more information about the ministry’s
measures to address the issue of stray dogs.
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