Bahrain's first public pet park with a ‘home’ for stray dogs is expected to be completed in three years.
Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry’s Agriculture and Marine Resources vet clinics and disease control section chief Dr Abbas Al Hayki said work on the project would start ‘immediately after a suitable piece of land is found’.
“It would take three years to complete the park once land is allocated. We are aiming to provide tourist and educational activities besides animal services,” said Dr Al Hayki.
“The place would also offer domestic animals, including dogs, for adoption.
“It will feature a spacious and safe shelter for stray dogs.”
Dr Al Hayki, who was speaking at the Southern Municipal Council meeting yesterday, said 3,750 strays had been caught from December 2017 to August 2021. A total of 2,138 dogs were also neutered between January 2019 and August this year.
Despite these efforts, strays continue to pose a challenge, he said.
“We have hired a specialised company to catch strays. Their contract is for 18 months with their target being 70 to 100 dogs a month,” he said.
“Yet we receive complaints of dozens of dogs wandering in residential neighbourhoods.“It is simply because people feed them – this needs to stop.”
The GDN earlier reported that more than 900 complaints of strays were registered in the first four months of this year across all the four governorates in Bahrain. The highest number (251) was reported in April, with 75 in the Northern Governorate, followed by 69 in Muharraq, 67 in Capital and 40 in the Southern Governorate.Council chairman Bader Al Tamimi urged the government to fast-track the park project, asserting that three years was too long for the scheme.
He highlighted several cases of people attacked by strays and claimed that the ministry was seeking ‘temporary solutions without addressing the core problem’.
The GDN in February reported about a five-month pregnant Bahraini mother who was knocked off her feet after a snarling stray dog jumped up at her in a frenzied attack.
Terrified Sakina Zuhair managed to crawl her way to the safety of her parent’s Karranah home with the wild animal growling, barking and snapping at her heels.
“The ministry has to toughen rules and regulations and take action against ignorant residents who feed strays.
“While we take efforts to catch these dogs, there have been claims of some so-called animal lovers opening cages and setting strays free.
“It’s outrageous. They are being irresponsible. People’s lives are in danger.
“The ministry should take measures before it’s too late.”
Mr Al Tamimi said councillors were fed up with plans and proposals and were now seeking concrete action at the earliest.
“There are thousands of stray dogs and the ministry is speaking about plans for an animal park in three years!
“We want human rights societies in Bahrain to step in and fast-track work as people have been attacked several times.
“Animal welfare societies only speak about caring for the canines, they don’t present any solution to the problem which people face.”
Mr Al Tamimi said the new contract with the specialised company would only see stray dogs moved from one place to another.
“The dogs are mainly shifted by the company to Ras Zuwayed, which is listed as an industrial area in official records. Now thousands of expat workers living there are chased and hounded by the dogs.
“It has been a decade since the government promised a 400-dog shelter in Ma’ameer. We are still waiting.”
The government in May approved plans to export stray dogs, following a Northern Municipal Council proposal.
Minister Essam Khalaf said, however, this must be done in line with quarantine and health regulations that are currently in place.
A new law on breeding wild animals is set to be presented to MPs before the new term next month.
The legislation, which controversially classifies dog as a ‘dangerous animal’, was approved by MPs in March.
However, the ministry has urged Parliament public utilities and environment affairs committee to have a rethink, asserting that dogs are not “fierce by nature”.
© Copyright 2020 www.gdnonline.com
Copyright 2021 Al Hilal Publishing and Marketing Group Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
