Baghdad kills 58,000 stray dogs in 3-month span

By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer Bushra Juhi, Associated Press Writer – Sat Jul 10, 12:12 pm ET

BAGHDAD – Teams of veterinarians and police shooters have killed some 58,000 stray dogs in and around the Iraqi capital over the past three months as part of a campaign to curb an increasing number of strays blamed for attacks on residents.

The Baghdad provincial government said in a statement released Sunday that 20 teams have been moving around Baghdad and the outer-lying districts daily looking for and putting down the dogs. The operation, which was first announced in late 2008, only truly took off this April after funds were allocated for the project.

The surge in strays — estimated by provincial officials to number around 1.25 million — is ironically linked to what officials say is an improvement in some elements of daily life in Baghdad, a city that for seven years has been struggling to return to normalcy after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

Officials with the provincial veterinary directorate said that with open-air markets and bustling city life returning, the dogs are able to find more food and are having bigger litters.

Figures for the number of attacks by packs of stray dogs were not available Saturday, the last day of the weekend in Iraq.

But officials said resident complaints have increased steadily in tandem with the rise in the stray population. In the capital, dogs have attacked children, in some cases killing them.

Efforts since the campaign was first announced in 2008 met with limited success because of a lack of funding and follow-through. There are not believed to be any dog shelters in Baghdad.

The teams begin their work daily at 6 a.m., and coordinate with relevant security forces in the area — ostensibly to ensure that their presence does not draw retaliatory fire by security forces who may mistake them for insurgents.

Provincial officials said before the teams move into an area, residents are also notified, and warned to not pick up meat they find on the ground because it could be the poisoned food used to lure and kill the dogs.

Under Saddam Hussein's regime, stray dogs were routinely shot. But their numbers grew steadily following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion when a host of more serious security issues sidelined efforts to deal with the dogs.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100710/...q_stray_dogs_5

Don't know much about this but taking this at face value I don't disagree with this practice.

Dude of all the problems theyre dealing with in Iraq, I'd imagine taking care of stray dogs is probably not the highest on their priority list.

Yea, I'd have to agree with Kevin on this one too. It sucks, but at least it's humanely done, they aren't just going around whacking dogs to death.

When the strays are packing up and attacking(and from some reports killing kids), what do you expect them to do? There's no place to take 58,000 feral dogs, even in the US there wouldn't be an organization to take in that many unadoptable animals. And make no mistake, most would not be adoptable.

Hopefully they are doing it as humanely as possible, shooting is permissable in my mind, which they mention in the article. Not so happy about poisoning, but some poisons do act pretty fast, so hopefully they are using something really fast acting to minimize suffering. I'd bet it's mostly shooting though, to keep innocent animals from injesting poison(livestock or even people).

Sad that it's necassary.. but not everywhere is the same as the urban US.

I'm sure it was not a popular decision with dog lovers. But I'm also sure they flat do not have the resources to trap, spay and neuter, and find good homes for all these dogs.
Strays do cause many problems including bites and attacks. Hopefully once the stray numbers decline, s spay/neuter program might help prevent further stray populations.

This old but what the hey...I have seen the problem first hand...A couple bases I was at were kinda unsafe at night as far as walking around by yourself because of the dogs...They can find there way on base rather easily...I seen them all over the place while out in convoys...Same with donkeys to though...But yeah it is sad,but it really is a problem there...

I'll ad my agreement to the practice. If the strays are causing problems they have to be dealt with. It's not like they are going into peoples homes and shooting their pets. These are strays which will become more and more dangerous with each passing day. Quite honestly I think more problems should be dealt with in this manner and not just in Iraq.