|
Ethiopia to kill stray dogs
05/09/2007 07:25 - (SA)
Addis Ababa - Authorities plan to kill tens of thousands of stray dogs in the Ethiopian capital, saying they want to eradicate rabies before next week's celebration of the Coptic millennium.
Animal rights activists and commentators had described the plans as cruel and barbaric. Ethiopia followed the Coptic calendar, which was about seven years behind the more common Gregorian.
Among the celebrations scheduled was a concert by the United States pop group Black Eyed Peas in a $20m hall being built for the occasion. The celebrations were expected to draw tourists from around the world.
The latest plan followed an announcement by a government-funded private organisation last week that it would move thousands of homeless people from the capital to the countryside ahead of the celebration, promising to help them with food, shelter and medicine.
Dogs 'not vaccinated'
The Great Ethiopia Run, a 10km race organised by distance legend Haile Gebrselassie that had drawn 30 000 runners, had been postponed because of unspecified security concerns ahead of next month's millennium celebrations. The race, scheduled for September 09, was moved to November.
Tafa Hunde of the City Administration of Addis Ababa, said for the dogs, "the major problem is rabies". Hunde was referring to a disease often spread by dogs and which could be fatal to humans. "The dogs are not vaccinated, there is no one who manages them," said Hunde.
There were no official figures on rabies deaths in Ethiopia.
Kassahun Addis wrote in a column: "Dogicide is an act that should be condemned in the strongest words possible, and a cause worth fighting for."
Efrem Legese, president of the Homeless Animals Protection Society, said he had written letters to Addis Ababa Mayor Berhane Deressa and to Vice Prime Minister Addisu Legesse, begging them to stop the plans to kill the dogs with meat laced with strychnine, a cheap and powerful poison often used to kill rats.
Dogs 'contaminate' children
Efrem said: "It's painful. They suffer a lot."
He proposed that authorities sterilise street dogs and those with rabies or chronic conditions be killed using Phenobarbital, a seizure medication that usually took away consciousness before causing death.
Addis Ababa residents had conflicting views about the proposed plans to get rid of strays.
Solomon Neguisse, 70, who guarded a private school in the capital, said: "The dogs should be killed. They contaminate children."
Asma Abdella, a 17 year-old street vendor, disagreed.
Asma said: "Why are they killing them? They are creatures of Allah. The administration should encourage people to take them home."
However, Asma said she did not keep a dog because her Muslim faith forbided it.
Tafa, who was in charge of animal health and quarantine services at the city administration, argued it was in the interest of public health to kill the strays.
|
News
