Let me start by saying that the reason why I’m writing about this is because of the poor animals in Qatar. I really don’t care which organization takes care of them as long as the animals are taken care of and the people who run it have good intentions. Now, being kind to an animal doesn’t need any justification; after all, my baby sister once said “It’s nice to be nice”. However for those that do need a reason, I’ve looked at this from different points of view.
In Islam
I’m going to start this by referring to animal welfare in Islam. All animals deserve to live, “And the earth, He has assigned it to all living creatures” (Quran 55:10).
Animal cruelty in general is forbidden in Islam. Abdullah ibn Umar passed on that the Messenger of God, PBUH, said, “A woman was once punished after death because of a cat which she had kept confined until it died, and because of this she entered the Fire. She had neither given it food or drink while confining it, nor had she let it free to eat the creatures of the earth.”
Humanity
Animals cannot speak. Let me give you an image; I’m a dog person myself (I like cats too even though I’m allergic to most). There are some dogs out there that are beaten until their bones break, are starved until their organs shut down, and thrown out in the garbage and left for dead. You know what the heart breaking thing is? Those same dogs would probably still wag their tails to the same evil hearted person who hurt them if he/she showed some compassion.
A dog will give you endless love, will sleep right next to your bed when you’re sick, will come right next to your face when you’re crying to give you comfort, and will always be the happiest when you’ve come home. Now I’m not limiting this to dogs, because all animals are God’s creatures, but I like to talk from experience, and I own a dog. In fact, she’s sitting on my lap right now as I type this.
You know an expression I hate? “Treated like an animal”, because I don’t think even ANIMALS, should be ‘treated like an animal’. Pet’s should be treated with love. We’re humans, so where’s the humanity?
Duty of a country
I think that it’s the duty of the nation to make sure that there are basic services to take care of the animals. Let’s look around the world. The UK has the RSCPA, a charitable organization supported by the government to end animal cruelty, stopping over population, and home animals. Bahrain has the BSPCA, guess what they do? Yep, the same thing. UAE has the Dubai Animal Rescue Center, and RAK Animal Welfare Center, and Kuwait has K’s Path. Why is it that in Qatar there isn’t any government entity that can help? When QAWS was created, they didn’t ask for government funding (although that would definitely help) and they were volunteers that relied on the public to either volunteer themselves or give donations to keep them going. The only thing I know that that this organization asked for, was land to work off of. In fact, they didn’t care how far it was… they just needed stability.
So what happened to QAWS?
After 10 years (yes they started in 2003), they’ve had to shut down. The story goes that the QAWS has been in talks and discussions with various organizations and authorities including CMC, Ministry of Urban Planning, Ministry of Environment, and Ministry of Municipalities. The CMC have agreed that the organization is important to the country, recommended that Urban Planning support with land, and that the Ministry of Environment back them up. Sadly, even then, I guess that recommendation fell on deaf ears. QAWS even went as far as making sure all the requirements were met for a charitable organization to exist; like the need to a certain % of the board to be Qatari (I’m one member by the way).
So what needs to be done?
Got wasta? Because all that can be done at the moment is for someone who’s high up to order (whoever needs to be ordered, I dont really know) to make this a priority and just get things done. Wish I had more to say on this but those are the facts. What I don’t understand is that Qatar has a lot of money, right? Why not create an official organization that is under one of the government entities to exist legally? Oh well… let’s just appreciate the fact that there have been groups like QAWS, Dogs in Doha, and Cats in Qatar, that have been trying to make a difference here.
I just wish I was one of the many super millionaires out there so that I could do something.
Note: I am not suggesting that the animals that QAWS has will now be released into the street as they have said that they will be focused on rehoming and the volunteers will keep the animals in their homes. What I am wishing for is a legal entity, monitored or run by the government, to exist. If anybody has anything they would like me to add to my blog post please do drop my a message 🙂
Je demande à mes lecteurs de reprendre ce post et de le mettre sur leur blog, site, journaux. Un pays comme le Qatar ne peut pas fermer un refuge sans se préoccuper de l’avenir des animaux. C’est une honte !