Egypt: Clarity on TNR proposal!

SPARE clarifies issue

Following a recent spate of street dog killings by the authorities
in Giza, a suburb of Cairo, talks resumed between Egyptian animal groups and the authorities on a proposal to replace the periodic killing of street dogs with an agreement between all the parties to put into place a TNR program.

Some confusion ensued as to how far the talks had progressed and whether or not an agreement had been reached between the authorities and the animal groups.

As Mona Khalil, the Secretary General of SPARE (the Society for the Protection of Animal Rights in Egypt), explains in this letter to Best Friends, talks are continuing, and an agreement still has quite a way to go before it can be signed.

Thanks to SPARE for these clarifications!

Dear Best Friends,

I know a lot of misunderstanding resulted from the announcement that came from the first email sent [This was the announcement made by one of the groups in Egypt that the government had officially agreed to a TNR program for dogs in Cairo--Ed.]

The thing is that nothing concrete has been agreed on. We met with the government officials. We realized that they have no budget, only two facilities to use, and one of these needs to be equipped. They are not speaking for, or on behalf of, the General Organization for Veterinary Services.

Even if we were able to reach an agreement with them, they might be able to spare only two vets for the program. They have no accurate estimate of the number of dogs involved, and have never attempted to have one. They refuse to mention in the agreement anything related to their former practices of poisoning and shooting. Their idea of humane euthanasia (which I completely hate) is electrical shocks. They also wanted to be the ones to decide on the criteria of general health risk, which is very vague and questionable, in my opinion.

Several points of the agreement need to be changed. The official we met with needs to get back to the government. SPARE needs to get back to the organizations ready to donate. Although we received the offer of a grant for the TNR project, it is based on conditions that the Giza governate has not yet met. We have not yet reached any agreement on the safety of the sterilized dogs [that is whether they will be safe from city round-ups and euthanasia].

My reply [in which SPARE expressed their "full backing" of the
TNR project and called it "great news"] was to the email of Mr. Sherbiny that reached me at the same time that it reached several others. I expressed in it our happiness to the news he mentioned. Of course, SPARE is ready to do anything to get such a project off the ground, but there need to be guarantees. There have been misunderstandings before. Dogs that SPARE has spayed/neutered have later been killed by animal control operations.

Also there is the big problem of training vets and dogcatchers that we have to tackle. If we are able to move immediately, hopefully, we can start something by September. This is dependent on their agreement, the commitment of the government to an official agreement, the international donors and the training of a staff.

I do not yet know if our meeting next week with the head of
GOV (General Organization of Veterinary Services) will or will not include the chief vet of Giza.

I hope this has clarified matters for you. Matters do tend to be complicated.

Regards,

Mona Khalil
Secretary General
SPARE (Society for the Protection of Animal Rights in Egypt)

Photo: SPARE / rescued dog in courtyard of SPARE's shelter