Like many countries, the Middle Eastern country of Kuwait has a problem with stray dogs who has led to animal abuse. Often such animals end up being poisoned. Several organisations are already working in Kuwait to raise awareness about animal protection, and some a calling for the authorities and the media to take this issue seriously and not treat animals, especially stray dogs and cats, as if they were objects and not sentient beings.
Elika Mansouri, founder and volunteer of iCare Kuwait, a non-profit that rescues animals and calls for their rights, said to Kuwait Times: “We need officials to create more strict laws against animal abuse in Kuwait and actually implement and reinforce them. We also need them to work closely with rescue groups and empower us to be the voice for the voiceless…We need news channels and media platforms to constantly push for animal rights and expose the most recent incidents on their platform. The more the topic is talked, about the more serious concern it becomes when it comes to animal rights issues… Once stray animals are treated humanely and ethically by officials, such as by spaying/neutering and vaccination, the community becomes more accepting and comfortable with regard to stray animals. The population control strategies are not clear and we have only seen poisoning in public. We have also seen unknown individuals taking puppies and dogs in traps to unknown destinations. There is no recognized public shelter for dogs in Kuwait, so the question remains: Where are they being taken to?”
Kuwait has had an animal welfare law since 2015 that stipulates penalties of up to one-year imprisonment and a fine of KD 1,000 for anyone who abuses, neglects, or offers animals for sale while sick or subjects them to scientific experiments without a license. However, stray animals are often seen as a nuisance, and they may be treated differently.
