The Sun online newspaper has a story which immediately reminds me of the Beijing Olympics and the Sochi Winter Olympics. It’s this: just before these big events start and in this case I’m referring to the football World Cup in Qatar, the authorities clean up the streets of stray cats and dogs. As the world visits them they want to present a well-organised society without fault.
In order to achieve this image, they seize the stray cats and dogs but what happens to them? Most people believe that they are euthanised. It is happening allegedly in Qatar right now and it happened in Beijing before the Olympics and in Sochi before the winter Olympics.
It is a brutal process, and the allegations are that people’s pet cats and dogs are being caught up in this process and taken away. The allegation comes from a rescue organisation with a branch in Qatar called Paws Rescue UK.
The rescue organisation claims that the Livestock Department at the Qatari Ministry of Municipality has given permission to pest control companies to seize stray animals.
They further claim that this has been witnessed many times in Qatar by many people and they don’t know where the animals are taken. But they were informed that if a person is missing their cat or dog as a consequence of this round up, they should contact the Director of the Livestock Department.
As a consequence, The Sun contacted that department which denied that there was any sort of seizure of pets and other animals from the streets of Qatar. They say that they are running a TNR program and that if there’s a stray cat or dog on the streets then they take them in and check them for a microchip. If they need medical treatment may provide it.
The problem is that Qatar has a bad animal rights record. Of course, they have a bad human rights record. We know it. In a country where there are poor human rights it is certain that there will be poor animal rights as well
We are told that about 6,500 workers from Nepal and other neighbouring countries have died in the construction of the football stadiums for the World Cup. Many have died of kidney disease because they worked in 50°C temperatures for long periods without adequate water which is against the employment law of Qatar. These are young men who have permanent kidney damage and are on dialysis if they survived.
And not so long ago, there was outrage when 29 dogs were shot by men with hunting rifles. The dogs apparently were at a factory and the armed men threatened the guards at the factory gates and forced them to open the premises to shoot the dogs including pregnant females and puppies.
The dogs raced towards them as they approached thinking that they would be fed. Animal rights groups claim that in recent years there have been many cases of animals including flamingos and dogs used as target practice.
Qatar has animal welfare laws. A quick glance at them tells me that they are not too bad. The problem is that they aren’t enforced, and it appears that animal welfare is not a priority in Qatar. There appears to be an attitude problem with respect to animal welfare and that the animal welfare law (Law number 9 of 1974 on the Abandoning and Neglecting of animals) is largely unenforced.
Below are three articles about the Olympics and animal cruelty.
Over 6,500 people have died building the world cup stadium etc! Workers are nothing more than slaves paid $1.00 a hour! I just signed a petition. Because of this I will boycott the World cup!
Revealed: 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since World Cup awarded. Boycott FIFA World Cup in Qatar 2022
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/boycott-fifa-world-cup-in-qatar-2022/
Yes, it makes my blood too. They got the tournament through rampant corruption. Blatter has just admitted it is the wrong place. In the UK we had to completely change the league’s timetable to accommodate the competition. It’s mad.