The Humane Society of Morocco believes that animals must have the same rights as humans.
The Humane Society of Morocco advocated for a long time for TNVR, or Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Release, as the only way to reduce the stray dog population in Morocco and protect public health.
We strongly believe the One-health approach as the best possible way to control rabies and that dog culls are not the answer but specifically-tailored management programs are the solution.
There are about 500 million dogs in the world. It’s been estimated that approximately 75 %, or about 375 million, of these, are free-roaming dogs, also called stray dogs, which are more common in developing countries than in developed countries. Morocco suffers the effects of stray animal overpopulation. The kingdom exterminates +300.000 dogs per year which sadly means that since the Independence of Morocco in 1956, more than 20 million dogs have unnecessarily been killed… and it is generally accepted that Morocco has 3 million stray dogs, despite no national large-scale scientific study done.
Most of them live in terrible conditions, scavenging food leftovers from the garbage and suffering from human abuse, injuries, car accidents, and illnesses, including mange, and, more rarely, rabies (19 deaths by rabies registered in 2015).
Stray dogs are prosecuted by people and the Moroccan authorities who consider them to be public nuisances, and a threat to public health, unlike cats which are more accepted, although they also transmit rabies, even though rabies is fully vaccine-preventable.
Throughout the kingdom, the authorities, when they are not killing stray dogs by shooting them with guns or during brutal capture operations, round them up and lock them up in dilapidated pounds (20 dogs in cages less than 1 meter square), without food or even water. The starved dogs attack and devour each other to survive. The survivors are then poisoned and cremated alive.
As we write this article, thousands of dogs are still being killed with live ammunition or poisoned bait, despite false information appearing in Moroccan media and social networks since November 2019 claiming that Morocco would no longer kill stray dogs.
Moroccan authorities have unsuccessfully attempted for years to reduce the stray dog population through culling.
Killing off strays is not only inhumane but also an ineffective means of population control. It is impossible to kill every single dog and those that live not only continue to reproduce but their litter life expectancy is higher as they have more resources due to the vacuum created.
The main downside of dog slaughtering is that nature abhors a vacuum, and so eliminated dog populations will be replaced by a bigger dog population.
In one year, a female dog can give birth to as many as three litters of seven puppies each. Her surviving female puppies can begin mating as early as six months into their life. In 6 years, just one female dog and her descendants are capable of breeding 67,000 puppies!
The Humane Society of Morocco/Société Protectrice des Animaux du Maroc and other animal welfare charities long advocated for TNVR, as the only way to reduce the stray dog population in Morocco and protect public health. The system involves catching stray dogs, neutering them so they cannot reproduce, vaccinating them against rabies and other diseases, and returning them to their territories. The method prevents the reproduction of strays while also building herd immunity against rabies, protecting local human communities.
The objectives of a program to control the dog population may include the following:
A range of components (listed below) should be carefully considered for a successful dog management program:
We first need to understand the problem, assess it, plan the intervention before implementing any program, and then monitor and evaluate it. Investing in an effective program to reduce the stray dog population in Morocco over time will:
In 2017, His Majesty King Mohammed VI gave His High Instructions to the Government to no longer use old methods of shooting and poisoning to control the dogs and street cats population, but rather a more humane approach.
To this end, in 2019, the Ministry of Interior (represented by the General Directorate of Territorial Communes), and the Health Minister announced an agreement signed with the National Office of Food Health Safety (ONSSA), the National Order of Veterinarians of Morocco, to end the culling of street dogs and instead to implement the TNVR and release the spay/neutered dogs into their environment with an identifying ear tag.
The Ministry of the Interior was supposed to start this national stray sterilization and vaccination campaign in 2019. In November 2021, they released a circular detailing the new measures and sent it to municipal departments, mayors and governors throughout the Kingdom. Unfortunately, this circular is not binding and is not applied to date.
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