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Over the weekend, members of a local animal welfare association near Agadir were wrecked due to the death of six of their rescued dogs. In an emotional and shocking video posted to their social media accounts, Morocco Animal Aid (MAA) displayed the agony of the dying dogs who were fed poisoned food.
In said video, which went viral and gained the support of hundreds of their followers, these animals could be seen shaking, vomiting and fighting for their lives on top of the charity’s roof. «Today we suffered the worst attack we have ever experienced. 10 dogs poisoned. 4 dogs dead», wrote MAA, captioning a photo of the poisoned dogs and a YouTube link to said video.
10 dogs poisoned, 6 dead
Three days after the incident, the number of dead dogs reached six, according to MAA’s co-founder and president Lucy Austin. «We had two dogs that were still very sick and suffering and we thought that they would survive but the next day they both died. Hence, six dogs died in total», she told Yabiladi on Tuesday.
Lucy, who has been heading the association since its creation four years ago, recalled that on, Saturday, October 24, the staff released the dogs into the refuge’s garden. «The workers then started to notice that they were getting sick, they were vomiting and shaking and they could not walk», she said.
«They were vomiting blood and chicken and we used our hands and olive oil to help them empty their stomachs», she regretted. In her video and speaking to Yabiladi, Lucy suspected that «the poisoned chicken was thrown into the association’s garden». «It is a private property and we don’t give our dogs chicken, they only eat croquettes (dry food)», Lucy argued.
Poisoning of stray dogs strikes again
But this is not the first time that the association experiences harassment because of their activities in the rural village of Assersif. According to MAA’s co-founder, most of these incidents are directed at the noise made by the dogs and the barking.
«Morocco Animal Aid has grown immensely in the last two years. We have gone from a small rescue to a big one and we understand that we should not be in a residential area. We want to move and we don’t want people to feel annoyed by us but Covid happened and we have been affected like anybody else».
Despite wanting to move, the association has been harassed several times before the Saturday incident. «They have been cutting our fence, releasing our dogs, harassing us in the street. We also saw our property being vandalized and one of our dogs stabbed», Lucy said.
MAA’s video comes as a group of stray dogs was poisoned in Rabat. The act was denounced by animal welfare associations which suspected that poisoning these animals was a new method used to reduce the number of stray dogs roaming the city.
Similar methods are used on the pretext of reducing rabies cases and safeguarding the inhabitants. However, in the two cases, both groups of dogs were vaccinated against rabies.
