“The lack of civility, we’ll remain a third world country…for 40 years you’ve (the government) been practicing these acts and without solutions,” veterinarian Raoudha Mansour said on Facebook on Wednesday about the Tunisia’s insistence on killing stray dogs as a way to control the population.
Mansour added that there are other methods like Trap-Neuter-Release (NTR) to control stray animal populations.
In late July, several Tunisian cities started campaigns to kill stray dogs. “The worsening of the phenomenon of stray dogs was studied, and we the need to find solutions to treat it, ensuring the safety of citizens and tourists and maintaining the aesthetics of the capital,” the Tunisian government said.
Since 2007, Mansour has turned her home in the Tunisian city of Nabeul into a shelter to save dogs and cats from the threats of death and human violence. She hosts around 150 cats and 25 dogs.
Mansour said stray animals in Tunisia are badly mistreated by citizens and the government, which rounds up dogs and kills them in “collective sniping operations.”
“This is a bad thing. These animals have a soul and have the right to live with us,” Mansour told news agency Reuters. “Not because man controls the earth, we can kill these animals.”
“There are a lot of difficult cases that come to me, like you’d find a dog bleeding from everywhere while he is alive, crying, and I would say, where is the compassion? Where are the compassionate hearts?” she added.
“We need a lot of shelters because there are a lot of animals on the streets, and they are suffering. Someone has to take care of them, and the state should open shelters at least,” Mansour explained. “You can open shelters, and the rest will be taken care of by the people who want to help.”
Animal welfare organisations donate food and medicine to Mansour, and her friends created an organisation called ‘Doctor Mansour’s Support Association’ to fundraise for the shelter.