HIBAPRESS – Ahmed Al-Musaed
Despite the completion of the final works and the equipping of all the facilities of the shelter dedicated to housing stray dogs and cats in the city of Oujda, the doors of this vital facility remain closed to performing its functions, at a time when the streets of Oujda are witnessing a worrying increase in the number of stray animals.
An investment for which the Oujda-Angad Prefecture Council allocated a budget of approximately 524 million centimes, in response to urgent demands from the residents of the Eastern capital, and this center aims to adopt a modern and humane approach to reducing the proliferation of stray animals through "sterilization and vaccination" (TNVR) techniques, instead of traditional methods that have proven ineffective. However, the continued closure raises major questions about the feasibility of wasting developmental time for a facility that cost a large sum of public money. In a tour of the "HIBAPRESS" website in some neighborhoods of the city, especially the marginal neighborhoods and those close to the markets, we observed groups of stray dogs that move in the form of "herds", which poses a direct threat to citizens, especially students going to their institutions, and cleaning workers and professionals. Citizens' testimonies indicate that several cases of assault have occurred, causing physical and psychological injuries, not to mention the risk of transmission of viral diseases, especially rabies. Faced with this unjustified "blockade", the eyes of the residents and civil society in Oujda are turned to the Wali of the Eastern region, Mohammed Yaacoubi, in his capacity as the primary official in charge of managing territorial affairs, to intervene urgently and give his instructions to expedite the actual opening of the shelter. Observers believe that the delay may be due to problems related to the management model (will it be delegated to the private sector or managed directly by the community in cooperation with animal welfare associations), but this "administrative controversy" should not, according to the residents, be a justification for the continuation of the danger in the streets.
