Ahead of the 18th Francophonie Summit, which will be held in Djerba, Tunisia, on 19-20 November 2022, and will gather 88 member states and governments of the International Organisation of la Francophonie (OIF), the municipal government has prepared the city to welcome the event, authorizing a barbaric mass culling of stray dogs to ‘clean’ the streets.
According to local associations and animal lovers, who have witnessed with their own eyes what happened over the last few weeks, a large number of stray dogs was shot by police and authorized municipal employees.
Beautiful dogs, called ARBI, killed with no reason in broad daylight and left to die in agony in front of children and tourists. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated episode, but a common practise used in Tunisia that does clearly point out not only an extreme lack of sensitivity towards animals and humans, victims and witnesses of violence at the same time, but the inability to handle and control the stray dog population in a humane, ethical and effective manner. The Government does still believe, wrongly, that mass culling is the solution, however authorities should start considering the total failure of this cruel and horrific method, an unacceptable way to ‘cover’ the problem and ‘solve’ it fast.
We all know that specific programmes of sterilization and vaccination to control the rise in stray dog population are effective in the long term, avoiding birth of new litters and the spreading of contagious diseases. The rise in dog population is also due to the uncontrolled abandonment and the refusal of owners to neuter/spay their dogs.
OIPA International, engaged in the fight against the mass killing of stray dogs in Tunisia for a long time, (check our previous articles: December 2021 – June 2019) supports the association UN TOIT POUR TOI, based in Djerba, asking to sign their petition addressed to Mme Louise Mushikiwabo, Secrétaire générale de la Francophonie.
The 88 members invited at the Village de la Francophonie should be aware of the reality! They will join a Summit stained with blood.
We are grateful to the association ‘UN TOIT POUR TOI’, and we take the occasion to thank ‘Tunisia Animals Voice‘ for the constant commitment and our member league ‘Les Jardin des Anges’ in Sousse for taking care of local stray animals with love and compassion.
