MP calls for effective steps for stray dog issue

Manama : Bahraini MP Ali Al Ateesh has called for implementing effective measures to tackle the stray dog issue in all the governorates.

He commended the consensus recently reached between Northern Municipal Council and Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry, by adopting a budget of BD13, 000 to provide cages to accommodate stray dogs in the Northern Governorate.

However, Al Ateesh insisted that “the issue doesn’t only exist in the Northern Governorate.” He demanded that the ministry should take similar steps in the remaining governorates of the Kingdom.

“We have repeatedly called upon the ministry to adopt effective solutions for this problem, like the recently announced one in the Northern Governorate. The ministry should discuss the matter with the Capital General Secretariat and both municipal councils of the Southern and Muharraq Governorates to put an end to this issue,” Al Ateesh said in a statement yesterday.

The MP had made harsh statements against the authorities and Bahrain Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA) in the past few months by accusing them of not carrying out their responsibilities. He described the pleas of organisations to protect stray dogs as “nonsense.”

“The ministry and municipal councils should act quickly to eradicate this dangerous phenomenon and ignore the nonsense of some civil organisations. The safety of citizens and residents is more important than worrying about the lives of these dangerous dogs,” Al Ateesh remarked.

“We cannot ignore it anymore as several attacks against humans have been reported. As MPs, we will utilise our jurisdictions to hold the authorities, who treated this matter with leniency, accountable for jeopardising public safety,” the MP added.