Animal Rights Activists Are Slowly Making Gains Against Abuse, Cruelty and Negligence

BY MAGHIE GHALI AND MIRA HAMAMA

Rights activists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are hoping that Egypt will in the years to come enforce laws which criminalize cruelty and negligence toward animals.

They say they are making progress toward legislation which will help combat the torture many animals – domesticated or otherwise – endure every day in Egypt.

In the meantime, videos of animal cruelty in Egypt continue to go viral on social media and make global headlines.

One of the most graphic examples is the February 26 slaying of Max, a domesticated dog; the brutal murder in Giza was caught on video and went viral.

According to press reports, three men were in an altercation with another man they had accused of theft.

The man’s dog bit one of the assailants in a bid to defend his owner. Rather than press charges over the bite and theft accusations, the three men demanded that the dog be killed in revenge.

They tied and tortured Max and ultimately killed the dog while people idly watched.

The video caused local and international uproar.

Dina Zulfikar, an animal rights activist and coordinator of The Animal Welfare Awareness Research group (AWAR), organized a protest on February 28 to raise awareness of the cruelty against Max.

The protest called for an end to “all forms of violence strictly against all living beings, and an end to the airing of scenes of violence.”

The three men were later tried on the charge of killing an owned animal, weapons possession, and terrorizing the public.

They were all sentenced to three years but after an appeal, two of the defendants received three months with labor; the third, only one month with labor.

Max’s owner was convicted to three years for armed robbery, terrorizing the public and agreeing to let his dog me killed as settlement for the theft.

Zulfikar says the court is yet to issue a final verdict, but she hopes that Max’s killers receive at least a year hard labor.

“There are countless cases of animal torture other than Max every day, yet no action has been taken by the government or the ministry,” she told The Caravan.

She pointed to the August 2014 culling of stray cats at the Gezira Sporting Club after members complained about their large numbers.

No criminal charges were filed and no one was held accountable.

“We will continue with the help of animal supporters in Egypt, the organizations for animal welfare and with the help of lawyers – we will change and implement new laws for animals,” Zulfikar said.

Update the laws

Under current Egyptian law, Article 357 of The Penal Code states that “any individual who willfully kills or poisons without purport a tame animal or does it any major harm shall be punished by a jail sentence that does not exceed six months or by a fine that will not exceed EGP 200.”

Animal rights groups feel this law should change, as a lot of harm is caused to non-domestic animals as well, and the current legislation does not provide for their protection.

When the Constitution was reviewed and amended in 2012, many animal rights groups attempted to put forward new articles for the protection of animals, but no avail.

The Society for the Protection of Animal Rights in Egypt (SPARE), an NGO founded in 2001 that rescues and re-homes abused and homeless animals, has been redrafting legislation that had been previously refused by the government.

Amina Abaza, SPARE’s founder and director, says that “even though our legislation was mostly refused, I’m still proud that we managed to get Article 45 [passed]. It will help in getting justice for the animals.”

Article 45 of the new 2013 Constitution was put in place to define the phrase “attempt to harm or kill an animal”.

Previously, punitive action could only be taken if the animal had an owner, and if it were actually harmed or killed.

The definition now reads that an attempt to harm or kill an animal is the “initiating [of] an action with intent to commit a crime or a misdemeanor, while the incompletion of the act or its failure is due to circumstances beyond the will of the perpetrator, because curtailment of the crime is due to the execution not being carried to conclusion by being foiled.”

This means that even though the animal may not have been hurt in an incident, the attacker can still be prosecuted for merely attempting harm. This is akin to attempted murder being considered a crime.

Abaza said: “We would like to introduce a new specialized legislation that would group all laws and ministerial decrees dedicated to the protection of animals, to which would be added new articles that stipulate compassion and mercy.”

“We want to improve the penalties for mistreating livestock, working animals like horses, domestic animals and the cruelty often seen with stray animals,” she added.

Stray animals

The government has for years been grappling with the overpopulation of street animals. There are cats everywhere and packs of stray dogs are often menacing.

The government response has been seasonal culling to keep their numbers down.

But local NGO the Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals (ESMA) says this is not a humane solution.

It currently runs a rescue and re- homing shelter, as well as offering free care and medication for strays and animals whose owners can’t afford the treatments.

“We sometimes deal with up to 100 cases a month, beside the 1,200 plus animals we are sheltering in our two shelters,” says ESMA chairperson Mona Khalil.

She also said people “discriminate and look down on street animals and already have issues with adopting [pure] breeds so it can be very hard to find homes for stray dogs and cats.”

ESMA has been working on a new program which could help solve the problem.

The NGO started introducing the TNR initiative (trap, neuter and release) to help cut back on stray populations.

“If the stray animals can’t reproduce, then eventually the number of strays will become less and have a better life,” said Khalil.

SPARE has also started a similar TNR program – first implemented in April 2014 at Behman Hospital, a private psychiatric hospital in Helwan, which was struggling with an over- population of stray cats in the facility.

“The concept of TNR is actually better for the community than shooting or poisoning the animals … it also plays an important part in reducing the cost of governmental stray animal control in the long run,” Abaza said.

However, it is not only animals that are responsible for the growing number of strays in Egypt, as pet owners have been contributing to the problem without realizing the consequences.

Ahmed Hassanan, a veterinarian at Pets 4 Life clinic, believes that pet owners in Egypt have not yet embraced the idea that neutering pets is a good thing.

Some pet owners refuse such procedures citing religious edict that forbids preventing animals from reproducing.

“They try to trap the pet in the house because the animal has the urge to find a mate but then animals [ultimately] mate with strays which have diseases and add to the number of strays,” added Hassanan.

“I try to encourage them to neuter their pets – it’s better for the animals, better for the owners, and will stop adding to the number of stray animals.”

He hopes for a more tolerant cultural change towards strays and animals in general.

“Right now, as a vet I can only advise but I hope soon there will be a way for me to report an owner mistreating their own pet,” he said.

Zulfikar is planning another protest in mid-May .