Rescue Work in Egypt
Unlike in America, Cairo’s animal welfare issues are forced into the public eye at every turn. Images of dogs and cats living and dying on the streets in huge numbers, and malnourished horses and donkeys pulling excessively heavy carts confront tourists and residents every day. Despite a long history of attention to animal welfare in Islamic law, modern Egypt has failed to care properly for its animal citizens. The Egyptian government’s idea of animal population control consists of poisoning and shooting homeless dogs and cats.
United by a sense of outrage about the situation, and a passion to make a difference, a group of Egyptians formed The Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals (ESMA).
Headquartered in Cairo, ESMA currently provides a home to 179 dogs and 123 cats, and focuses on emergency rescue cases, rehabilitation, and adoption. ESMA Vice President Mona Khalil, who runs the day-to-day operations at the shelter (in addition to her full time job as a broadcast journalist) says that, “education is the key to the future of animal welfare in Egypt. Ignorance produces this cruelty that we see on a daily basis; ignorance about the many ways in which even a poor society can do much better for its animals.”
The Egyptian government’s idea of animal population control consists of poisoning and shooting the dogs and cats on the street.
ESMA teaches proper animal care and compassion. “We have made huge progress within the semi-rural community in which our shelter is located,” Khalil explains, “because we provide the only source of care people have for their animals.” ESMA provides animals in need with free spaying and neutering, as well as free medical care.
With animal welfare a new field in Egypt, ESMA faces challenges that range from a lack of veterinarian medical supplies to difficulty finding employees to work at the shelter. Graduates of veterinary school have never worked with cats and dogs, since vet schools focus mainly on animals for consumption.
ESMA has begun offering vet students internships that provide them with hands-on experience with companion animals, generating interest in this new field of vet care. “Vet students can face ridicule from their families and peers for wanting to work with dogs and cats,” Khalil explains, “We have to help them understand that their work is essential and honorable.” ESMA hopes to be able to send its vets for short training courses in the U.S. in the future.
Misunderstandings of religion also challenge ESMA in its work.
Under some interpretations of Islam, dogs are considered ritually impure, and handlers are required to wash the part of the body or clothing that has been in contact with the dog before prayer. Unfortunately, many Egyptians take this purity issue and its accompanying rules to the extreme, harming dogs on the street despite its reprehensibility in Islamic law.
ESMA has helped to produce a primer on Islamic law and animal welfare, which will be widely distributed this fall. ESMA has undertaken a capital campaign to raise the funds to buy land to construct its permanent shelter and medical center. Currently it operates on rented land, and so is limited to the existing infrastructure. Visit esmaegypt.org to find out more information about how you can help.
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