In the impoverished Gaza Strip, where most people struggle to make ends meet amid a crippling blockade, the suffering of stray dogs and cats often goes unnoticed.
Said el-Er, who founded the territory’s only animal rescue organisation in 2006, has been trying to change that. He and other volunteers rescue dogs and cats that have been struck by cars or abused and nurse them back to health – but there are too many.
So in recent weeks they have launched Gaza’s first spay-and-neuter programme. It goes against taboos in the conservative Palestinian territory, where feral dogs and cats are widely seen as pests and many view spaying and neutering as forbidden by Islam.
“Because the society is Muslim, they talk about halal (allowed) and haram (forbidden),” Mr El-Er said. “We know what halal is and what haram is, and it’s haram (for the animals) to be widespread in the streets where they can be run over, shot or poisoned.”
Islam teaches kindness towards animals, but Muslim scholars are divided on whether spaying and neutering causes harm. Across the Arab world, dogs are widely shunned as unclean and potentially dangerous, and cats do not fare much better.
Mr El-Er and other advocates for the humane treatment of animals face an added challenge in Gaza, which has been under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since the Islamic militant group Hamas seized power in 2007. Gaza’s two million residents suffer from nearly 50 per cent unemployment, frequent power outages and heavy travel restrictions.
With many struggling to meet basic needs, animal care is seen as a waste of precious resources or a luxury at best. Mr El-Er’s group, Sulala for Animal Care, relies on private donations, which can be hard to come by.
Mr El-Er says his team can no longer keep up with the number of injured animals that they find or that are brought to the clinic. “The large number of daily injuries is beyond our capacity,” he said. “That’s why we resorted to neutering.”
On a recent day, volunteers neutered a street dog and two cats that had been brought in. There are few veterinary clinics and no animal hospitals in Gaza, so they performed the operations in a section of a pet store that had been cleaned and disinfected.
“We have shortages in capabilities, tools, especially those needed for orthopaedic surgeries,” said Bashar Shehada, a local veterinarian. “There is no suitable place for operations.”
Mr El-Er has spent years trying to organise a spay and neutering campaign but met with resistance from local authorities and vets, who said it was forbidden. He eventually secured a fatwa, or religious ruling, stating that it is more humane to spay and neuter animals than to consign an ever-growing population to misery and abuse.
Once the fatwa was issued, Mr El-Er said local authorities did not object to the campaign as a way of promoting public health and safety. The Hamas-run health and agriculture ministries allowed veterinarians to carry out operations and purchase supplies and medicine, he said.
The Gaza City municipality provided land for a shelter earlier this year. Before that, Mr El-Er kept the rescued animals at his home and on two small tracts of land that he leased.
The new shelter currently houses around 200 dogs, many of them blind, bearing scars from abuse or missing limbs from being hit by cars. At least one was adjusting to walking with a prosthetic limb. A separate section holds cats in similar shape.
The group tries to find homes for the animals, but here too it faces both economic and cultural challenges. Very few Gazans would keep a dog as a pet, and there’s little demand for cats. Some people adopt the animals from abroad, sending money for their food and care.
Over the past decade, international animal welfare groups have carried out numerous missions to evacuate anguished animals from makeshift zoos in Gaza and relocate them to sanctuaries in the West Bank, Jordan and Africa.
But there are no similar campaigns for dogs and cats, and Gaza has been sealed off from all but returning residents since March to prevent a coronavirus outbreak.
Mr El-Er’s phone rang recently and the caller said a dog had been hit by a car. Volunteers from Sulala brought it back to the shelter on the back of a three-wheeled motorbike and began treating it. Mr El-Er says they receive around five such calls every day.
Touching Moment: Two Dogs Bid a Tearful Farewell to Their Ailing Mother
Daisy, a caring and dedicated Border Collie, has cared for Max and Bella since they were puppies. They were not her biological children, but she adopted them as her own. They developed an unbreakable bond, creating a family unit defined by love, not blood.
Daisy was getting older, and her quick steps were fading. Her loyal companions, Max, an elderly golden retriever, and Bella, an energetic beagle, cared for her as she had done for them all their lives. They felt her pain, her declining health, and her weakness.
Daisy’s illness worsens, and Max and Bella become her caregivers. They would caress her, provide comfort with gentle licks, and stay by her side all day and night. The roles have been reversed, and they seem to have realized that it is their turn to care for their sick mother.
Max, with his deep, loving eyes, slept close to Daisy, his presence bringing comfort. Bella, who was usually full of energy, took it upon herself to be Daisy’s fun distraction, bringing some joy to her otherwise terrible days.
Daisy realized her time was running out one sunny afternoon as she slept in her favorite spot in the garden, surrounded by the flowers she loved. Max and Bella noticed the gravity in the air, anticipating the big change that was about to happen.
Max and Bella approached Daisy gently, one on each side. They laid their heads on her, as if they were silently pledging to be there for her until the end. Daisy stared at them, her eyes filled with gratitude and love for her loyal friends.
Daisy walked away quietly as the sun fell below the horizon, sending a warm orange glow across the grass. Her sweethearts Max and Bella were present, comforting her as she crossed the Rainbow Bridge.
Max and Bella’s eyes filled with tears as they looked at their dead mother. They were lost from their Lord, who protected them and loved them like her own. However, the love they felt for Daisy and the love she gave them will live in their hearts forever.
In the days that followed, Max and Bella found comfort in each other’s company. Their friendship, formed from their shared love for Daisy, grows stronger. They often sat together in the garden, surrounded by Daisy’s favorite flowers, as if sharing fond memories of their mother.
Max and Bella’s sad farewell to their ill mother, Daisy, is an example of the extraordinary relationships that can be built between dogs and their adopted family members.
In a world where love knows no bounds, Max and Bella show that a dog’s love and commitment to their adoptive family is as deep and unbreakable as any other dog.
Their narrative serves as a reminder of the beauty of love and the lasting connections that make life more meaningful.
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