Tragic Picture from Animal Souk !! [Latest]

The situation in its entirety will not improve unless the authorities decide to take action. Many of the cases you mentioned may even be down to lack of proper training. Again its up to the authorities to find ways and means to train these people. To set standards on health, sanitation and safety even, to conduct regular checks. In the absence of such checks and balances, the status quo will be maintained. You just cannot expect pet stores to set standards on their own. As you rightly said, they are after money and that by itself isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as there are set guidelines and minimum standards imposed on all the pet stores.

In the absence of any such guiding principles, I don't think it is fair to single out any single operator. But then someone can prove me wrong, may be there is a code that we are not aware of. If there is, then you or I could walk up to a store and threaten them that they are violating a certain health or sanitation standard and threaten to report the matter and maybe things might change.

Is there anyone who contacted the qaws?

Probably they are too acquainted with the only common animal in this land, camels. The rest are either second class or alien

That's Qatarphobia. You should never ever say anything bad or true about Qatar.

Hardly Qatarphobic - I'm just telling it as it is.

Stop being Qatarphobic Chelsea.

Your experiences make me teary...how terrible an ordeal it must be..Allahu must'aan!But how do us lay people complain against them in a manner that it will change the legislations for the better?How can we make a stand and help?Truly this is more tragic than I imagined =(

I'm afraid I'll have to disagree to some extent. Most of the "owners" have nothing to do with their shops and leave them in the hands of shopkeepers who have no idea how to look after animals.

The majority of the pet shops are after money and that is all. The last time I visited, there was a 10-12 week old pitbull puppy with the most horrific case of mange for sale. There are 2 types of mange (one of which is extremely contagious to other animals & humans) and without a skin scraping it's hard to tell which type it had. However, this pup was having no medical treatment (I asked), was red raw & bleeding where it had scratched so much and just looked an absolute mess. They refused to let me take it to the vet and said it was for sale for QR2,000. The vet bill alone would be that amount and it was putting every animal in that Souq at risk.

There was also a 6 week old kitten that was nearly dead. I was told it wasn't for sale because it was dying so I offered to take it to the vet to be treated or euthanised. The shopkeeper went to ask the shop owner if I could take the kitten and suddenly the price was QR500. Despite the fact they had told me it was going to die.

There are hundreds more stories like this I could tell but at the end of the day - they just don't care about the animals. All they want is money.

The most basics of animal husbandry are not followed so I doubt they are doing everything within their means to look after the animals. Very rarely does a cat have a litter tray despite the fact that most shops sell them. Very few of the animals have water - the most basic of animal needs. Dead animals are not always removed from cages with others and there is disease and illness throughout all the shops.

But until the legislation changes, why should they go out of their way to make the animals more comfortable?

"As far as the authorities are concerned, they don't need to make any changes"

THAT is the real cause of the problem.

you cannot expect most pet stores to care for animals more than its competitor would because it would affect their profitability adversely. Perverse but true.

However, if all the pet stores are expected to follow any set guidelines that are imposed stringently, you can expect them to be more eager in following them because the nature of the business would itself change, its economics.

I know someone who interacts closely with pet shop owners even personally and the general impression is that they are eager animal enthusiasts who often do what is in their means to care for animals.

Unfortunately they will never do so unless people make a stand and complain. As far as the authorities are concerned, they don't need to make any changes because apart from QAWS, very few (if any) people actually make the effort to formally complain to the Authorities.

This last comment of yours has substance, much more substance than random photographs. But again, it is the prerogative of the Government Authorities to come up with laws to protect animals and then impose them. Not of the pet stores to make laws on its own and then try to maintain them.

We are regualr visitors to the Souq so we can see what's going on and we always report any cruelty or health issues to the Ministry of Environment.

Having no water is not speculation - the dogs & cats very rarely have access to clean water and there is never food in any of their cages. We've also seen what they feed them, and it's not a good diet for a dog. Cooked rice & chicken bones which is left out in the heat and then fed to them will make them sick. Again, not speculation but fact.

We know of a pet shop that was closed for almost 4 weeks whilst the owner went on vacation and during that month, the shop keeper next door was going in once a day to feed them. The animals were not available for sale and they were left to their own devices for 23 hours a day. Not speculation - the caretaker of the animal's himself told us this.

We don't go round making up stuff just to give the Souq a bad name - it does a good job of that itself.

Beautynbrain - we are just a rescue shelter and have no authority or power over the Souq. All you can do is take photos, write letters or visit the Ministry of Environment, the Animal Resource Department or the Health Authorities with complaints. Emailing a letter of complaint & any photos you have to QAWS will increase our file on the Souq which we hope will have some effect on a change in legislation.

Chelsea, everything you have offered in your last comment is speculation. Everything you say may be true but there is nothing in the photograph to establish any of these as facts.

Xena, generally the dog needs to have a six inches head clearance in any crate/cage. It is not clear from the photograph but on first sight, it MAY be small for the larger dog. Another key criteria is also the length of time the dog spends in the cage which we cannot gauge from the photograph so that's an important bit of information that we need to know before we get all self righteous.

But the fact there is no water provided or that they are not fed properly is speculation. the fact that they are sitting in the heat in the passage is also speculation. and the fact that they may not be taken to the toilet is also speculation.

But at the end of the day, these pet stores can only be expected to respect rules and regulations that apply to them as stipulated by local law and not more. If they respect whatever local rules stipulate, then it is not fair for anyone to point fingers at any specific institution and it amounts to defamation.

If you have issues with the way that pets are cared for in Qatar, such concerns should be addressed to the Ministry of Agriculture and not against specific pet stores which we should assume are law abiding 'legal' institution unless we have clear facts that may suggest otherwise.

For all you know, some here might have personal interests against the shop in question. Set up a competing pet store which might treat pets even worse, one never knows.

Chelsea/ Xena- is there anything that Animal Welfare association can do in this case???? I mean everytime someone is posting such topic on QL and then no action. We need to take a step ahead for poor animals and I am completely clueless on what can be done for them.

I have been to Souq Waqif many times and everytime I go there, I question them abt animal health and all but people (asians) dont know what to answer and they just smile at me. The owners, never bother to come forward and talk to us.

Did you have a look at the picture of the two dalmation puppies?

They are in a bird cage, that is clearly far to small as they are sitting hunched up... from what I can see the bowl next to them is empty, so no water... and guarenteed these puppies are sitting outside in the heat in the passage so they will be seen by buyers.

If they aren't sold today, they will be locked up in a shop overnight without being let out of the cage and they will be lucky to have been taken to the toilet before the lights are turned off.

This is animal cruelty.

It's not the fact that the animals are dead in pots, its the way they are kept & treated that contributes to the fact that they are dead.

Birds are extremely delicate animals and the stress of being poked, prodded, screamed at and left out in the sun could have contributed to their death. Or the way they are brought into the country in packed boxes where a large number die en-route, or how they are dyed, their wings are cut, they are passed around from person to person, left in tiny cages full of others that fight and pick on each other - each of these things is stressful for a bird.

The dogs that die of parvovirus because they're not vaccinated and kept in close quarters with sick animals, their cages are not disinfected properly between animals, they are not fed a decent diet or allowed access to water all day - this is cruelty.

If i were to get photographs of dead animals at QAWS

Would that amount to animal cruelty at QAWS?

Where is the animal cruelty in keeping dead birds in pots?

I agree that the conditions in the animal souq can be better but I can't understand how a couple of dead birds in a pot amounts to animal cruelty?

What should they do? make small coffins for them?

I don't understand why people are getting so disturbed by these photographs.

I hope they close the animal souq down!

Very tragic, very tragic indeed but you know what is more tragic, the chickens, lambs and cows who were reared only for you to kill and eat them. have you ever seen the conditions in which those are brought up??? The only purpose of whose life is to get murdered and enter your stomach. Bunch of hypocrites pretending to love animals.

Atleast these are still alive and may one day find a home where they are loved and appreciated but the ones you have eaten away aren't coming back.

im going to KFC now and after that for hot dogs

Veri, the only person who needs introspect here is YOU! I judge a human being by the way he/she treats animals.

Yes birds die as do all living beings with souls but no one has the right to abuse them as long as they live based on the fact that oh they are going to die anyways! Brother, as a Muslim we do not ill treat any creation of Allah nor do we turn a blind eye on those who do so..have you not heard the hadith of a woman who entered hell fire due to ill treating to death a cat or the prostitute forgiven of her sins cos she gave water to a dog?How about the time the Prophet,Peace be upon him, tore his shirt as not to disturb a sleeping cat? Surely this proves we have to have care and concern for animals too. As for cages for dogs there are ways to make it comfortable for them which these itsy bitsy cages don't fulfill! And yes the lowest form of eeman is to hate the evil acts and condemn it in your heart if you are unable to stop them yourselves by your limbs and speech.

If you're not interested in animal welfare then that's your prerogative.

However, to those of us who do care about the animals and the conditions they care kept in - this is unacceptable.

how does it matter if they are in cooking pots or small coffins??

With regards to the cages... more breaking news... dogs are put in cages... so?

Before people get all judgmental, maybe some introspect would be appropriate

people end up buying lovely creatures out of sympathy...looking at their condition there!

this isn't a right way to treat living creatures!

Are they keeping the poor birds in cooking pots?

XXC- I agree with you abt labourers but still they are in position to help themselves... but poor animals, they are so innocent and they dont understand whats happening with them and also they are trapped so badly that they cant even escape....

Gladiator- They might have cut their wings, may be thats the reason bird's couldnt escaped..

Chelsea/ Xena- Please do something... we are with you...

This topic is about animals. If you want to talk about labourers then create another topic and do something towards helping them! Did you even join the cool campain, done by volunteers? Easy to sit on your high horses behind a computer screen.

Animals are man's best friends!!!

xxc, yes you are making a lot of sense & I strongly agree with you....

XXX........

they are not like birds ...

they are not locked they can fly when they want ...

wht abt this birds !!!

That looks so....saddening! Poor lil things. And OMGod! are those really dalmatians? Wish someone could take action against these people! This is unethical and cruel to say the least =(

go take some photos for the labors on the street and on site constructions.. how they work under then sun without water and with very very low salaries and very bad accomodations !!! if human beings are not respected here so dont expect animals to be treated right !!! unfortunely ...

am i making sense!? i guess ... wat do u think?

Sad to see they were maltreated,,,these animals have their own right also,,,hoping that these things will be stopped soon. Chelsea, I'm the Vice President of OHNAP (Occupational Health Nurses Association of the Philippines-Qatar International Chapter), we can work together to make an activity to voice out Cruelty against Animals... Just let me know,,,just email me...More power to QAWS!!!

NATURE WORLD

of birds,chicks,rabbits. one can enjoy the god given natural colour,imagine how much they must have tortured during colouring the bird or rabbit

Chelsea

Please go ahead !!!

stop them ..........

it looks like a tiny giraffe? Animal are really mishandled!

Do you mind if QAWS uses these photos for our file that we are making on the Animal Souq?

Please - if anyone has any photos showing cruelty at Souq Waqif, can you email them to [email protected].

Hopefully together we can get a stop to this animal cruelty.

Sad to see and i can say is, life has to end.

Birds has less spand of life unlike human beings.

The pet shop should keep the birds and dogs in huge cages

so that they can roam freely.

I am an avid animal lover. I am very very sorry for them.

They should change the name to NATURE JAIL instead of NATURE WORLD.. So Sad:( helpless...

If you are a non veg then you are a crual also. What mistakes the Animals did.