There are 400,000 dogs without owners in Tehran province/don’t feed stray dogs

According to the urban reporter of Fars news agency, Shadi Maliki, the deputy of regional affairs of the Tehran Municipality Waste Management Organization, said in the “Iran Shahr” program about the statistics of stray dogs in the city of Tehran: According to the latest estimates, it is estimated that there are between 5 and 6 thousand dogs without owners in the city. We have the city of Tehran, but the number of ownerless dogs in Tehran province is more than 400,000; of course, due to some reasons, especially the release of dogs around Tehran, it is not possible to provide accurate statistics of their number.

In response to a question about what diseases these dogs are suffering from, he said: In general, animals without owners who are not treated by a special person are suffering from diseases such as internal and external parasites, skin fungi, etc. A

Maliki clarified: Of course, I must say that in the last 4-5 months that the waste management organization has been entrusted with the responsibility of handling these animals, we have not had any suspected cases of rabies in Tehran. The previous documents also show that in the last 3 years, we did not have an animal with rabies in Tehran, but 2 examples were found in Tehran province.

He considered feeding animals by citizens as a mistake and said: There are 2 views on this issue; The general public sees feeding animals as charitable, but many environmental and wildlife experts believe that feeding non-endangered species is wrong.

The Deputy of Regional Affairs of Tehran Municipal Waste Management Organization said: An animal that lives freely in nature should be able to get its own food. On the other hand, feeding animals such as foxes, jackals, wolves, etc. causes them to approach the boundaries of cities and human settlements, and this issue creates serious challenges. For example, rabies is the source of rabies and the vaccination we do is for dogs.

Maliki emphasized: My request to the citizens is not to feed the animals; Because the more we work on sterilization, as long as we have food, the animal population will increase.

The Deputy of Regional Affairs of Tehran Municipal Waste Management Organization also said about feeding the birds: Most of the birds in the ecosystem of Tehran city feed on insects. Feeding the birds by the citizens makes them stop looking for their main food, and this also causes the population of insects to increase in Tehran, and we have to pay for insect control.

In response to a question about whether the high amount of food and vegetable waste in the suburbs of Tehran and the fruit and vegetable square provides the basis for feeding animals without owners, he said: Yes, this matter is effective; Especially since we have the challenge of increasing the population of rats.

Maliki noted: Based on this, we had various meetings with guilds, and it has been decided that the collection of food waste from restaurants on the outskirts of the city will be done separately. Also, in fruit and vegetable fields, which is the main problem of rat population growth, the waste management organization has been collecting waste from the city and fields for nearly 2-3 months and does not allow it to be mixed with urban waste.

He pointed out that this incident has caused 5,500 tons of waste from fruit and vegetable fields, which is equivalent to one day’s waste in Tehran, to not go to Aradkoh and become first-class compost or dry compost for livestock farms.

Responding to some doubts about feeding dogs by some contractors in order not to lose their jobs in the municipality, Maliki said: According to the law, Tehran Municipality has duties to manage animals without owners.

The Deputy of Regional Affairs of Tehran Municipal Waste Management Organization stated: Among these tasks is the construction of “Aradkoh Sanatorium”, which has been established since 2012 in an area of ​​10,000 square meters. In this sanatorium, we have contractors who cooperate with the municipality in the process of rescues and the administration of the sanatorium, but the municipality’s contract with them is not set according to the number of dogs that would benefit their increase.

He explained about reviving the dogs and the actions after that and said: In the early hours of the morning and in the evening, our reviving agents go to the city level based on people’s requests, collect the ownerless dogs and take them to the sanatorium.

Maliki said: As soon as they are transferred to the convalescent home, their treatment process will begin. In this section, in addition to separating sick dogs from healthy ones, we have vaccination and sterilization. One of the best ways to control the population of stray dogs is to sterilize them.

The Deputy of Regional Affairs of Tehran Municipal Waste Management Organization added: I emphasize that we do not have extermination in this hospital. Sick dogs are treated as much as possible, and after undergoing the treatment process, they are given a plaque and given to them in the form of guard dogs, herding dogs, etc.

In the end, this responsible official said about the concern of some wildlife activists: I request them to trust the municipality; The municipality’s approach is not to exterminate dogs. The door of Aradkoh is open to all animal lovers and they can visit there.

The end of the message/T 27