Gone to the dogs
A number of Arab neighborhoods in 'east' Jerusalem are being overrun by packs of wild dogs, and there isn't anything the city can do about it. That's because the city cannot send municipal workers into those neighborhoods without an IDF escort, and the IDF has better things to do with its time. Really. At least 150 wild dogs, many running in feral packs, have for months been roaming the streets of the Ras Hamis neighborhood, at the edge of Shuafat, itself a village within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem.If they can't be civil, let them deal with - or go to - the dogs all by themselves.
The city has a full staff of dog catchers, but because of security concerns, a municipal spokesperson told reporters, they could only be sent in to do their jobs with an IDF or police crew to protect them, because of the strong likelihood that they will be pelted with stones or beaten with metal pipes – or worse – as has occurred on numerous occasions in the past.
As a result, residents of the neighborhood say they have taken to arming themselves with bricks and pipes to fight off the dog menace. The dogs, say the residents, are particularly vicious, and have chased and attacked many people, especially the elderly and children, who have a hard time outrunning them.
Attorney Nasrian Alian from the Israel Civil Rights Association said that the problem was present in all Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem. “In 2010 over 1,000 dogs were caught in Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem. The city's Veterinary Service does not provide sufficient services for the neighborhood and does not even operate in some of them – and they fail to do the job properly in areas where they do operate,” she told reporters.
In response, the municipality said that the IDF no longer permits municipal workers to enter some Arab neighborhoods without a security detail to protect them. Shuafat is one of those neighborhoods, the city said.
Attacks on Israeli workers in Jerusalem Arab neighborhoods are not uncommon, and numerous workers have been badly injured when Arabs converged on them as they tried to undertake maintenance work in Arab areas.
Labels: dogs, East Jerusalem
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:01 AM
4 Comments:
Feral dogs? It looks to me that most, if not all, of them have collars.
Sew dot reap.
No sympathy here.
Maybe they should try to get some Koreans to immigrate to the area.
The dogs on the picture look like they are radiocollared. If these are the dogs they clearly are monitored already.
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