The Ministry of Interior is allocating huge financial and logistical capabilities to combat the phenomenon.

Agadir24

The Ministry of Interior, as part of its support for local communities, works annually to allocate funds to combat stray dogs in the streets and alleys. Over the past five years, this has amounted to nearly 70 million dirhams, in order to purchase vehicles and equipment to collect and combat stray dogs and rabies.

In order to contain the phenomenon of the spread of stray dogs and cats nationwide and limit their spread in all places, a framework agreement for partnership and cooperation was concluded in 2019 between the General Directorate of Territorial Communities, the National Office for Food Safety, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, and the National Authority of Veterinarians, aiming to enhance cooperation and coordination between these parties in order to address this phenomenon, by adopting a new approach based on scientific controls that have proven effective in many countries, by performing surgical sterilization operations on these animals to ensure that they do not reproduce and vaccinate them against rabies.

This new approach will, in its early stages, ensure the stability of the number of these animals, which will then gradually decrease.

This agreement stipulates the involvement of associations interested in protecting animals in containing the stray dog ​​phenomenon by: contributing to organizing awareness campaigns, to explain the objectives of sterilizing stray dogs and how to deal with these animals, while promoting a culture of animal welfare among citizens; and participating in tracking the fate of sterilized dogs after returning them to their natural habitat.

The stakeholders (Interior, Health, National Office for Food Safety) agreed to accelerate the pace of implementation and activation of the aforementioned approach related to the sterilization and vaccination of stray dogs, by preparing an integrated work program. In this context, a circular was sent under number 6973 dated April 10, 2023, in order to mobilize all stakeholders concerned with this phenomenon, including the competent regional services affiliated with the agriculture and health sectors and animal welfare associations, to fully and positively engage in this process according to an integrated and participatory approach.

The Ministry of the Interior is currently working to support several territorial communities (Rabat, Tangier, Marrakech, Casablanca, Agadir, Ifrane, Ouezzane, Sidi Slimane, Oujda, Beni Mellal, Kenitra, Khemisset), in order to create and equip collective or regional quarantines for stray dogs and cats, as the contribution of this ministry in this framework, until the end of July 2024, amounted to nearly 70 million dirhams.

Considering the important role played by the health preservation offices affiliated with the groups in this field, and to overcome the negatives that the latter suffer from and improve their performance, the Ministry of the Interior is in the process of following up with many of them in order to qualify and equip their offices within the framework of a partnership with them.

As part of its action plan spanning 2019-2025, it is also working on implementing a program to create 130 collective health offices shared between local communities, in order to make up for the deficit recorded in communities that do not have this type of equipment. 1,244 communities belonging to 53 provinces will benefit from it. The total cost of the program is 1,040 million dirhams, and the field of managing the phenomenon of stray dogs and cats is one of the main pillars of the program.

The collective health offices created within the framework of the groups of territorial communities will be supported by 260 doctors, 130 veterinarians, 260 nurses and 260 health care technicians through an annual share of the value-added tax, which will be transferred to the benefit of the communities (which include the group headquarters) participating in the program to create 130 groups of territorial communities.

A partnership agreement was signed in 2024 with the Ministry of Health and Social Protection to train some of the municipal employees who meet the required conditions in the Higher Institutes of Nursing Professions and Health Technologies, and to reintegrate them after obtaining a diploma in the required specializations. This procedure is considered one of the alternative solutions to employ nursing and technical staff in municipal health offices, which will contribute significantly to strengthening the interventions of these offices in all fields, including the field of combating rabies and managing the phenomenon of stray dogs and cats;

In connection with the subject, and in the field of preventive treatment services provided to citizens to combat rabies, and in accordance with the framework agreement concluded in 2018 between the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Health and Social Protection and its annex, which aims to bring these services closer and improve them, especially in rural areas, the Ministry of the Interior works annually to transfer an amount of forty (40) million dirhams to the budget of the Pasteur Institute of Morocco, allocated to finance the purchase of vaccine and serum materials.

The Ministry of Health and Social Protection is working to distribute these materials to 556 health centers to combat this disease, affiliated with the health sector, especially to centers located in rural areas. This financial envelope is added to the 40 million dirhams allocated annually by the communities to purchase these vital materials for the benefit of the centers affiliated with these communities.

Stray dogs are the main reservoir or carrier of many serious diseases such as rabies, and combating them falls within the scope of the powers granted to the communal councils and their heads in the field of prevention and health preservation.