Kirkuk municipality initiates construction of stray dog sanctuary

KIRKUK, August 21 — Kirkuk governorate will open a long-awaited sanctuary for stray dogs in the Laylan sub-district, covering an area of five dunams (approximately 1.25 acres).

The municipality is urging city residents to cooperate by surrendering stray dogs to the shelter instead of resorting to unauthorized killings, as they pose a threat to citizens’ safety.

Falah Yaigjli, head of Kirkuk Municipality, told 964: “Today, we began laying the foundations for the stray dog sanctuary project in the Lailan area, encompassing an area of land estimated at five dunams.”

“This step was taken by order of the Kirkuk governor in coordination with the veterinary hospital and the health, municipality, and environmental departments. We have allocated 3,000 Iraqi dinars as a reward for each stray dog brought to the sanctuary,” he said.

“We receive an annual allocation of up to 10 million Iraqi dinars from the governorate for the eradication of stray dogs. This fund will now be dedicated to feeding them within the sanctuary, in cooperation with butchers, slaughterhouses, and restaurants that have food waste or spoiled meat and bones,” he added. “The Veterinary Department in Kirkuk will be responsible for separating males from females and injecting males with special treatments to prevent reproduction.”

Veterinarian Muhannad Hassan said, “Better late than never; we commend the issuance of this decision which we proposed years ago. It’s incredibly important to provide shelter for these creatures rather than resorting to euthanasia.”