PLANS to open Bahrain’s first public pet park offering a ‘home’ for stray dogs in Askar have been pushed back until next year (2024) … although further details of the proposal have been outlined.

Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture Ministry’s Agriculture and Marine Resources vet clinics and disease control section chief Dr Abbas Al Hayki told Southern Municipal Council members during their meeting that the site would have a capacity for around 5,000 animals.

The proposed facility on an area of 40,000 square metres would feature green areas and buildings with an estimated 15,000sqm set aside to accommodate the dogs.

It will also include a museum highlighting the history of dogs in Bahrain, celebrating the Saluki breed.

The GDN has learnt that park plans have been postponed for financing issues as the ministry awaits the allocation of a necessary budget to cover the unspecified cost.

The meeting heard that the current system of dealing with the controversial issue involves security teams, in co-ordination with residents, capturing, neutering and then releasing the strays in Askar.

However, they find their way back to residential areas because there is often little food, water or shelter in the area.

“We have managed to capture hundreds of dogs from all across the country,” said Dr Al Hayki.

“They were neutered and released in Askar away from homes but manage to find their way into residential blocks because there is no specific place for them,” he added.

“Work on the new public pet park with a ‘home’ for stray dogs should be carried out next year and would probably take three years to complete. We are aiming to provide tourist and educational activities besides animal services.

“It will feature a spacious and safe shelter for stray dogs and also offer them up for adoption.”

Dr Al Hayki said earlier around 4,000 dogs have been captured and more than 2,000 neutered since 2017.

“We have tried to catch even more but many people illegally feed them before we can put down the bait,” added Dr Al Hayki.

Council chairman Abdulla Abdullatif said stray dogs were scaring and preventing worshippers from entering mosques during Fajr (morning) prayers.

“It is not just worshippers that have been attacked when dogs are gathering in large numbers during daily morning prayers but also joggers on walkways and in our parks,” he added. “Some of these dogs are fierce and many people have not only been scared but injured.”

Issues concerning the animals’ wellbeing were also voiced.

The chairman said that he had heard that some dogs were being used for illegal racing and ended being thrown out into the wild if they didn’t win.

Councillor Abdulla Daraj also urged the private companies contracted to deal with the issue to carry out daily checks on the cages as some animals have been found dead before they could be moved.

“Whether we like them in our area or not, leaving dogs to die in cages is inhumane,” he added.

The GDN has highlighted numerous incidents of issues involving strays causing concern and alarm in village communities, as well as being ill-treated and killed by vigilantes.

The government in May 2021 approved plans to export stray dogs, following a Northern Municipal Council proposal, but the problem has proved too challenging to solve to date.

And, new legislation, which controversially classifies dogs as ‘dangerous animals’, has not yet arrived in Parliament despite a constitutional move on the government to redraft it into a proper law. The ministry has urged Parliament’s public utilities and environment affairs committee to have a rethink, asserting that dogs are not ‘fierce by nature’.