Before writing this article it is important to mention that the Middle East is one of my favorite regions to visit as a traveler. I’ve been to almost all countries in the gulf region, but one thing which is often sad to see is the treatment of animals and especially what I saw at the zoo in Iraq.
What was the zoo in Iraq like?
I was in the city of Sulaymaniyah or also known as Slemani in the Kurdish region of the country in the north. A local wanted to show me the country. He was taking me to this zoo and was amazed about it.
Besides the fact that the whole park, which surrounded the zoo, was quite rugged down and nature was coming back to life, there is literally nothing positive for me to say.
When looking on the internet it seems as though the zoo isn’t a thing anymore. I still want to mention it, because the zoo is just the tip of the iceberg here.
At the zoo, there were a few small cages for the animals to live in.
There were monkeys, flamingos, a bear and even dogs.
All of the animals had less space than a student in a dormitory.
Besides the little space at the zoo, it was rugged down and very dirty.
Usually seeing sadness in animals in the zoo isn’t something I would be good at spotting, but it was impossible to miss it. Besides sadness, there was a lot of hate and rage there due to the next point of the list.
The visitors
The visitors made me angry, but I was stopped before doing something stupid.
Instead of just watching the animals and maybe learning something about them. They were hitting them and throwing things at them.
The monkey was fighting back a bit and the dog was just running as far away as he could in his 5qm box.
People were so reckless and didn’t gave a single s*it is about the lives of the animals being there. They felt something better than them, which is of course everywhere in this world like that. Still this behavior isn’t everywhere to this extent.
Yes in every country animals get slaved and treated badly, that is for sure the fact.
Especially for meat production, but I will not dive into that topic, because there are also differences, but this topic is too big and political.
I was very annoyed at the visitors for being so disrespectful to them. They had a shitty life already, but made it worse.
Outside of the zoo
The following was seen in almost all of my trips to countries in the gulf region.
Throats were cut through in the middle of the highway of camels.
Dogs get kicked away, literally getting kicked.
I’ve seen animals getting thrown away.
Bazaars are one place I should not get started I guess.
Ducks, chicken, and other birds can’t even see anymore because they got blind. They are trying to breathe but probably don’t care about life anymore.
Final thought
I don’t know, but I always feel like the life of an animal isn’t worth much in the Middle East. Yes I am not from there, that’s why I can only give my thoughts as a tourist. Why would I as a tourist be able to make these claims, if it would not be so common?
I’ve been to 14 countries which I would count to those which I am taking in this post and they had all this in common.
It is just sad to see, every time I am visiting one of the countries.
I believe that in regions in Southeast Asia and in Africa I will be seeing more of that and also in Central Asia I have seen it, but not to the same extent.
Bad treatment of animals is happening literally everywhere in the world, also in my home country. The thing is, when bad things happen to them in the public. There is at least some sort of fight back and the animals get some sort of support, but it also depends on what kind of animal we are talking about.
Maybe this whole article isn’t making a huge amount of sense. It is something which for sure needs to change. Not only that animals, which are not humans, should be treated better. Also should be seen as part of society, also we should treat each other better and be nice with each other.
There is so much hate and I feel like social media is making us go downhill even quicker and that is sad to see.
