BACKGROUND
Kuwait has no animal rights protections and no municipal or non-governmental organizations that ensure the humane and ethical treatment of unwanted domestic pets such as dogs and cats. Kuwaitis in general do not believe in spaying and neutering their animals. Their practice is to purchase puppies and kittens from breeders or the Friday Market (see below), and then discard their pets when they attain sexual maturity. Since the discarded animals are intact, breeding occurs and the population of unwanted animals in Kuwait skyrockets.
There are several areas where domestic animals are discarded: In the streets, where they are attacked by feral animals, hit by cars, casually abused by cruel people, and die of starvation and disease. Some are snatched up by animal fighting rings.
Many unwanted dogs and cats are dumped on Kuwaiti beaches without food and fresh water, where they starve, are attacked by predators, and die. Others are driven to and abandoned in the desert, sometimes with barbed wire collars, or cinderblocks attached to their feet, left to suffer and
die in extreme weather conditions. And then there is the Friday Market. Inside the Friday Market is a horror show of animal neglect and abuse. No vaccinations are administered, so
disease and death run rampant in the premises. Dogs and cats are stuffed in small cages and left with little food and no water, and often no way to relieve themselves. There are no floors on the bases of the cages, so dogs and cats have nothing solid underneath their feet. At the end of each day,
the workers simply hose off excrement from the animals that are still alive. Animals are sick and dying in the cages, but they are still for sale. Eye infections are common, often leading to blindness and bulging sockets. Parvo, feline leukemia, FIP, and a whole host of other terrible illnesses kill these helpless, unvaccinated animals. Shopkeepers at the Friday Market
eventually toss the dead or dying animals outside the market where they suffer in misery and filth, with no food or water, until they die.
The only way these animals are saved from certain death is through a private network of compassionate individuals who battle the odds to save as many abandoned pets as they can. They have no government funding, so they either use their own savings or ask other individuals for donations. There are no SPCAs, animal welfare officers, animal rights laws, or anything else like that in Kuwait. The compassionate who race around saving animals can only turn to each other for help, or to overseas based rescue groups such as Kitty Love Kuwait that partner with them as a team to help these animals find safe and loving homes outside Kuwait.
