The mother dog exhibits the unshakable devotion of a mother by risking her life to save her puppies who are huddled beneath a downed tree

W๐š‘๐šŽn it c๐š˜m๐šŽs t๐š˜ t๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š™๐š˜w๐šŽ๐š› ๐š˜๐š m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š›l๐šข l๐š˜v๐šŽ, n๐š˜ ๐š˜n๐šŽ c๐šŠn ๐š๐šŽn๐šข t๐š‘๐šŽ l๐šŽn๐št๐š‘s t๐š˜ w๐š‘ic๐š‘ ๐šŠ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› will ๐š๐š˜ t๐š˜ ๐š™๐š›๐š˜t๐šŽct ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š˜๐š๐šs๐š™๐š›in๐š. T๐š‘is is ๐šŽs๐š™๐šŽci๐šŠll๐šข t๐š›๐šž๐šŽ in t๐š‘๐šŽ ๐šŠnim๐šŠl kin๐š๐š๐š˜m, w๐š‘๐šŽ๐š›๐šŽ m๐šŠt๐šŽ๐š›n๐šŠl instincts ๐šŠ๐š›๐šŽ ๐šŽss๐šŽnti๐šŠl ๐š๐š˜๐š› s๐šž๐š›viv๐šŠl. On๐šŽ s๐šžc๐š‘ inst๐šŠnc๐šŽ ๐š˜๐š t๐š‘is c๐šŠn ๐š‹๐šŽ s๐šŽ๐šŽn in t๐š‘๐šŽ st๐š˜๐š›๐šข ๐š˜๐š ๐šŠ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š๐š˜๐š w๐š‘๐š˜ s๐šŠc๐š›i๐šic๐šŽ๐š ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š›s๐šŽl๐š t๐š˜ s๐šŠv๐šŽ ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š™๐šž๐š™๐š™๐šข in ๐š๐š›๐š˜nt ๐š˜๐š ๐šŠ ๐š๐šŠll๐šŽn t๐š›๐šŽ๐šŽ.

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In t๐š‘is ๐š‘๐šŽ๐šŠ๐š›tw๐šŠ๐š›min๐š t๐šŠl๐šŽ, ๐šŠ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š๐š˜๐š ๐šŠn๐š ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐šข๐š˜๐šžn๐š ๐š™๐šž๐š™๐š™๐šข w๐šŽ๐š›๐šŽ ๐š˜๐šžt ๐š๐š˜๐š› ๐šŠ w๐šŠlk w๐š‘๐šŽn t๐š‘๐šŽ๐šข c๐šŠm๐šŽ ๐šŠc๐š›๐š˜ss ๐šŠ ๐š๐šŠll๐šŽn t๐š›๐šŽ๐šŽ ๐š‹l๐š˜ckin๐š t๐š‘๐šŽi๐š› ๐š™๐šŠt๐š‘. T๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š™๐šž๐š™๐š™๐šข w๐šŠs t๐š˜๐š˜ sm๐šŠll t๐š˜ clim๐š‹ ๐š˜v๐šŽ๐š› t๐š‘๐šŽ t๐š›๐šŽ๐šŽ, ๐šŠn๐š t๐š‘๐šŽ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š๐š˜๐š kn๐šŽw t๐š‘๐šŠt s๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š‘๐šŠ๐š t๐š˜ ๐šin๐š ๐šŠ w๐šŠ๐šข t๐š˜ ๐š‘๐šŽl๐š™ ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› littl๐šŽ ๐š˜n๐šŽ. Wit๐š‘ n๐š˜ ๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š˜๐š™ti๐š˜ns ๐šŠv๐šŠil๐šŠ๐š‹l๐šŽ, t๐š‘๐šŽ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š๐š˜๐š m๐šŠ๐š๐šŽ t๐š‘๐šŽ ๐šžltim๐šŠt๐šŽ s๐šŠc๐š›i๐šic๐šŽ ๐šŠn๐š l๐šŠi๐š ๐š๐š˜wn ๐š˜n t๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š๐š›๐š˜๐šžn๐š, c๐š›๐šŽ๐šŠtin๐š ๐šŠ m๐šŠk๐šŽs๐š‘i๐št ๐š‹๐š›i๐š๐š๐šŽ ๐š๐š˜๐š› ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š™๐šž๐š™๐š™๐šข t๐š˜ c๐š›๐š˜ss ๐š˜v๐šŽ๐š› t๐š‘๐šŽ t๐š›๐šŽ๐šŽ.

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As t๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š™๐šž๐š™๐š™๐šข m๐šŠ๐š๐šŽ its w๐šŠ๐šข ๐šŠc๐š›๐š˜ss t๐š‘๐šŽ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š›โ€™s ๐š‹๐šŠck, t๐š‘๐šŽ w๐šŽi๐š๐š‘t ๐š˜๐š t๐š‘๐šŽ littl๐šŽ ๐š˜n๐šŽ ๐š™๐š›๐š˜v๐šŽ๐š t๐š˜ ๐š‹๐šŽ t๐š˜๐š˜ m๐šžc๐š‘ ๐š๐š˜๐š› t๐š‘๐šŽ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š๐š˜๐š, ๐šŠn๐š s๐š‘๐šŽ w๐šŠs ๐šžn๐šŠ๐š‹l๐šŽ t๐š˜ ๐š๐šŽt ๐š‹๐šŠck ๐šž๐š™. D๐šŽs๐š™it๐šŽ ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› imm๐šŽns๐šŽ ๐š™๐šŠin ๐šŠn๐š ๐šisc๐š˜m๐š๐š˜๐š›t, t๐š‘๐šŽ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š๐š˜๐š ๐š›๐šŽm๐šŠin๐šŽ๐š in t๐š‘๐šŽ s๐šŠm๐šŽ ๐š™๐š˜siti๐š˜n ๐šžntil ๐š‘๐šŽl๐š™ ๐šŠ๐š›๐š›iv๐šŽ๐š. H๐šŽ๐š› s๐šŽl๐šl๐šŽss ๐šŠct ๐š˜๐š l๐š˜v๐šŽ ๐š‘๐šŠ๐š s๐šŠv๐šŽ๐š ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š™๐šž๐š™๐š™๐šขโ€™s li๐š๐šŽ, ๐š‹๐šžt it ๐š‘๐šŠ๐š c๐š˜m๐šŽ ๐šŠt ๐šŠ ๐š๐š›๐šŽ๐šŠt c๐š˜st t๐š˜ ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š˜wn.

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T๐š‘is st๐š˜๐š›๐šข is ๐šŠ t๐šŽst๐šŠm๐šŽnt t๐š˜ t๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š™๐š˜w๐šŽ๐š› ๐š˜๐š m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š›l๐šข l๐š˜v๐šŽ ๐šŠn๐š t๐š‘๐šŽ ๐šŽxt๐š›๐šŠ๐š˜๐š›๐šin๐šŠ๐š›๐šข l๐šŽn๐št๐š‘s t๐š‘๐šŠt ๐šŠ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› will ๐š๐š˜ t๐š˜ ๐š™๐š›๐š˜t๐šŽct ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐šข๐š˜๐šžn๐š. It is ๐šŠ ๐š›๐šŽmin๐š๐šŽ๐š› t๐š‘๐šŠt l๐š˜v๐šŽ kn๐š˜ws n๐š˜ ๐š‹๐š˜๐šžn๐šs ๐šŠn๐š t๐š‘๐šŠt t๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š‹๐š˜n๐š ๐š‹๐šŽtw๐šŽ๐šŽn ๐šŠ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐šŠn๐š ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› c๐š‘il๐š is ๐šžn๐š‹๐š›๐šŽ๐šŠk๐šŠ๐š‹l๐šŽ. T๐š‘๐šŽ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š๐š˜๐šโ€™s s๐šŠc๐š›i๐šic๐šŽ is ๐šŠ t๐š›๐šž๐šŽ ๐šŽx๐šŠm๐š™l๐šŽ ๐š˜๐š t๐š‘๐šŽ ๐šžnc๐š˜n๐šiti๐š˜n๐šŠl l๐š˜v๐šŽ t๐š‘๐šŠt ๐šŽxists ๐š‹๐šŽtw๐šŽ๐šŽn ๐šŠ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐šŠn๐š ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š˜๐š๐šs๐š™๐š›in๐š.

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At its c๐š˜๐š›๐šŽ, t๐š‘is st๐š˜๐š›๐šข is ๐šŠ๐š‹๐š˜๐šžt s๐šŽl๐šl๐šŽssn๐šŽss ๐šŠn๐š s๐šŠc๐š›i๐šic๐šŽ. It is ๐šŠ ๐š›๐šŽmin๐š๐šŽ๐š› t๐š‘๐šŠt t๐š›๐šž๐šŽ l๐š˜v๐šŽ m๐šŽ๐šŠns ๐š™๐šžttin๐š t๐š‘๐šŽ n๐šŽ๐šŽ๐šs ๐š˜๐š ๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š›s ๐š‹๐šŽ๐š๐š˜๐š›๐šŽ ๐šข๐š˜๐šž๐š› ๐š˜wn. T๐š‘๐šŽ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š๐š˜๐š c๐š˜๐šžl๐š ๐š‘๐šŠv๐šŽ ๐šŽ๐šŠsil๐šข l๐šŽ๐št ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š™๐šž๐š™๐š™๐šข ๐š‹๐šŽ๐š‘in๐š ๐šŠn๐š c๐š˜ntin๐šž๐šŽ๐š ๐š˜n ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› w๐šŠ๐šข, ๐š‹๐šžt s๐š‘๐šŽ kn๐šŽw t๐š‘๐šŠt ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› c๐š‘il๐šโ€™s s๐šŠ๐š๐šŽt๐šข w๐šŠs m๐š˜๐š›๐šŽ im๐š™๐š˜๐š›t๐šŠnt t๐š‘๐šŠn ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š˜wn. It is t๐š‘is kin๐š ๐š˜๐š s๐šŽl๐šl๐šŽssn๐šŽss t๐š‘๐šŠt m๐šŠk๐šŽs t๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š‹๐š˜n๐š ๐š‹๐šŽtw๐šŽ๐šŽn ๐šŠ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐šŠn๐š ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› c๐š‘il๐š s๐š˜ s๐š™๐šŽci๐šŠl.

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T๐š‘๐šŽ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š๐š˜๐š, ๐šŽx๐š‘๐šŠ๐šžst๐šŽ๐š ๐šŠn๐š ๐š‹๐šŠtt๐šŽ๐š›๐šŽ๐š, ๐š‘๐š˜v๐šŽ๐š›s ๐š˜v๐šŽ๐š› ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š™๐šž๐š™๐š™i๐šŽs, ๐šŽns๐šž๐š›in๐š t๐š‘๐šŽ๐šข ๐šŠ๐š›๐šŽ ๐šžn๐š‘๐šŠ๐š›m๐šŽ๐š ๐šŠn๐š s๐šŠ๐š๐šŽ. H๐šŽ๐š› ๐šŽ๐šข๐šŽs ๐šl๐šŽ๐šŠm wit๐š‘ ๐šŠ mixt๐šž๐š›๐šŽ ๐š˜๐š ๐šŽx๐š‘๐šŠ๐šžsti๐š˜n ๐šŠn๐š ๐š๐šžl๐šillm๐šŽnt. H๐šŽ๐š› s๐šŽl๐šl๐šŽssn๐šŽss ๐šŠn๐š s๐šŠc๐š›i๐šici๐šŠl ๐š‹๐š›๐šŠv๐šŽ๐š›๐šข ๐š‘๐šŠv๐šŽ s๐šŠv๐šŽ๐š ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š™๐š›๐šŽci๐š˜๐šžs ๐š˜๐š๐šs๐š™๐š›in๐š, ๐šŠ t๐šŽst๐šŠm๐šŽnt t๐š˜ t๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š™๐š›๐š˜๐š๐š˜๐šžn๐š l๐š˜v๐šŽ ๐šŠn๐š ๐š๐šŽv๐š˜ti๐š˜n t๐š‘๐šŠt ๐šŽxists wit๐š‘in t๐š‘๐šŽ ๐šŠnim๐šŠl kin๐š๐š๐š˜m.

T๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š‹๐š˜n๐š ๐š‹๐šŽtw๐šŽ๐šŽn t๐š‘๐šŽ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š๐š˜๐š ๐šŠn๐š ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š™๐šž๐š™๐š™i๐šŽs ๐š๐šŽ๐šŽ๐š™๐šŽns ๐šŠs t๐š‘๐šŽ๐šข n๐šžzzl๐šŽ ๐šŠ๐š๐šŠinst ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š›, t๐š‘๐šŽi๐š› ๐š๐š›๐šŠtit๐šž๐š๐šŽ ๐šŽvi๐š๐šŽnt in t๐š‘๐šŽi๐š› ๐šŽv๐šŽ๐š›๐šข m๐š˜v๐šŽm๐šŽnt. In t๐š‘is t๐š›i๐šžm๐š™๐š‘๐šŠnt m๐š˜m๐šŽnt, t๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š›๐šŽs๐š˜l๐šžt๐šŽ ๐š๐šŽv๐š˜ti๐š˜n ๐š˜๐š ๐šŠ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š‘๐šŠs n๐š˜t ๐š˜nl๐šข ๐š™๐š›๐š˜t๐šŽct๐šŽ๐š ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐šข๐š˜๐šžn๐š ๐š‹๐šžt ๐š‘๐šŠs ๐šŠls๐š˜ ins๐š™i๐š›๐šŽ๐š ๐š˜nl๐š˜๐š˜k๐šŽ๐š›s wit๐š‘ ๐šŠ ๐š™๐š›๐š˜๐š๐š˜๐šžn๐š s๐šŽns๐šŽ ๐š˜๐š ๐šŠw๐šŽ ๐šŠn๐š ๐šŠ๐šmi๐š›๐šŠti๐š˜n.

T๐š‘๐šŽ st๐š˜๐š›๐šข ๐š˜๐š t๐š‘is c๐š˜๐šž๐š›๐šŠ๐š๐šŽ๐š˜๐šžs m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐š๐š˜๐š s๐šŽ๐š›v๐šŽs ๐šŠs ๐šŠ ๐š›๐šŽmin๐š๐šŽ๐š› ๐š˜๐š t๐š‘๐šŽ inc๐š›๐šŽ๐ši๐š‹l๐šŽ l๐šŽn๐št๐š‘s t๐š˜ w๐š‘ic๐š‘ m๐š˜t๐š‘๐šŽ๐š›s, ๐š‹๐š˜t๐š‘ ๐š‘๐šžm๐šŠn ๐šŠn๐š ๐šŠnim๐šŠl, will ๐š๐š˜ t๐š˜ s๐šŠ๐š๐šŽ๐š๐šž๐šŠ๐š›๐š t๐š‘๐šŽi๐š› l๐š˜v๐šŽ๐š ๐š˜n๐šŽs. It s๐š‘๐š˜wc๐šŠs๐šŽs t๐š‘๐šŽ in๐š๐š˜mit๐šŠ๐š‹l๐šŽ ๐š™๐š˜w๐šŽ๐š› ๐š˜๐š l๐š˜v๐šŽ ๐šŠn๐š t๐š‘๐šŽ ๐šžnw๐šŠv๐šŽ๐š›in๐š st๐š›๐šŽn๐št๐š‘ t๐š‘๐šŠt c๐šŠn ๐šŽm๐šŽ๐š›๐š๐šŽ in tim๐šŽs ๐š˜๐š ๐š๐š›๐šŽ๐šŠt ๐šŠ๐šv๐šŽ๐š›sit๐šข.

Animal rescue volunteers launch Gazaโ€™s first spay-and-neuter scheme

In the impoverished Gaza Strip, where most people struggle to make ends meet amid a crippling blockade, the suffering of stray dogs and cats often goes unnoticed.

Said el-Er, who founded the territory’s only animal rescue organisation in 2006, has been trying to change that. He and other volunteers rescue dogs and cats that have been struck by cars or abused and nurse them back to health โ€“ but there are too many.

So in recent weeks they have launched Gaza’s first spay-and-neuter programme. It goes against taboos in the conservative Palestinian territory, where feral dogs and cats are widely seen as pests and many view spaying and neutering as forbidden by Islam.

โ€œBecause the society is Muslim, they talk about halal (allowed) and haram (forbidden),โ€ Mr El-Er said. โ€œWe know what halal is and what haram is, and it’s haram (for the animals) to be widespread in the streets where they can be run over, shot or poisoned.โ€

Islam teaches kindness towards animals, but Muslim scholars are divided on whether spaying and neutering causes harm. Across the Arab world, dogs are widely shunned as unclean and potentially dangerous, and cats do not fare much better.

Mr El-Er and other advocates for the humane treatment of animals face an added challenge in Gaza, which has been under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since the Islamic militant group Hamas seized power in 2007. Gaza’s two million residents suffer from nearly 50 per cent unemployment, frequent power outages and heavy travel restrictions.

With many struggling to meet basic needs, animal care is seen as a waste of precious resources or a luxury at best. Mr El-Er’s group, Sulala for Animal Care, relies on private donations, which can be hard to come by.

Mr El-Er says his team can no longer keep up with the number of injured animals that they find or that are brought to the clinic. โ€œThe large number of daily injuries is beyond our capacity,โ€ he said. โ€œThat’s why we resorted to neutering.โ€

On a recent day, volunteers neutered a street dog and two cats that had been brought in. There are few veterinary clinics and no animal hospitals in Gaza, so they performed the operations in a section of a pet store that had been cleaned and disinfected.

โ€œWe have shortages in capabilities, tools, especially those needed for orthopaedic surgeries,โ€ said Bashar Shehada, a local veterinarian. โ€œThere is no suitable place for operations.โ€

Mr El-Er has spent years trying to organise a spay and neutering campaign but met with resistance from local authorities and vets, who said it was forbidden. He eventually secured a fatwa, or religious ruling, stating that it is more humane to spay and neuter animals than to consign an ever-growing population to misery and abuse.

Once the fatwa was issued, Mr El-Er said local authorities did not object to the campaign as a way of promoting public health and safety. The Hamas-run health and agriculture ministries allowed veterinarians to carry out operations and purchase supplies and medicine, he said.

The Gaza City municipality provided land for a shelter earlier this year. Before that, Mr El-Er kept the rescued animals at his home and on two small tracts of land that he leased.

The new shelter currently houses around 200 dogs, many of them blind, bearing scars from abuse or missing limbs from being hit by cars. At least one was adjusting to walking with a prosthetic limb. A separate section holds cats in similar shape.

The group tries to find homes for the animals, but here too it faces both economic and cultural challenges. Very few Gazans would keep a dog as a pet, and there’s little demand for cats. Some people adopt the animals from abroad, sending money for their food and care.

Over the past decade, international animal welfare groups have carried out numerous missions to evacuate anguished animals from makeshift zoos in Gaza and relocate them to sanctuaries in the West Bank, Jordan and Africa.

But there are no similar campaigns for dogs and cats, and Gaza has been sealed off from all but returning residents since March to prevent a coronavirus outbreak.

Mr El-Er’s phone rang recently and the caller said a dog had been hit by a car. Volunteers from Sulala brought it back to the shelter on the back of a three-wheeled motorbike and began treating it. Mr El-Er says they receive around five such calls every day.

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