Mayor in the dog house after ‘shoot strays for cash’ plan

A PALESTINIAN mayor has backtracked on his plan to reward those who shoot stray dogs, insisting – after a backlash from animal rights groups – that he was joking.

Tayseer Abu Sneineh, the mayor of Hebron, offered 20 shekels (£5) to residents in the West Bank city per stray they killed. This, reportedly, led to a surge in online posts of photos and videos of dogs being killed and abused.

Diana Babish, who runs the only dog shelter in the West Bank, accused him of giving “a green light to violate and kill and torture animals”.

Stray dogs are relatively common in the West Bank and Israel, and the wider Middle East. In some cases they hunt for food in packs and can endanger humans, especially children.

Mr Abu Sneineh apparently came up with the idea during a radio interview.

He said: “It means that if a person brings or kills five dogs and stopped their danger on the street, they will be given 100 shekels.”

According to the BBC, some of the footage uploaded after his comments appears to be fake. Other online clips showed dogs being tortured and shot.