Saved by the angels of Agadir
Britons help rescue hundreds of dogs from squalid death in holiday resort
A GROUP of British expats have saved scores of street dogs from a gruesome death at a squalid compound in a Moroccan resort.
The Mail on Sunday last week witnessed appalling scenes in the municipal site in Agadir, a city that attracted 100,000 British tourists in 2018.
There was outrage when footage appeared on social media last year showing dead and dying dogs in the streets after marksmen were hired to shoot strays ahead of a visit from football officials assessing Morocco’s 2026 World Cup bid.
Lucy Austin, 36, founded Morocco Animal Aid (MAA) in 2015 and with the help of Britons including Fran Bell, from Plymouth, the charity now cares for more than 100 dogs in its leafy sanctuary.
There are an estimated two million street dogs in Morocco. Charities accuse the authorities of failing to sterilise and vaccinate the animals against rabies and other diseases, which experts say is more effective than any extermination programme.
The smell from the pound, about two miles inland from Agadir’s crescent-shaped beach and cafestrewn promenade, greeted Mail on Sunday reporters long before the pitiful sight of 130 dogs – many halfstarved with protruding ribs – in a cramped quadrangle carpeted with faeces. Manager Baada Al Mahjoub provided a tour of the facilities as the dogs whined and yelped.
Spotting our cameras, he split open a large sack of biscuits provided by MAA and scattered it across the filthy compound. Until a few weeks ago, even this meagre ration was not available.
Showing recent images of two dogs eating the entrails of another which had died in the pound, Ms Austin, a former teacher from Australia, said: ‘There is no plan for these dogs – they are just left here to die. They’re only getting food because we bring it in for them. We often have to take a dog and remove it for its own safety because the stronger ones will kill a weak one.’
Asked why the dogs were allowed to kill each other, Mr Al Mahjoub shrugged and said: ‘It happens – what can we do?’ Then he dragged a large, boisterous dog by the tail and swung it through the air.
Ten miles away, rescued dogs lolled happily in the garden of the MAA’s base near the village of Tamraght. The charity would like to follow World Health Organisation guidelines to vaccinate and release them, but for now it is struggling to raise the money to meet vets’ fees and does not want to risk seeing the animals die in the pound. For more information on its work, see moroccoanimalaid.com.