Dog shelter worker cries over dead animal after Iranian regime ‘raids property and slaughters 1,700 canines taken in as strays’

• Authorities allegedly massacred up to 1,700 dogs at a shelter this weekend
• Heart-wrenching footage showed a volunteer crying as she held the dogs 
• Ebrahim Raisi’s regime is looking at a law which would ban pet ownership
• The bill initially proposed in December would also see fines dished out for the ‘import, purchase and sale, transportation and keeping’ of many common pets
• Bill authors see the practice of keeping pets as a ‘destructive social problem’ 

Dog shelter workers are protesting President Ebrahim Raisi’s regime in Iran after authorities allegedly stormed their compound and slaughtered up to 1,700 dogs.

Heart-wrenching footage shared on social media showed one volunteer in floods of tears as she clasped one of the dead hounds in her arms.

‘This was the most vulnerable & obedient one,’ she cried, before the camera panned to show several canine corpses strewn across the roadside and a nearby valley.

Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist who shared the footage, said of the slaughter: ‘The ruthless rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran spare no-one. 

‘In addition to repressing women, ethnic and religious minorities, LGBTQs, they also annually kill countless stray dogs. Animal rights activists in Iran need your attention.’

The massacre comes with Iranian lawmakers set to pass a bill which would restrict pet ownership across the board without possession of a special permit determined by committee.

It would also see considerable fines dished out for the ‘import, purchase and sale, transportation and keeping’ of many common pets, which some parliamentarians believe is a symbol of decadence which could ‘replace’ healthy family relationships.

Heart-wrenching footage circulating on social media showed one volunteer in floods of tears as she clasped one of the dead hounds in her arms

Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist who shared the footage, said of the slaughter: ‘The ruthless rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran spare no-one’

‘This was the most vulnerable & obedient one,’ the inconsolable volunteer cried, before the camera panned to show several canine corpses strewn across the roadside and a nearby valley

Many parliamentarians in ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi’s regime support a bill which would restrict pet ownership across the board without possession of a special permit determined by committee

The bill, initially proposed in December, pits growing numbers of people with pets against those who consider the practice a symbol of decadence and hold that, under Islamic law, dogs and other animals are unclean.

Authors of the bill condemn the practice of humans living under one roof with domesticated animals as a ‘destructive social problem’.

Dogs are a common animal in Iran and have been kept in rural areas for centuries, but more urban dwellers began to develop an affinity for raising pets in the 20th century.

The middle eastern nation was once one of the most tolerant with respect to pets, passing animal welfare laws as early as 1948 and pushing for the development of animal rights. 

But the 1979 Islamic Revolution drastically altered daily life for millions of Iranians, and dogs are now held in contempt by ultraconservative lawmakers.

The bill proposed late last year aims to rid Iranian society of the practice of keeping pets.

A man walks dogs in a park in Tehran, Iran, 08 July 2022. Tehran’s police chief General Hossein Rahimi announced on 08 July 2022 that entering the parks with dogs will be forbidden and police will consider and deal with it as illegal action

A bill being considered in Iran would ban the keeping ‘crocodiles, turtles, snakes, lizards, cats, mice, rabbits, dogs and other unclean animals as well as monkeys’ (Iranian dog owner is pictured)

Anti-pet lawmakers say the practice could ‘gradually change the Iranian and Islamic way of life’ by ‘replacing human and family relationships with feelings and emotional relationships towards animals’.

Their proposed law would prohibit ‘importing, raising, assisting in the breeding of, breeding, buying or selling, transporting, driving or walking, and keeping in the home wild, exotic, harmful and dangerous animals’.

It lists the animals to be banned as ‘crocodiles, turtles, snakes, lizards, cats, mice, rabbits, dogs and other unclean animals as well as monkeys’.

Offenders would risk a fine equivalent to 10 to 30 times the ‘minimum monthly working wage’ of about £80 and the ‘confiscation’ of the animal – though it is highly likely the animal would simply be killed.

However, there have already been reports in Iran of police officers making arrests on those walking their dogs or carrying pets in public.  

Tehran’s police chief General Hossein Rahimi announced on July 8 that entering the parks with dogs will be forbidden and police will consider and deal with it as illegal action.

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