Talking about animal rights in Iraq always brings up the same kinds of questions: Why should we care about stray cats and dogs when there are human beings in danger and need all around us?

Nonetheless there are still some locals who want to make a difference to the animals living on their streets.

Iraqi Kurdish man, Ribair Umar, 20, is one of them. When he was a child he was often told how dirty and dangerous the stray cats and dogs roaming the streets of Iraqi Kurdistan were. Yet somehow Umar felt for the animals. As a teenager, he used his own money to pay for veterinary care for several strays. “I feel pain when I see an animal being hurt,” the young man says. “Animals can be hurt just like humans but they cannot express their feelings.” Since then the Sulaymaniyah resident has put more of his time and effort into caring for the strays in his city.

Since then the Sulaymaniyah resident has put more of his time and effort into caring for the strays in his city.

Happily, for him, attitudes towards keeping pets in Iraq and in Iraqi Kurdistan have been changing over the past few years. For example, keeping dogs as pets is not seen the same way in the Middle East as it is in European countries.

I feel pain when I see an animal being hurt. Animals can be hurt just like humans but they cannot express their feelings.

In Islamic religion, dogs are considered unclean – one piece of scripture says that angels won’t enter a house where a dog is kept - and although a staunch Muslim would not treat canines unkindly, they would not keep a dog as a pet either; there is however some dispensation that allows dogs to be kept if they are working animals. However it seems that this is changing somewhat.





Changing attitudes: Baghdad pet owners meet every week in a park in the Iraqi capital.