“I said, ‘Somebody should do something about that.’ Then I realized, I am somebody.”
Above is a famous quote from Lily Tomlin. It speaks to me loudly. I am definitely a "do-er." I'm not known for my patience. I'm always rushing to find solutions when it seems the rest of the world prefers to steep in its problems for far too long. If I know how to fix something, I want to fix it as soon as possible, not wait around for other people to fix it at their convenience. This doesn't always work out well for me, but at least I know this about myself. And people in my orbit know this about me, too.
When I first landed in Morocco, getting involved in animal welfare was the furthest thing from my mind. I'd researched the issues in Morocco, particularly those pertaining to dogs, and I knew advocates were making headway here even though Morocco is a developing country. But no sooner had @michelios and I landed in Sidi Bouzid than we were approached by the community street dog Hinda, and a whole different kind of journey began.
Since then, humanity has been gripped by a pandemic of biblical and historic proportions--coronavirus has changed everything about the world most of us thought we knew. Michel and I found ourselves trapped within the borders of Morocco when all international flights were banned, as well as maritime and land travel into and out of the country. We're not alone--many other tourists are also stuck here, but in our case, it has started to feel fortuitous.
There are numerous reasons why it seems like fate that we're now living in Africa for the forseeable future, and I won't go into all of them ... but suffice it to say that animal welfare ranks pretty high on the list. My experience in Appalachia was nightmarish at best, but it was because of amoral people and corrupt politics, not because of the animals or the work involved in saving them.
But I learned a lot. Volumes. I took online courses for certification in different aspects of sheltering, and I also worked hands-on with some of the finest veterinarians and teaching programs in the nation. I met influential people, movers and shakers, experts in various disclipines of humane work, animal law enforcement, and rescuers and transporters from a plethora of states and jurisdictions who left me in awe of their professionalism.
I can tell you that Morocco is different in some ways from the U.S. The legal system and laws here are completely unfamiliar for me. However, I see great similarites in the people and communities, and most of the diseases and challenges are exactly the same. In some ways it's actually easier to get things done here. Animal welfare is unregulated, which is bad news for animals in many cases, but it's less red tape for those of us who can work without oversight. Municipal shelters don't exist so I don't have to deal with bureaucratic nonsense nor do I have to worry about placing dogs and cats up for adoption after they're vaccinated and sterilized. They can be safely, humanely, and ethically returned to the streets in the communities that care for them.
Yes, some Moroccan jurisdictions still shoot or poison strays as a means of population control even though federal laws exist to prohibit that. It will take time for true change to happen. But that change is coming, and I'm pleased to be on the ground here before rescue and "sheltering" profiteers destroy every chance Morocco has of developing a better system.
The Tourism Factor
A major driving force that will motivate Moroccan government and community leaders to take the issue of animal welfare more seriously than they have in past decades is the growing influx of foreign tourists into the country. A 2019 report published by Mordor Intelligence stated that in 2017, the tourism industry in Morocco generated about 70 billion MAD (Moroccan Dirham.) This is the rough equivallent of 70 million US dollars. A daunting percentage of these tourists came from EU countries like Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, and Spain, with additional tallies from the United States.
COVID-19 has put a damper on tourism everywhere around the globe. However, there is nothing to indicate and no reason to believe that in future economic cycles, tourism trends won't continue along the same trajectory. Morocco will capitalize on foreign tourism again, perhaps even more so now after demonstrating such a brilliant coronavirus response that the country experienced no shortages in medical supplies, personnel, pharmaceuticals, fresh produce, or even toilet paper.
The thing about foreign tourists, though--those from developed nations like the ones named in the Mordor Intelligence report--are not going to tolerate an environment full of sick and neglected animals. They certainly will not tolerate the wholesale slaughter of them. I shudder to think what would have happened if an American or European tourist staying in a medina hotel with their children had witnessed the scene depicted in the following photo. It's an official community worker hauling a dead dog outside the medina gate, where he dumped it to decay in plain sight. I asked a local veterinarian to recover the body and perform an examination to determine if the dog died of natural causes or from violence. I don't know the outcome of that examination, but I feel certain that the situation was handled.
My point here is not that the dog was a victim of abuse. Like I said, I don't know that. My point is that Azemmour tourism would be negatively affected by even the perception of cruelty where animals are involved. Let city officials go on a shooting rampage or poison local street dogs, and if word...or leaked video...gets out, Azemmour's tourism industry could suffer for years. At the same time, no tourist wants to be assaulted by stray dogs, see malnourished puppies dying in the streets, or catch rabies from a feral street cat. So it's imperative that something be done. And TARC might just be the somebody to do it.
Shooting from Behind the Eight Ball
I've been distressed to learn that many prominent animal welfare groups in Morocco don't vaccinate against rabies before returning freshly sterilized cats and dogs to the street. There's a prevailing myth circulating here that people don't often catch rabies from cats, but a quick Google search is all one needs to find evidence to the contrary. It doesn't matter what post-exposure protocols Morocco has available for people who suffer bites from potentially infected animals. The most important takeaway is that vaccines exist for animals that have the potential to virtually eliminate rabies in feral cat and dog populations. Why aren't they being administered?
I've discovered that, unlike most other goods, services, and pharmaceuticals, animal vaccines cost about the same here as they do in the U.S. Therefore I understand why individual pet owners are not able to have their own animals vaccinated. But animal welfare groups? That doesn't make the same kind of sense. Failing to immunize street cats and dogs against rabies while they are in professional care for sterilization is negligence that impacts the human population. Rabies is a public safety issue. And I can't blame local jurisdictions for not jumping on the TNR bandwagon when nothing about those TNR programs takes human health concerns into consideration.
So What Now?
All of this leaves me in a very uncomfortable position. I can move on and pretend I saw none of this, or I can leverage nearly a decade of work in the animal welfare arena to help usher in a new era of awareness and positive change for Moroccan communities and their animals. I can see so clearly what needs to be done here. I have years of experience doing just exactly those things. Should I turn away or lean in? Should I be "somebody," or just wait around hoping "somebody" else happens to come along and make things better?
I will get to the actual rubber-meets-the-road details about shelter medicine and vaccine protocols and sterilization and hands-on intervention in a different post. In this one, I want to consider some of the administrative challenges I will face if I commit to this.
First, there is the situation of residency. I'm not talking about legal residency or visas or any of that. I'm talking about literally, physically, where I would live. This kind of work is not for part-timers. It will require me to be on location in Morocco for most of the year. This is not saying I couldn't travel or spend any time at all elsewhere. It would just mean that I would have to have a home here that serves as TARC's base of operation, and it has to be a home that will accomodate the occasional fostering of tiny puppies and kittens in a safe, controlled, pathogen-free environment.
Then I have to think about the formation of a whole 'nother non-profit. Simply repurposing TARC won't work. I don't want to keep the name "Tazewell Animal Rescue Coalition" for obvious reasons, although I am rather fond of the acronym "TARC." "Transatlantic Animal Rescue Coalition" could work, or more appropriately, "Transatlantic Animal Relief Coalition." But where to incorporate? Where to apply for nonprofit status? I don't have the answers to those questions. I don't even know where to start looking for said answers.
And where will the funding come from to do this work? I've had great success raising money for very immediate little projects we've encountered here, like Hinda and her puppies, and now some kittens I've had vaccinated in an effort to find the best way to keep so many street cats from dying before they're eight weeks old. Like I said, more in a different post. But even though TARC has some very generous and very caring supporters, our donor base is too small to step into a project of this scope without completely abusing the trust of those who give because they know me and know I'll spend every last dime of my own grocery money to save an animal if no one else will help it. The vision I have for Azemmour would require organized fundraising, competitive marketing, and a social media reach far beyond what I currently have.
Do I have ideas about these things? You bet I do. But Rome wasn't built in a day. It will take time to create websites, build platform followers, find the right network of volunteers. Azemmour might not even be the right place to settle. I have other people to consider as well--Michel has been very supportive, but at what point does he dissolve his ambitions into mine and become consumed by the insanity of animal welfare work?
Well, I say no to that possibility. That can't happen. So everything we do must be balanced, efficient, effective, and sane. There must be crossover benefit from the work I do here that positively affects other areas of our lives. Otherwise, it's Tazewell, Virginia all over again, meaning I learned nothing. And that isn't the case. I learned a lifetime of valuable lessons. But how should I apply them now?
I believe the best course of action for me is to slow down, breathe a little, live in the space here for a while in Azemmour and see if it fits. With the help of supporters back in the U.S., I can tackle some small animal welfare projects as I go, like Hinda the street dog, and keep my household from being completely overwhelmed. I can learn about nonprofits in Morocco and other countries and figure out if I really need one. I can approach town leadership here and give them a soft-pitch presentation about the advantages of private humane associations as opposed to municipal shelters--or mass extermination efforts--for stray population control. I can experiment with vaccine protocols recommended by leading authorities on rural veterinary medicine and high-risk environments. And with any luck, through writing and blogging and sharing travel adventures online, I can build the kind of audience and international community it takes to launch an initiative with enough momentum to make a lasting impact.