The On the Edges

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The dog is the first animal to be domesticated by humans and to live with humans. In ancient Iran, dogs have always been with humans, for example, in Persian mythology, Ahuramazda created the first man, Kiomars, with a dog, a cow and a bird.

But modern urban life has changed that, and dogs have fallen victim to human greed for environmental ownership. In Iran, animal rights still do not have a legal status and guarantee at all, and despite the great efforts of animal rights advocates in recent years, the bill on animal protection and the plan to ban animal abuse have not been approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly. For this reason, there have been hundreds of cases of animal abuse in Iran, such as burning, mutilation, burying mothers and puppies alive, rape and sexual abuse, tying and dragging animals on the road.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in 2020, habitat destruction, poaching and air pollution have been the most important factors in the extinction of animal species! To these, of course, must be added the construction of roads from the main habitat of wildlife and animal road accidents that cause the extinction of endangered species of wildlife in Iran.

But for some time now, the Environmental Protection Agency and related institutions have been identifying dogs as the biggest threat to wildlife in order to downplay the above as well as increase hunting and poaching; That is, feeding them is considered to be the cause of their increase and damage to the environment and other species. This has been explicitly denied by the World Animal Welfare Organization(OIE) and the FAO, and the ban on dogs accessing food sources is unscientific, immoral and ineffective.

This approach claims that feeding increases the population of dogs. While ignoring the dangers of dog hunger, which include starving dogs attacking other animal species, approaching human habitat, fighting and attacking humans, and even dog-eating. In fact, the birth of dogs has nothing to do with their diet, but "responsible" feeding can manage the colony geography of dogs and keep them away from human habitat and wildlife interference.

In fact, dog damage to wildlife is often caused by two groups of dogs. The first group is herding dogs, which occurs due to the herd being too close to wildlife; This problem can be solved by educating and informing ranchers and shepherds about banning livestock grazing near protected areas.

The second group is dogs attacking wildlife at the direct command of their owners, who are generally poachers. The Environmental Protection Agency of Iran, by creating special enclosures and issuing hunting licenses for private companies, hunting tourism and foreign hunters in valuable wildlife areas, is causing the extinction of endangered species in those areas. But he irresponsibly considers dogs and feeding them to be the only cause of wildlife extinction.

Municipalities and government agencies can also, through direct oversight, raise awareness and, with the help of legal tools, familiarize owners of livestock, gardens, factories, large-scale suburban development projects, and workshops with various legal occupations to obtain destinations. They bring one or more dogs into the environment, reducing reproduction and performing operations (CNVR), ie survival, vaccination, sterilization and release in the previous colony over several years, provided the dog population is balanced.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of law for the management of urban animals and the principled and logical confrontation with the growing number of stray dogs, this has become a serious problem in urban environments and even in pristine natural areas; And controlling the population of these animals has faced serious mistakes and challenges.

Some city managers and environmentalists have issued inefficient instructions for the physical removal of dogs, resulting in either the transfer of dogs to torture-like kennels; Or organized dog killings (using firearms, injecting acid into the animal's heart, or hanging) have been committed by contractors contracting with municipalities.

These actions have provoked the anger and protest of the people, especially the supporters of animal rights. In the opinion of the public opinion, a part of the government management is not at all friendly with urban animals and considers them as extra and dangerous creatures or agents of disease transmission; They also consider animal protection and assistance to be the result of the dominance of Western culture in Iran and the destruction of the family and lack of children.

The consequence of these wrong and immoral behaviors and decisions, and the broadcasting of images of the brutal slaughter of dogs by municipalities, as well as the making of custom radio and television programs about the dangers of dogs (which is all unscientific and biased), creates a general animalistic and anti-dogmatic spirit. On the outskirts of large cities that used to be the habitat and habitat of these animals. Due to the uncontrolled expansion of the population and non-engineering constructions, the residents of these areas want to physically remove the dogs and even harass them. However, in these areas, most dogs are healthy and have plaque on their ears, which is a sign that they have been vaccinated and spayed.

In addition to all this mistreatment and harassment and violation of the rights of creatures that have been domesticated and tamed by human beings but are no longer able to live in nature and their original environment, animal rights advocates in Iran have dedicated their lives seriously and continuously for many years. They have helped urban animals. They see these animals as their vulnerable fellow citizens and build shelters outside the city to rescue and rescue injured dogs. These injured animals are often the victims of animal abuse or accidents, or become ill due to lack of access to safe water and food.

In these shelters, dogs are treated, vaccinated and spayed, and released if they are able to live in their former environment. But in case of disability or serious injury, the animal lives in that shelter for the rest of its life. In these shelters, supporters take care of them like their own children. They deeply believe that no creature, human or animal, should be tortured, persecuted, or starved to death.

© Zohreh Saberi - Image from the The On the Edges photography project
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A number of stray dogs that are collected by municipal machines in the worst possible way. They are moved to sheds outside the city near the garbage dump, which is a very polluted and unbreathable place. A place that animal rights advocates refer to as death sheds.

© Zohreh Saberi - Image from the The On the Edges photography project
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One of the fences of Aradkooh shelter in Kahrizak, Tehran, a shelter used for keeping urban or stray dogs. Unfortunately, due to the lack of culture-progressing actions to inform people on how to coexist with urban animals, the majority of the people cannot tolerate living along these animals. They often attempt to harass the animals on sight or call the municipality repeatedly to ask for the dogs to be removed forcefully. The shelters run by the municipality often are no good, except for herding and keeping too many of these stray dogs, which in turn leads to lower quality service and care for the injured animals, and eventually, turns the shelters into prisons filled with only hurt and suffering.

© Zohreh Saberi - Image from the The On the Edges photography project
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A photo of two dogs in a private shelter in Islamshahr, Tehran. The dogs looked after and cared for by the animal rights activists have mostly been mutilated in roadside accidents or have been diagnosed with various kidney and liver diseases due to poor living conditions and are now in need of constant care.

© Zohreh Saberi - Image from the The On the Edges photography project
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A female dog is being examined at an animal veterinary clinic, which was rescued by animal rights advocates. She has scabies, acute anemia and severe liver disorder. Animal advocates are actively and continuously helping dogs that are suffering from various diseases due to bad living conditions, hunger and polluted water that seeps from the garbage.

© Zohreh Saberi - Image from the The On the Edges photography project
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Akram (40) is distributing food and looking after the dogs through a window of the fence of the shelter she’s built for the dogs’ treatment and relief. She starts her work from 6 in the morning everyday and cooks warm and nutritious food. Hands out their pills. Changes the bedding of the disabled dogs who have lost their bladder and bowel control. And, she also puts out fresh water for them. According to her, she loves them like her own children and has chosen a name for each and everyone of them.

© Zohreh Saberi - Image from the The On the Edges photography project
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One of the personal shelter fences run by animal advocates. Dogs that are permanently disabled due to animal abuse or road accidents and are unable to return to their living environment are kept in this place.

© Zohreh Saberi - Image from the The On the Edges photography project
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A husky female dog is being examined by the veterinary team in one of the animal clinics in Tehran. He is infected with canine venereal disease (TVT), which is caused by mating with an infected dog. In few cases, the animal metastasizes due to immune system failure or physical weakness due to bad living conditions, and the disease spreads to the skin, brain, the liver and spleen are also seriously damaged and cause the destruction of those areas. This dog has metastasized and is being treated and undergoing chemotherapy.

© Zohreh Saberi - Image from the The On the Edges photography project
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The female dog who was rescued due to leishmaniasis, imbalance and paralysis. She has lost her vision and her sponsor has taken her to a special animal hospital to have an ultrasound of her abdomen and pelvis.

© Zohreh Saberi - Image from the The On the Edges photography project
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A dog whose fat tissue and blood are being sampled by the veterinary team after being helped by animal rights supporters. This dog is constantly affected by scabies, is treated and again after some time due to weak immune system and anemia, it is affected by skin scabies.

© Zohreh Saberi - Image from the The On the Edges photography project
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Akram (40), the owner of Raphael's personal shelter, poses with her rescued dogs. When she was child, she grew up in an environment that cared for urban animals, and his grandmother always fed dogs or cats or tried to cure them if they got sick or injured. This makes Akram very interested in animals and caring for them since adolescence. According to her attitude, there is no difference between humans and animals, all creatures need love, respect, attention and security. Suffering can be felt and understood by all beings, and harassment or neglect of their disease or hunger is a sign of selfishness and the darkness of every person.

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