Marrakesh April 2012
Hey Guys,
I kind of felt I had to write this short description of the most inhumane sights that I came across while on a recent holiday break in Morocco.
I will try to be as to the point as I can be and I really don't mean to offend anyone with this, but I was totally horrified to see how in general Moroccan people seem to treat their animals, it was shocking especially in and around the square in Marrakesh.
Can you believe that there are still cruel heartless people out there that think its okay to have fully mature monkeys in the burning sun on chain leads made to dance and beg for tourists who by the way seem to take great humour in getting their photo's taken with these poor abused creatures, who are underfed, and look as if they have been beaten by their masters, the ones that I saw also seemed to be suffering from skin disorders and depression, but that's only the beginning, I watched while a poor donkey was repeatedly beaten by its owner for not pulling a huge load on its back, its legs were actually starting to give way, this cold heartless person was hitting it repeatedly across the head with a stick, its seems to be a national pastime, so many of these again underfed and overworked donkeys are used in the town and square for transporting fruit and goods through narrow lanes and streets, they are so sad looking and when they are not being abused ,most are then tied up in the sun with little or no water or food. I watched in horror as a local man displayed his collection of snakes again poking the snake's (python's) with a stick to get them to react and bite, can you imagine that these captured wild snakes have to go true this everyday and then are just locked in some box at the end of the night until its time to perform again.
Even the domestic cats look like they are all so close to death with disease, I watched a cat with some sort of disease that could not actually walk properly trying to find some food, it was been pointed to by a group of Moroccans who were laughing at its disability.
I have to say I felt sick to be part of the human race when I witnessed these scenes, I can only hope and pray that these people learn soon that all life should be respected and just because we are a little higher up the food chain doesn't give us the right to treat these poor animals with such heartlessness and cruelty and disrespect.
Maybe it's a lack of education in Morocco, maybe it's a cycle just continuing that needs desperately to be broken and governed, But I was reminded how lucky I am to be living in a society which even though there are still a lot of things that need to change, we are light years ahead when it comes to the respect we give our animals.
Thankfully!
dm