Stray dogs find home at Bashdar animal shelter, near Bokan city in Iranian Kurdistan, February 2020. Photo: Screengrab/Rudaw video
BOKAN, Iranian Kurdistan,— Bashdar animal shelter near the Kurdish city of Bokan, Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat), houses over 600 stray dogs – and counting.
Stray dogs are seen locally as dirty and dangerous and are often mistreated by passers by, but volunteer-run, municipality-founded Bashdar offers them refuge.
Volunteers bring food for the dogs every day, collecting scraps of meat and other foods from the local market to take to the shelter.
“We are a group of volunteers who do what we can,” volunteer Sharmin Aslani explained. “Those who cannot afford to donate can help dogs on the streets in this cold weather by giving them some hot food, or at least not harming them.”
The walls of the shelter are adorned with some of the dog’s drawings. It is divided into units, where dogs are placed according to their age or ailments. A room at the shelter is devoted to their medical treatment.
Sharmin Aslani, a volunteer at Bashdar animal shelter near Bokan, Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat), February 2020. Photo: Ekurd.net/screengrab/Rudaw video
“We hope we can take in any sick or in need dog, so we can take care of them and cure them. We also neuter them here,” Sharmin explained.
Masoud Tabak is a veterinarian who volunteers his medical expertise at the shelter twice a week.
“We have collected them from all over the city and give them medication. I thank Bokan municipality, who were the first to help us do that,” he said.
See the video report.
Copyright © 2020, respective author or news agency, rudaw.net
Masoud Tabak, a veterinarian at Bashdar animal shelter near Bokan, Iranian Kurdistan
Sharmin Aslani, a volunteer at Bashdar animal shelter near Bokan, Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat), February 2020. Photo: Ekurd.net/screengrab/Rudaw video