Target: Shabana Mahmood, UK Secretary of State for Home Department
Goal: Mitigate animal abandonment epidemic unfolding in regions ensnared in Iran conflict.
As the Iran conflict spreads to nations across the Middle East, forgotten victims have emerged in the form of abandoned pets. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE) alone, animal shelters have been overwhelmed with an influx of pets who were left behind after their owners fled the country. For some animals, the crisis is even worse because they were abandoned either in households or in the streets, with no one left to care for them.
The UAE has taken what action it could by placing a dozen emergency pet feeding stations across its capital city, which has endured the brunt of airstrikes. The country has already designated animal abandonment as a crime. And the United Kingdom (UK) – where many refugees have fled and where emergency evacuations for UK nationals have been launched – has agreed to waive pet quarantining restrictions for returning refugees from the UAE.
Sign the petition below to urge similar pet aid for other nations impacted by this war.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Secretary Mahmood,
Pets once loved and cared for have become the latest casualties of the Iran war. Shelters and streets in Dubai have been flooded by frightened animals who have unexpectedly lost their fleeing families. The United Kingdom has demonstrated its awareness of the problem by helping evacuated families retain their cherished pets in the United Arab Emirates.
Please do more. Extend this help to other affected countries and their animals. Assist where you can with aiding other nations in setting up emergency feeding stations for abandoned pets. Provide outreach to the public about the consequences of and the alternatives to abandonment and, if possible, facilitate reunions between UK refugees and their pets. Ensure these vulnerable living beings, dependent on humans for their survival, do no become collateral damage of humanity’s reckless and far-reaching actions.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Daniel Gomez
