I was going back through photos of my travels today, and stumbled upon this collection from the Pet Souq in Doha's Souq Waqif. The Pet Souq is a small section of the maze-like market where you'll find all types of pets for sale--from fish and reptiles, to exotic birds (& dyed chicks), to kittens and puppies. While the animals were absolutely adorable, it seemed like the shopkeepers did not care much to ensure that they had suitable living conditions, and you can almost sense the sadness of these animals because of their poor treatment.
I recently read
this article in Time Out Doha about the Souq. In the article it describes the reaction of one Qatari to the Pet Souq: "
‘It’s very terrible, the Souq, for me. It’s
something that embarrassed me a lot. When I have friends that are
visiting me from somewhere else I try to avoid Souq Waqif as much as
possible. I remember I had a visiting vet from Spain who came here to
Qatar, and we passed by Souq Waqif and he literally teared. I was so
embarrassed. I really felt horrible,’ he says. He’s not alone: al-Naemi
says many of his Qatari friends are equally troubled by this portion of
Souq Waqif."
Even though we in the United States still have a long way to go in terms of regulating animal welfare, we have really come a long way and do a lot to protect our animals. And even though those commercials with Sarah McLaughlin's "Angel" playing in the background and scenes of hurting animals can be particularly distressing, we are lucky that we have such causes in the U.S. to provide for the protection of animals.
Nevertheless, these animals are too cute. Can you too sense their sadness?
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| inside the Pet Souq in Doha... lined with cages |
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| cuddled bunnies |
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| dyed chicks.. not sure why they do this |
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