Picture the scene: you’re walking down the street and a mange-ridden stray animal hobbles up. You think: ‘Jeez, I wish someone would clean that thing.’
Yangon City Development Council has said that, although they have cut down on overall “cleaning activities”, they will provide the free service on request. That is, if people phone to report an unfortunate-looking animal, they will come and take it away.
If you’re hoping for a hose-down, though, you’ll likely be disappointed. ‘Clean’ in the way YCDC means it is more like ‘eradicate’: the curiously-named Caring For Animals and Slaughterhouse Department is notorious for poisoning strays.
“We are reducing the cleaning activities. But if people will need to do this, we will come and clean,” an officer from the department told The Voice.
The government says the ‘cleaning’, reportedly carried out weekly, is done to tackle disease.
According to The Voice, they’ve ‘cleaned’ more than 17,000 dogs as well as 200,000 rats and 4,000 crows.
Photo: A stray dog at a shelter in Thanlyin township, Yangon / Aung Naing Soe
