Animal welfare campaigners staged a high-profile protest outside the Gtech Community Stadium as Arsenal Women faced Moroccan champions ASFAR in a FIFA Women’s Champions Cup semi-final.
The International Animal Welfare Protection Coalition (IAWPC) joined activists from PETA for a peaceful outreach event, handing out flyers, QR-code petitions and holding banners demanding Morocco halt the killing of an estimated three million free-roaming dogs ahead of the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Spain and Portugal.
While mostly met with interest and engagement by match-goers, the campaigners were moved on by security to a different spot further from the stadium, and also heckled by one Moroccan supporter who shouted ‘don’t disrespect my country’.
Football’s global governing body, FIFA, has formal partnerships with host nations and extensive operational oversight in the run-up to major tournaments. The IAWPC argues that this relationship brings leverage and responsibility, to insist that host preparations do not include animal or human abuse.
The Coalition documented a sharp escalation in dog killing during preparations for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), recently held in Morocco, warning that the same pattern has already begun as the World Cup approaches. According to evidence gathered by local monitors and international observers, free-roaming dogs have been rounded up in urban areas and around sporting infrastructure.
The IAWPC, which is a coalition of organisations which includes the RSPCA, Dogs Trust and PETA has documented killing methods that include shooting, poisoning and mass catch and kill, practices condemned worldwide by veterinary bodies and animal-welfare organisations as inhumane and ineffective.
Campaigners stress that such measures do not deliver lasting public-health benefits in the fight against rabies and instead create a vacuum effect, where populations rebound as new animals move into cleared areas.
Les Ward MBE, chairman of the IAWPC, said the outreach at the match was designed to reach fans, officials and sponsors without disrupting the game.
“This was a peaceful protest, which was not against football or players,” Ward said. “It was about using a global sporting moment to highlight a preventable cruelty that is being carried out in the shadows and in the name of world football. We are asking Morocco and world cup organiser FIFA, to stop the cruel killing and adopt proven, humane solutions.”
Mr Ward said the Coalition is calling for nationwide Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return (CNVR) programmes, backed by humane education programmes, as the only evidence-based way to stabilise dog populations, protect public health and end cruelty.
“CNVR works. Killing does not,” he added. “With international support and political will, Morocco can meet public-health goals and host the world without blood on the streets, which is happening every day right now!!”
The IAWPC says it will continue peaceful outreach at major sporting fixtures and events until binding commitments are made to end the mass dog slaughter and introduce nationwide CNVR programmes, warning that the world’s attention on football must not come at the cost of the lives of innocent animals lives.
Find out more at www.iawpc.org
