Muslims are suspected of poisoning dogs in Spain because of the Islamic teaching that such pets are unclean, according to a report from Soeren Kern, an analyst with the Strategic Studies Group based in Madrid.  Writing for the Hudson New York website, which studies international affairs and focuses on human rights and terrorism, Kern reported that authorities have found more than a dozen dogs poisoned in Catalonia in northeast Spain.

The battle in Lérida, he wrote, is between dog owners and Muslims, who think dogs trespass their religious rights.

No Room for Old Yeller
According to Kern, “All of the dogs were poisoned in September … [in] Lérida's working class neighbourhoods of Cappont and La Bordeta, districts that are heavily populated by Muslim immigrants and where many dogs have been killed in recent years.”  Lérida (pictured) is a little more than 100 miles west of Barcelona on Spain’s east coast.

Dog owners in the city say the dogs are poisoned because Islam regards them as “unclean.” Indeed, Islam teaches that dogs are “najis,” meaning ritually unclean, and that “Islam forbids Muslims to keep dogs,” according to the Islam Q&A website.

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Photo: La Seu Vella cathedral in Lleida, Spain.