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Iranians protest killing of stray dogs

After a video surfaced online showing the killing of stray dogs using cruel methods, Iranians held protests across various cities.
A dog is pictured on rubble of a mud house after it collapsed following the earthquake in the town of Mashkeel, southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan, near the Iranian border April 18, 2013. The powerful earthquake struck a border area of southeast Iran on Tuesday killing at least 35 people in neighbouring Pakistan, destroying hundreds of houses and shaking buildings as far away as India and Gulf Arab states. REUTERS/Naseer Ahmed  (PAKISTAN - Tags: DISASTER) - RTXYQQ1
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Iranians held protests in major cities across the country after a gruesome video surfaced online of the killing of stray dogs in an industrial park in Shiraz. The three-minute grainy video with audio shows men in masks injecting a number of dogs with a syringe. Some claimed the dogs were injected with acid or poison. None of the men were wearing government uniforms, but Iran has long had a problem with stray dogs and many cities have outsourced the task of collecting strays to private contractors.

One of the largest protests was held April 19 outside Tehran's Environmental Protection Organization (EPO), where dozens of animal rights activists asked EPO head Masoumeh Ebtekar to pursue the case. Ebtekar addressed the protesters, saying, “Animal abuse is unacceptable under any condition and we are pursuing the case.” She added: "The general director of Fars Province for the EPO said that syringes have been found but some of the issues of the case are not clear because the municipality [of Shiraz] denies the story."

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