Chesterfield woman campaigns to save dogs before 2030 World Cup

A woman’s holiday in Morocco has turned into a mission to save as many street dogs as possible by raising money to vaccinate and sterilise them.

Saffron Dixon, of Chesterfield, in Derbyshire, said she started feeding a pack of stray dogs when she was in Taghazout in 2023, and returned the next year “just to see the dogs”.

After she said she learned millions of dogs were to be killed in a clean-up of the streets ahead of the FIFA World Cup in 2030, which Morocco is jointly-hosting, she wanted to help.

The Embassy of Morocco in London said dogs which are neutered and vaccinated should be protected and harmful practices for controlling stray animals are prohibited.

Miss Dixon said she first went to Taghazout, in Morocco, in November 2023, where a pack of stray dogs would visit her hotel and she would feed them.

A group of other tourists were doing the same, and they made a WhatsApp group and returned together in November 2024.

She said: “We booked to go back just to see the dogs really.

“We were hoping to see the same dogs we had seen the year before… I think we saw one.

“We asked locals about it and… because Morocco are holding the 2030 World Cup, they want to cleanse the streets of unvaccinated street dogs to eliminate diseases so they had done a huge cull.”

Miss Dixon added: “After I left in November… I felt like I was leaving them there to suffer.”

Miss Dixon said she was now working with a charity called Al-Nour Animal Help, which vaccinates and sterilises the animals.

So far she has raised more than £2,700 after launching her campaign last month.

She said: “It costs £25 to vaccinate a dog over there and then they get a little tag through their ear, which shows they are vaccinated so if they have got the tag, the authorities shouldn’t be able to touch them.

“I am raising money to get as many as possible vaccinated.”

The 24-year-old said the money raised will also be used to sterilise the male dogs, which costs £60.

A spokesperson from the Embassy of Morocco said the country had an “unwavering commitment to humane and sustainable solutions for managing stray dog populations while prioritising public health and animal welfare”.

They added Morocco had “implemented comprehensive measures” to do this, including the “Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Release” (TNVR) program, which was rolled out in 2019 as a “humane and effective solution”.

It added it had published a number of circulars to local authorities to emphasise harmful practices, such as the use of firearms or strychnine, a poison, for controlling stray animals were prohibited.

The documents also explained dogs marked under the TNVR program should be protected, said the spokesperson.

A draft decree to enforce a law designed to safeguard public health while ensuring animal welfare has also been finalised, the spokesperson added.