Some people make collages of family pictures, but a group of friends in Kuwait compiled these images after killing a wolf with a shotgun.
In response to yesterday’s post about the only two countries in the Middle East that offer wolves any kind of legal protection, a Kuwaiti reader forwarded a link to a story published online by Al Watan. A google translated version of the story goes like this: a young man went on a fishing trip with friends, carrying a shotgun, and was greeted by a lone wolf at the entrance of his tent one morning.
Abdullah Algelawi told the paper that the wolf or fox attacked, he wasn’t certain what kind of animal it was at first, so he proceeded to pump a pile of shotgun shells into it. Then he posed with the dead, bloodied Gray Wolf, sometimes hoisting it up, and proudly forwarded the following images to his local paper.
It is illegal for Kuwaiti citizens or resident workers to own firearms. The Muslim World League reports that this law was put in place in 2005 after a surge of Al Qaeda violence. A similar law was passed in 1992 but lawmakers refused to extend it in 1994, claiming that gun ownership is a right.
A 2007 count of civilian firearms published by Cambridge University press reveals that the rate of private gun ownership in Kuwait amounts to 24.8 firearms per 100 people, and that there are approximately 630,000 civilian guns in the country.
Kuwaiti civilians are much better armed than their security forces, according to a small arms survey published by Oxford University Press in 2006, which reveals that Kuwait’s defense forces possessed roughly 30,000 guns that year, while the police had only 8,358.
Killing animals with illegal weapons appears to be something of a pastime for certain sectors of Kuwait society.
Just a couple of weeks ago we published a disturbing story about a group of yahoos that shot and killed a dozen flamingoes and injured two, which conservationists working for K’S PATH (Kuwait Society For the Protection of Animals and Their Habitat) tried in vain to save.
While Bedouin folklore perpetuates the notion that wolves are ruthless killing machines and desert dwellers believe wolves are associated with ghosts or jinn, it’s hard to understand the threat posed by flamingoes.
Another reader from southern Saudi Arabia, Ahmed, lives in the mountains between Baha and Abah. He said that he has seen many wolves in the wild, but “sadly people carry guns just to kill them wherever they find them to protect their sheep and goats.” He adds that, “many times we see dead wolves were hanged to trees … just to show other people that someone killed a wolf.”
Ahmed recommends that people who care about wolves and the wild should contact government officials, who in turn should give financial support to locals who have sheep so that they can keep their animals in protected areas.
He believes that this action will assuage their fear of wolves snatching their goats and camels, and in turn retalitory killings will be reduced.
The Managing Director of K’S PATH, John Peaveler explained that “we are working with Kuwait Oil Company, who owns and administers the nature preserve [where the flamingos were shot last month], to prevent poaching in the area. However, we cannot make all of the necessary changes that will curb the tide of habitat destruction and eradication of wildlife currently effecting Kuwait without additional support.”
If you would like to see an end to these senseless killings, please contact John via [email protected].
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
How can you go fishing in the desert? There are no rivers. Was this the last wolf in Kuwait? Shame.
ANOTHER ASSHOLE WITH A GUN…THE ANIMAL HE KILLED HAD MORE BRAINS THAN HIM… I WONDER IF HE WAS OUT WITH HIS RIFLE WHEN SADDAM HUSSIEN WAS INVADING HIS COUNTRY? I THINK NOT THESE GUYS ONLY NEED TO “PROVE THEIR MANHOOD” AGAINST DEFFENCELESS ANIMALS…..OH HOW I WOULD LOVE HIM IN MY SIGHTS
I was in the Saudi desert and my family was attacked by four extremely aggressive wild dogs. They barely made it into the Jeep in time. I can definitely see how this guy could have been defending himself. In fact, it’s rather hard to concoct another reasonable explanation.
They look like hunters, if you ask me.
guys you have to understand our problem, Bedouins, it’s an ancient hostility, and it’s inherited, decades ago wolves were killed for many reasons, most of these reasons do not exist any more, but with any close encounter with wolves, the genitically coded hostility takes over and this encounter usually ends with threat being eleminated. Now, unless you have enough psychiatrists for all us Bedouins, the wolves remains endangered.
Education is the first step. Teach your sons that killing wolves is wrong.
I live in Kuwait and this is not the first time most of the citizens here brag about killing animals and they enjoy it, and just the bodies of cats killed in the street and dogs in the desert shot by criminals like this in the picture is a proof of the abuse of these kind creatures who are killed in cold blood. And in response to mr MJ who is defending this criminal in the article,i say if he really was defending himself why is he posing to camera like a fucking Rambo,so i think your defense lacks reason and humanity… May all those who kill animals, burn in hell and they will, since they are killing God,s creatures.
MAKES YOU WONDER WHERE THESE “HEROES” WERE DURING THE INVASION OF KUWAIT!…IF THEY HAD BEEN AS WILLING TO SHOOT AT TARGETS WILLING TO SHOOT BACK THEY WOULD NOT HAVE NEEDED AMERICA !
Haram wallah its his nature even if the wolf attack his sheep there is more way to catch him without killing
in respond to MJ: you think a wolf in the desert will just attack you randomly? most animals don’t attack until they feel threatened!
this is stupid and he shouldn’t be proud of doing so, it is very upsetting !!!
I dont know what you guys are upset about? The guy was defending himself abviously!! U don’t expect him to stand their staring at the wolf waiting for it to eat him!! That’s just stupid..this subject is clearly the wrong one for subjects like animal abuse and gun ownership. It’s just silly how u want to make this a big deal. He wasnt chasing the wolf around to kill it. It was strictly protection in all the situations mentioned in the article.
Hunters all over the world like to pose with their kills. You should see what goes on in the USA and Canada. But that’s hunting; where such activities are still considered a sport.
In Kuwait, where all wild animals are a bit scarce, people there should be more concerned with trying to preserve what wildlife remains – which isn’t much.
The flamingo killings are a good example.
Who takes a shotgun on a fishing trip? I have a very hard time believing that this animal was killed in self-defense, particularly based on the growing evidence that some Kuwaitis enjoy using wildlife for target practice.
Get a grip people! Wolves are spreading diseases and killing all the big game. If you tree hugging environmentalists care so much about the environment like you say you do, you would want to get rid of the wolves before it is too late. But, since you really don’t care about the environment and have underlying agendas such as gun control, land control and want a socialistic government, I guess that is not going to happen.
@Brad – i don’t think anyone here would want to see such a headline! i rather think that people feel incensed about the fact that there was a need to ‘show off’ after such a terrible incident.
I hail from a country where wolfs still roam in large numbers, and it is incredibly rare – practically unheard of that wolves attack humans – even in packs, not to mention lone ones. I don’t know much about the desert dwelling wolves but judging from the pictures, they are much smaller than their Nordic cousins that i know better. As such, I would have thought that wolf attacks are even more rare here in the desert. However, let’s just assume that this particular wolf was about to attack a human – then i for one believe that he was perfectly within his rights to defend himself. But for him to make such a public display of killing one of these endangered species is simply distasteful.
I guess you sick twisted vile people would prefer it to say lone wolf kills man. You people are crazy as a loon. He shot a wolf which is his right defend himself. Grow up you bunch of spoiled brats.
HARAM!
I know Aviva. But judging by the response from readers, this behavior is not widely accepted. I think the more we expose it, the less accepted it will be.
I couldn’t look at the images. Shame on the weak minded, sadistic people that have to do such a deed in order to prove something to themselves. And what do they prove? That they can shoot straight? B F Deal!
Jordanians kill owls because of a superstition as well.