Upon my visit to the notorious ‘Pet Souq’ situated in the heart of Doha, Souq Waqif, I stumbled upon a phenomenon I defined as ‘the commercialization of sickly bodies’. The souk essentially specializes in the selling of domestic animals (from cats, to puppies, to birds, rabbits, chicks and more) to anticipated customers, as well as the retailing of pet supplies and food products. The inauguration of the pet souq remains to be unclear, however there is a consensus that it was initiated upon the renovation of the general Souq in 2006 according to the workers I interacted with. As for my initial impression of the pet souq after refusing to visit for years, the souq remained the same. The animals remain confined in extremely small and caged spaces while simultaneously exposed to the merciless heat of the desert weather. Even upon close inspection, I witnessed very peculiar behavioral patterns apparent in the animals, especially the younglings, that contradicted healthy functioning in kittens, puppies and more. The kittens especially appeared very lethargic, lacking physical stamina and further lacking any form of curiosity or excitement towards the towering customers.This reminded me of the myriad of concerns and speculations customers previously had regarding the welfare of these animals, where they theorized that the animals received tranquilization to remain calm in very minimal and crowded spaces. Moreover, some customers even complained of the animals unfortunately passing away shortly after their purchase, not having mentioned the myriad of health complications that customers additionally reported on. These health complications include the following: fleas, ringworms, worms in the stomach, patches of missing fur and more. Upon my visit, I also took notice of unnaturally neon-colored chicks that have had their feathers dyed for aesthetic purposes. Apparently, the workers informed me that the dye is merely temporary, and shall fade out once the chicks mature and enter their adult stages. However, it is important to note that these chicks have an unnaturally, very short life span, and will very much likely never get to reach their adult stages of life. This perhaps relates to the toxicity of the dye that consequently hinders the health of these chicks, considering the divergence from allowing the chicks to grow in their natural form.
It is evident that the Pet Souq, despite being a focal point of controversy for years, stays standing due to the major commercial benefit it gains and the tourism fostered from this sole souq. The puppies are sold from anywhere between roughly 4,000 riyals and above, whereas some birds even are sold at 7,000 riyals and above. Despite the reputation of the souq, the place remains to be crowded, and many visitors end up leaving with a cage, a plastic bag of supplies and finally, the sickly animal. Although the commercialization is beneficial in the economic sense, it comes at the heavy expense of the welfare of said animals. Instead, an alternative approach is to commercialize a much more sustainable project that shall ensure the integration of human and animal relations without the human interference on the natural cycle of the animal being. This has been previously deemed as ‘interspecies diplomacy’ by Una Chaudhuri by using the case study of the Dolphin Dance Project initiated in 2009. The fully domesticated animals can be put in non-profit shelters, whereas the more relatively ‘wild’ animals, such as turtles, can be a part of these sustainable and commercial projects in which both the human and animal benefit to some extent. The animal enjoys the vastness of its natural, yet regulated, habitat, whereas the human will experience engagement with wild animals while simultaneously procuring economic gain by virtue of sightseers and investors. The projects could be instilled instead of the Pet Souq, as a form of reformation towards a much more sustainable and animal-cruelty free society.
