From compassion to action: Kurdish woman shelters Iraq’s strays
Shafaq News – Duhok
In Duhok, a young Kurdish woman has transformed her lifelong love for animals into one of Iraq’s few dedicated shelters for strays.
What began as Rania Mahmoud’s personal mission to rescue injured dogs and cats from the streets has grown into Lucky, a small but thriving organization that now houses more than 250 animals on the outskirts of the city.
“Every injured or abandoned animal deserves safety,” Mahmoud told Shafaq News. “Most of them were starving or abused before finding this place.”
Mahmoud and a team of four volunteers care for the animals daily: feeding, cleaning, and providing vaccinations. “We treat them as part of our family,” she said, noting that the shelter has helped make Duhok “almost free of violence against animals.”
Despite its reach, Lucky receives no government funding. Mahmoud says the project survives entirely on public donations collected through social media campaigns. “People call us every day about wounded dogs or sick strays. We take them in whenever we can."
The shelter’s reputation has spread beyond Duhok, Mahmoud now receives reports from other Iraqi provinces, with some animals transferred to her care.
She hopes local authorities and humanitarian groups will support the initiative to expand medical facilities and improve food supplies. “This work isn’t for profit,” she said. “It’s about mercy, and teaching people that kindness to all living creatures defines our humanity.”
Read more: Culling vs. Sterilization: The battle over Baghdad's stray dogs
