Dogs Eat Dead Arabs

(Umluj, Saudi Arabia) With the media focused primarily on the international implications of Middle East events, the everyday hum-drum challenges of average citizens are often unreported. Here's an example.

From ArabNews.com:

Imagine the shock when Abdul Rahman Al-Juhani and family members went to a cemetery in this quiet northwest coastal town to bury a loved one only to discover, to their horror, the bones and shrouds of the dead strewn all about. The culprits of this desecration, say residents, are feral dogs.

"Not only that, but there were also children playing inside the cemetery," said Al-Juhani. "I don't blame the kids because they're not responsible for their actions. I put the blame on the municipality for not assigning a guard at the cemetery and leaving the door open for wild animals."

The people of Umluj are calling on municipal authorities to do something about this problem in the town's main cemetery, located near a fish market.

Suleiman Al-Hujori, a resident of Umluj, said that the dignity of the dead is being violated. "These wild dogs prey on dead bodies," he said. "They dig bodies and bones out of graves and eat them. We want the municipality to put an end to this problem."

One can't help but feel a certain amount of empathy for people who have seen their dearly departed turned into gnawed litter but it's undoubtedly overshadowed by the disgust at the abject ignorance which allows the circumstances to exist in the first place. Without breaking a sweat, I can come up with a few ideas. "Hey, Abdul, why don't you dig deeper graves and hire a dogcatcher?" Zoning the cemetery away from the fish market might help also.

Of course, then there's the question of whether any Muslim martyrs were buried in the cemetery. Now, I understand the biology when a canine eats. At the end of the day, all that remains is a pile of dog stuff. Is it possible to start as a doggie land mine and finish as a frolicker among a harem of 72 virgins?