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Fatwa CenterNeutering unwanted dogs to stop them from breeding
Question
Dear Brother, I a British Muslim working in Somaliland and have taken on the task of dealing with the un-wanted dogs in this country. I came up with the idea of neutering/spaying all the dogs to stop them breeding, but is this halaal? At the moment the locals deal with the dogs with poison, shootings, throwing stones and running them down. These dogs don't always die and live the rest of thier lives in pain. I understand that it is lawful to kill a dog that cant fend for itslef (food etc.) Harming animals that have nowhere else to go and dont know any better is wrong, but can I neuter/spay the exixisting animals to stop them breeding out of control? I have no intention of touching them, so have no worries there. Looking forward to hearing from you soon on this matter as I am being pressed for answers by the community. Masalaama,
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
With regard to killing dogs, then there are three kinds of dogs:
1) A rapacious dog: according to the consensus of the scholars 
it is permissible to kill it, as Al-Haafith Al-'Iraqi 
said.
2) A dog which is permissible to keep for hunting, guarding, and so forth; this kind of dogs should not be killed according to the consensus of the scholars .
3) A dog which does not fall into either of the above two categories: the scholars differed in opinion about the ruling of killing it; the view we adopt here in Islamweb is that it is forbidden to kill such a dog without any sound reason, because dogs are a nation among different nations, and the Prophet disliked killing it with the exception of a pure pitch-black dog, which is permissible to kill.
As regards castrating dogs, then the Muslim jurists stated that it is forbidden to castrate an animal the meat of which is forbidden to eat, as this is torturing the animal and abusing it, and changing the Creation of Allaah. The dislikeability of killing the dog is due to the fear of exterminating it, and the breed of dogs should not be cut off by castration.
Allaah Knows best.
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