Afghanistan: 1000 doves starve to death after blue tiled mosque shuts amid lockdown

More than 1,000 doves have died of starvation in Afghanistan after the nations’ blue-tiled mosque shut down due to coronavirus, international media reported citing caretakers. Afghanistan, which imposed a lockdown in March has reported 22142 Coronavirus cases and 405 fatalities as of now, the latest tally from John Hopkins University revealed.

Speaking to international media reporters, a caretaker for the mosque said that hundreds of snow-white doves would flock outside the 12th-century mosque where they would be fed by visitors. However, after the authorities shut for the mosque in the Balkh province, the birds had little to eat and started dying.

'We are ready to feed them' 

Qayum Ansari, head of Cultural Affairs at the mosque, revealed that on an average, 30 doves die every day, which are then buried inside the shrine. He revealed that till now more than 1000 of them have died. According to reports, the birds are a centre of attraction with many visitors even considering them sacred. After the news of their death broke, authorities in the province said that they were ready to feed them every day if mosque managers allow.

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This comes as the pandemic situation in Afghanistan is worsening day by day, with experts claiming that overwhelming hospital facilities would not be able to battle it for long. Recently, Health Minister Ahmad Jawad Osmani revealed that hospitals in the nation were nearing capacity and that they will soon run out of beds and space if the number of new coronavirus cases keeps increasing. The Afghan capital of Kabul is currently the country’s coronavirus epicentre and has many more coronavirus cases than was expected. "There is a disaster coming," said the Kabul Governor. 

The governor of Kabul, Mohammad Yakub Haidary, during a press conference said that he fears there may be a possibility that Kabul alone could have a million coronavirus cases. He further said that there are reports of people burying dead bodies at night making it hard to get an official count of the deaths caused by the coronavirus. The governor even claimed that the city "fills 10-15 ambulances of dead people every day".

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File photo, Credits: Steve McCurry