12/12/2025
“As the BBC News afann oromo reported”
If you see a dog on the road chasing a stone, you have a message from feven .
A young woman says that in the past two years, she and her volunteers have helped around 800 street dogs in Addis Ababa find families who adopt them and provide medical care. She also says that they have been feeding 70 street dogs every day. Feven explains that she has been detained three times by security forces simply for feeding street dogs.
Feven Melese who was born and raised in Addis Ababa, says her compassion and concern for animals — and the suffering they experience — began in her childhood. Over the years, she has used social media to share this message and to raise public awareness about animal rights. For the past seven years, she has been using social media consistently to educate the public on the importance of respecting and protecting animals.
Five years ago, she opened a page called “Animals Need Attention”, where she shares content focusing on animal rights and welfare. She says: “Animals have feelings just like humans.” She also explains that she stopped eating animal meat because it personally felt heavy on her conscience — but she does not pressure others to stop eating meat. Her slogan is: “Animal rights are being violated.” However, she says she does not use harsh statements like “Stop slaughtering animals.”
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Being a voice for animal rights…
Feven states that animals in Ethiopia do not receive enough attention. Her main goal is to raise awareness so that all animals can receive the care and respect they deserve. She works to encourage people to adopt stray animals that have no owners and live on the streets.
Her work includes feeding, treating, and advocating for animals when their rights are violated. She focuses mainly on animals she encounters nearby, especially dogs and cats, because these are the animals most commonly seen living close to humans. However, she also speaks up for horses and donkeys, who are often abandoned by owners after becoming weak or unable to work. Even though she does not have a shelter for them, she tries to support them where they are found.
She also works to educate the public not to misuse animals such as horses and donkeys in harsh and harmful ways.
Feven says: “In our country, only animals that are edible or have money value are respected — but all animals deserve protection and care.”
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A lack of awareness…
Feven explains that public understanding of animal rights in Ethiopia is very low. Many people do not recognize that animals experience hunger, thirst, pain, and emotions just like humans.
People often abandon horses and donkeys once they can no longer provide service. Feven says the public compares humans and animals unnecessarily and uses this comparison to criticize her work. One of the common criticisms she receives is:
“Why feed animals when people are hungry? Why talk about animal rights when human rights aren’t respected?”
She also mentions that even when she tries to rent a place to keep rescued animals, landlords reject her, saying “Dogs will destroy our property.”
She recalls that she has been arrested three times for feeding street dogs. Authorities misunderstand her work and believe she has another agenda. She says, “We are doing good work, but because it was interpreted incorrectly, we were detained.”
She emphasizes that she is not a political person, but her work is often misinterpreted as political. She says if there were proper shelters and organized systems for street dogs, the number of animals on the streets would decrease.
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“If a person can be kind to animals…”
Feven believes: “If someone can be compassionate towards animals, they can be compassionate toward people as well.”
Her dream is to see a future where animal rights are fully respected in Ethiopia.
She says many people hit dogs when they see them lying in the street: “If we cannot help them, at least we should not harm them.”
She dreams of seeing large animal shelters and hospitals built in the country. She also hopes for strong animal protection laws.
Feven believes that if Ethiopia had strong animal welfare laws, street animals would not be suffering the way they do now. She also insists that animal caring should be included in the education system, so future generations grow up with compassion.
She concludes:
“My biggest dream is to see Ethiopia as a country where the lives of animals are respected.”
She is working toward making her movement an officially registered organization.
