The ruling was later suspended, but he remains cautious. These days Tabatabaei wears ordinary clothes while tending to the dogs and cleaning their kennels at Bamak Paradise, the shelter he established two years ago.“We take in dogs with disabilities that cannot survive in the wild and have a hard time finding adoptive homes,” he said. “Many of them are dogs I’ve personally nursed back to health. They stay here until they fully recover and regain their strength.”
Tabatabaei posts regularly — to his more than 80,000 followers — heartbreaking stories of abused and neglected dogs that he has treated in his shelter. His young fans ask for updates on the rescues and send well wishes in the hundreds of comments he receives on almost every post.In some parts of the Muslim world, dogs are considered unclean, driven away with shouting, sticks and stones, and sometimes even shot by city workers in failed attempts to control the feral population.