Over 700 stray dogs were poisoned by the civic authorities in Karachi and their bodies openly displayed on the side of road. As expected, this elicited a great deal of outrage from both within and outside the country as animal rights activists were flabbergasted and dismayed at this brazenly open act of animal abuse. It was not just that so many dogs were killed by the authorities but the merciless way through which they were killed — giving them poisoned chicken — that showed how not even an iota of compassion was reserved for these helpless creatures.
While it is true that stray dogs are at times a threat to pedestrians, and as statistics show, last year 6,500 people were bitten by stray dogs at the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre alone, this does not mean that they should be killed. Dogs only attack human beings when they are attacked, or if they are sick, and the better way to go about this is to construct shelters and provide them with adequate care. In any case, killing dogs is not the solution as there would always be more to fill the space left by them, unless it is done on a very large scale. More appropriate would be a city-wide operation of sterilisation so that the population of stray dogs can be decreased.
In Pakistan there is an unusually high degree of not just apathy but even antipathy towards animals. Stray dogs are pelted with stones, kicked, and beaten just for the sake of it. In fact, it has become a force of habit for many to attack these animals whenever they are seen. It is indeed strange that these animals fear humans so much so that they run in the opposite direction when they come into close contact with a human being. While western society is often criticised in Pakistan for its supposedly “loose” values that allegedly go against the moral fibre of Pakistani society, people here can take a leaf out of their book for humane treatment of animals. It is indeed tragic that dogs who are treated like family members almost all over the world are subjected to such cruelty in Pakistan. Certain segments of affluent Pakistani society who keep dogs as pets do indeed treat them well, but that is just limited within their households while the majority of strays meet a tragic fate.
It is true that government has scarce resources and it fails to provide its citizens adequate services, let alone animals. Hence, civil society must step forward and form organisations to support and protect the country’s animals. There already are a few initiatives that need support from the people in order to sustain themselves and develop into sizeable organisations. For instance, there is the Todd’s Welfare Society in Lahore that is aimed at rescuing and protecting stray dogs and cats. There is also Pakistan Animal Welfare Society that tries to help animals in need by making people aware about them through social media. Another organisation is the Ayesha Chudrigar Foundation in Karachi that rescues and rehabilitates stray injured dogs, cats, donkeys and other animals. All of these initiatives are excellent examples of how civil society can play its role in putting an end to animal cruelty. And in a country in which treatment of animals is beyond deplorable, such initiatives are indeed badly needed. *