“If our ethical code makes a purely arbitrary distinction between humans and all other species, then we have a code based on naked selfishness devoid of any higher principle.”
― Jared Diamond
On 14th July 2020, the head of Rabies Free Pakistan (RPF) organization Dr. Naseem Salahuddin woke up to the terrible news of all his hard work gone to waste. For a while, RPF had been working tirelessly day and night on a campaign to vaccinate and neuter stray dogs and suddenly they hear the news that the municipal authorities had killed around 50 of the stray dogs that Dr. Naseem and his team had treated. During that time the authorities had mercilessly killed thousands of stray dogs via shooting or poisoned tablets stuffed in their food. Dr. Naseem showed his great disappointment while addressing the media, he said: “You work from dawn to dusk, put in your best effort, spend time and resources, and they kill the dogs without any reason — it’s like being stabbed in the back,”.
According to the officials regarding the overpopulation of stray dogs, it was necessary to do so as the residents would be unsafe around those stray animals and would cause the spread of rabies. This claim was debunked by the founder of Ayesha Chundrigar Foundation, she stated “Killing dogs only results in an increase in their population,” she further added that research showed that whenever the dogs see a decline in their population they tend to reproduce much faster. This is just one of the thousands of examples of animal cruelty in Pakistan.
The Attitude of the Government and the People
When it is the matter of stray animals, Pakistan has proven itself to be one of the most unsafe and cruel countries for them. Rather than taking the initiative to make the environment safe for both, the humans and the stray animals, by doing a little extra effort, the authorities try to find the easy way out to avoid the responsibility by killing the animals and convincing themselves that this might work as a deterrent to the spread of diseases. Apart from that, it is not just the government that has been treating these poor animals abominably; a lot of the citizens also show little to no empathy towards these creatures. On June 3rd, 2020, ACF posted a video of a horrifying act done by a citizen; a man had tied a stray dog to a car and dragged it till it gave its last breaths. Even though the man was only arrested after massive social media pressure, it goes to show how callous Pakistani citizens can be when it comes to stray animals.
It is a sad state of affairs that most Pakistanis do not consider stray animals to be worthy of being alive. When The Express Tribune posted an article about 850 stray dogs shot cruelly in a week, people flooded the comment section with all sorts of vile thoughts. One comment even linked empathy for the strays to liberalism calling strays “pests” and commenting that anyone who cares for strays is a liberal and should be “shipped off to the Atlantic ocean” as they are an ailment to the country.
Saviors among Savages
In between all this lack of empathy and insensitivity in this country, there are angels who try their best to give these voiceless beings the life that they deserve. Ali Khurshid and Noor-ul-Ain Ali are a power couple, photographer, and fashion designer respectively, who have dedicated their lives to help the helpless even in times of this great pandemic. They started their rescue journey three years ago from a single cat they found at a hospital in Karachi and to this day they have adopted 9 dogs and 13 cats while continuing to take care of more than 50 stray dogs in different parts of the city. After realizing that these animals might not have access to food and water after the lockdown resulting in the closing down of shops and restaurants, these generous human beings started taking rounds of the city to feed as many stray animals as they can. Even though they try their best to help these animals they still show concern over the problems they face in taking care of them due to the pitiless nature of our fellow citizens. “We’ve had a lot of unpleasant experiences while rescuing but they have all come from human beings and not the animals. Recently, people shot some of my dogs,” said Ali in an interview.
Role of Private Organizations
Apart from individuals like Ali and Noor, several private non-profit organizations do their absolute best to take care of injured, abandoned, and abused strays. Todd’s Welfare Society is a Lahore based NGO that shelters and treats stray animals all while creating awareness campaigns in different schools and universities. They also hold camps for local animals where they vaccinate, deworm, and take care of sick animals.
Ayesha Chundrigar Foundation is the first animal rescue and shelter centered in Karachi that takes in and cares for the city strays. The foundation has also held fundraisers for the animals in which hundreds of people including celebrities have taken part to raise their voices for sake of the precious lives of these animals.
Animal Care Association Pakistan (ACAP) is Islamabad’s first animal care and rescue organization that helps animals in need of care. Just like the two mentioned above they also rescue, shelter, and treat animals that need it.
The hope of the day is that the government drafts up policies that help protect the stray animals and start holding awareness campaigns so that it helps to promote humanity towards the animals of the street. They could follow the suit of the authorities in Peshawar who offered the citizens 200 rupees for each dog captured and brought in to be neutered. Lastly, the general public needs to realize that these animals also have feelings and should come to terms with their existence among them.
