850 stray dogs shot dead in a week
As many as 850 stray dogs have been shot dead in four towns of the city since last Monday.
Tariq Zaman, staff officer to the DCO, told The Express Tribune that stray dogs had been ordered killed after the DCO’s office received several complaints of dog bites.
He said most of the complaints came from rural areas of Iqbal Town and Aziz Bhatti Town.
He said four teams comprising three people each have been formed to kill stray dogs. Some dogs are shot dead while others are fed poisoned meat. On Monday (November 19) alone, 234 dogs were shot in Shalamar and Aziz Bhatti towns. Stray dogs in parts of Iqbal and Samnabad Towns have also been killed.
Zaman said the stray dog population was high in Hadiara village in the Aziz Bhatti Town and most of the complaints had been received from there. The campaign will run for another week.
Muhammad Usman, president of the Animal Safety Organisation Pakistan, said he had written a letter to CM Shahbaz Sharif recommending that stray dogs be vaccinated rather than killed.
He said he had recommended that shelter homes be built for stray animals.
Usman said the government had already killed nearly 900 dogs in Multan over the last two weeks. “An injection can kill rabies germs in a dog… after that a dog attack is no longer lethal,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 21st, 2012.
COMMENTS (25)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1732151670-0/Untitled-design-(41)1732151670-0-165x106.webp "article")
1732147514-0/Ellen--(1)1732147514-0-165x106.webp "article")
but needless to say, the winner of this whole debate is mr maqbool bhai bihari for his out of the box thinking!!!!!!
@Tahir Zain: I feel for you tahir and thats what I have been trying to convince them all along , although yours does look like a rather too much of an unfortunate case, but what all our friends dont seem to understand is that yours is not the only story and that whatever we do , human life should always come before an animal's.
@ZM: Does mr maqbul bhai bihari have any idea of what we are talking about , i mean you have called me an idiot and inhumane and i took it as i knew you would also be talking about the topic along with all that bashing, we disagree but we did seem to be talking about something . How is being a liberal even come in this debate ???
@maqbul bhai bihari man i dont think that you have any idea of what the word liberal means so please look it up in the dictionary , you even made me agree with ZM at this one .
@Maqbul Bhai Bihari
Do u have any idea how retarded you sound? Advocating for a living creature's life has nothing to do with being a liberal, western or having an NGO. It's HUMANITY? know what that is? Humanity is what religions aim to teach, what people try to acheive and become better people. It is the characteristic of someone who is not selfish and self absorbed parasite of a human. Who feels the pain of others and tries to facilitate LIFE. People like you with your bright idea of a 'Holocaust" are no different from people who are killing other human beings based on ideas of discrimination. You want your own land of useless and selfish insensitive human beings? I wish you your own private and lonely world like that and a life that u have only yourself to share with.
@Tahir Zain Dogs do not show up at someone's doorstep, call them from inside and then bite them. It's normally a reaction to something perverse from the person's end. Animals have no hypocrysy. They act on impulse and if you throw a stone at them or scare them, they bark and let you know that they can and will react. Your friends and family members perhaps triggered that. Does not mean that every single dog out there bites. You would rather get mugged by a man but you didn't say if you'd rather get killed by your mugger or get raped and killed or tortured etc. What you are saying now is something senseless. By that logic human beings should not be allowed to breed because of a potent threat to the living people's existence. And the ones alive should be quarantined too because every man is at risk of hurting another man.
You are probably an ally of the govt. And for all i care u should get bitten by a deadly mugger or a snake. But remember that your attitude is inhumane. It's stupid. what u are saying is that dogs should not exist. Than u have ur own dilemma to deal with because u probably don't even want a lot of living beings to exist. Extremely stupid and selfish.
Okay if all the liberals feel it is inhumane to shoot these pests, I mean dogs then what we can suggest is that we gather all these stray dogs in Pakistan and gather all the liberals and NGO's who love the west, load all of them onto a ship and let it sail to the Atlantic ocean. Any of on their master countries can take this shipment free of charge. It will relieve Pakistan of a big ailment and bring much needed happiness to our great nation.
A friend of mine had his nose torn away...Ripped off By a stray dog..The doggy that did it may or may not have been 'lethal' Naheed but I am sure my friend (who looks like the critter from May Shelly's Frankenstein) would not agree.. My cousin was viciously attacked. While trying to prevent her toddler.. From been bitten.. My neighbor suffered the same fate.. He saved his kid.. But not his thighs... I myself was attacked..twice..
Given a choice between been accosted by muggers.... Or a doggy.. I prefer the mugger any time of the day.. I had talked to the Then Nazim Mustufa Kamal.. But to no avail.. Now I carry a loaded gun with me every time I walk at night..
If people like ZM have no issues with being eaten alive... well good for them I wish em all the success in their endouvers. However I really dislike the idea and as such wish the Punjab government all the success possible in liquidating this scourge ASAP
When the solution is simple, why kill these poor souls. And not all dogs carry rabies, but in the wild run of killing, healthy ones are killed as well. There's no solution in killing them, it is rather better to have them vaccinated. I will repeat Usman's words here, “An injection can kill rabies germs in a dog… after that a dog attack is no longer lethal.”
@Saif I am not insensitive to hundreds of children dying due to dog bites. You need to research more on the topic and statistics. The country is not without means to deal with the issue. It is being led by idiots who are Inedept even for tasks they are hired for. Mr. Saif, need a crash course in Rabies disease? It is actually not a disease caused by a dog bite. It is caused by the bite of a rabied dog. A dog who has been in contact with infected rodents or rats directly or indirectly via cats etc. Rabies can be effectively immunized at a close to nothing cost while deploying a vet to practice on a payroll. Something the Govt is as capable of doing as appointing an idiot with a gun and a few bullets to go out and shoot at will. Cost of rabies injection to treat an animal is FAR LESS than the expense of bullets for an dog that comes walking your way. All stray dogs are not rabied. It is a myth that it is too expensive to deal with the situation. It's just about being aware and having the drive to fight for life. A spay and neuter program for animals does not cost money... JUST BRAIN CELLS. and give jobs to a few vets. People with such insensitive thoughts as yours towards my loved ones are the ones that should not be allowed to breed. But I'm tolerant of even your existence. Perhaps u need to read my post again. Objectively, between the two of us, I am a bigger advocate of 'life' because i am imparting importance of life in every stance. There is no such thing as rational or irrational love. But there IS a thing such as 'Selfish' love. Your love for your child is selfish and perhaps it's ur right to feel that way. But you cannot tell me to love another living being 'less' or 'more' based on your prejudices of hierachy, creed, race, skin, colour. You are perhaps in favour of the holocaust too... but did that solve anything? You perhaps think drone attacks are quick remedy for the current state of affairs. No.. i'm not being irrational here. I'm linking things and prejudices of significance.
Saif. The shot is taken at govt because it is taking stupid impulsive decisions rather than thought out measures to prevent and resolve the problem. I work as an animal activist and no I don’t get paid or endorsed to do it. I’m a vegetarian for the love of animals. I don’t use animal skin, fur, animal tested products so I may not be perfect, but between the two of us I have a better ground to stand up and voice an opinion on this matter. I try to make myself more aware of nuances in this regard, I have adopted many animals from the streets (I encourage and help people make loving homes with animals from the streets) My life is dictated by these little loved ones of mine like yours is perhaps with your own breed of your family humans. So my criticism of Govt. or your mindset is valid because I AM doing something constructive already in this cause while people like you and the Govt are doing the exact opposite. (Though with some sensible action, the Govt. definitely is in a better position to deploy better solution/course of action). Human population far exceeds the population of dogs/cats and humans are the parasites consuming away nature too. Some people with your kind of mindset would also suggest a similar plan of action to control the ‘too many people on earth anyways) syndrome. But perhaps you would like to think differently if the too many people included you/your loved ones in the population count. Then this logic will fail because suddenly ‘life’ to you will be precious. Your reaction to this does not shock me. Idiots like that are everywhere in the world.. west or east. But it doesn’t make your stance right. Your own child falls sick with a viral disease… putting him down would be a great idea wouldn’t it. Or no.. that senseless thought is relevant to helpless voiceless creatures only. You have no right to condone or demand any kind of murder and explain it as a solution. You don’t .. nobody does. You don’t want to get bitten by a dog? Protect yourself… You don’t want dogs to fall sick, understand that treatments help.. the dogs and eventually you. Killing dogs is not going to prevent humanity from every dying again anyways… (This is an insensitive joke on my end for you)
@ZM: we al just want a shot at govt. i am waiting for the day when theres a report of someone dying because of a dog bite and everyone saying why doesnt any one do anything. even in the west , dogs are taken to shelters, if they are adopted by someone in a certain amount of time otherwise they are " put down" which means that they are killed. and what do you expect us to do with so many dogs if not kill them!. I am sorry but there are just too many. So please be realistic and stop whining. and may i know how many dogs hae you adopted from the street??
What kind of stupidity this is? Another low for the very intelligent govt. And Lahori is seriously delusioned about his medical knowledge as perhaps Human beings are more hazardous to humans and life in general than these innocent animals. This is the worst example of a power trip.. to kill and admonish what they cannot control. You should really shoot yourself for being a failure. Shame on you
as a medical doctor, i have seen first hand the damage a dog bite can do as it shakes while it bites hence causing deep gaping lacerations that sometimes require extensive debridement or amputations. Furthermore dog bites are also a cause of many other infections apart from rabies which are extremely deadly and hard to treat. Dogs themselves are hosts to bacteria, viruses and parasites and transmit them too.
At least someone is doing their job!!! I myself love dogs but they are a serious nuisance when in such high numbers and a genuine threat to kids . And for our dear animal rights president , do u know there are two drops that can pevent a child from getting polio . we havent been able to vaccinate our own children so what makes u think that we can vaccinate our stray dogs !!
@saad aziz: First, this is an appeal to authority so it doesn't work. Second, Gandhi was a vegetarian. When are you giving up your Chicken / Mutton Biryani?
@saad aziz: why you are quoting gandhi??if he said it then it means he loved animals but wanted to kill Muslims..
The Greatness of a Nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its Animals are treated-Gandhi
seriously shelter homes for dogs in a country like Pakistan???I guess we build shelter homes for homeless people first near data darbar and ferozepur road before moving for dogs!!. Punjab govt is giving free vaccines for humans on debt how are they supposed to get vaccines for dogs? Realistic approach please
For a moment, I though this was a final critique of our politicians.