Mistreating animals is not only barbaric but also a sign of frustration being taken out through the wrong channels
KARACHI: In the past few weeks, I have been scrolling through various posts about the closing down of stores in Karachi and how it has affected shopkeepers. However, the most heart-wrenching of these have been the mistreatment of animals by shopkeepers of pet stores. A team of vets along with the representatives of animals’ rights foundations and others went to Empress Market as well as other pet stores in the city. And what they found was nothing short of a horror story. Pets had been locked up in stuffy cages, suffocating, hungry, dying. A majority of these animals were found dead with their living companions begging for help next to them.
The efforts of these animal rights’ organisations have been nothing short of heroic. It was sad to see that even after this, the shopkeepers were not allowing some animals to be rescued. These owners should be allowed to operate their stores for some time everyday so that they are able to feed their pets. It is animal cruelty to leave living beings in cages for days to die in darkness. These animals have committed no crime.
It is important to increase awareness amongst the citizens of Karachi on how mistreating animals is not only barbaric but also a sign of frustration being taken out through the wrong channels. I hope that the government pay attention to the plight of the poor pets and allow for their caretaking in these times of coronavirus lockdown.
Ramsha Azhar
Published in The Express Tribune, April 13th, 2020.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
