Miserable existence for stray dogs

A piece by Mr Sohail Khattak was published in The Express Tribune on February 8 titled "When humanity dies: Man’s best friend finds city administration its worst enemy". The report stated that during 2015, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Swat’s district administration killed 5,601 dogs, DI Khan 4,714 and Peshawar came third with 4,606 dogs. It is said that the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. Well, we have always known about our greatness, and these killings are yet another proof of our moral progress.

“But what are we expected to do with stray dogs if killing them is not the solution? Should we be bitten by rabid dogs?” critics may ask.

The solution is simpler. If you get all the female stray dogs neutered by removing their ovaries, or get them tubal ligation, you will not have any stray dogs in ten to 15 years’ time. All the stray dogs by that time will die their natural death. Castrating male dogs may be easier, but one pregnant stray dog can give birth to several stray pups and it is thus a better bet to treat the females rather than the males.

And if you wish to adopt a pet dog, why not adopt a stray instead. Have you heard of Mr Declan Walsh? He is the world famous New York Times' Bureau Chief for Cairo, who was expelled from Pakistan for reporting on the insurgency in Balochistan and reported the Axact fake degree scandal. He had three stray dogs as his pets that he would religiously take for daily walks and looked after them as his kids. I realise that we are a very status conscious society but we must comprehend that dogs remain our faithful friends, regardless of their pedigree. A dog costing you hundreds of thousands  will love you in exactly the same manner as a stray dog and will give you the same amount of pleasure.

During the Bosnia-Herzegovina crisis, the then Nawaz Sharif government brought a few hundred Bosnian refugees to Rawalpindi who were kept at the Hajj Complex. A section of media reported that many of the female Bosnians had been raped, and did not desire to keep their newborns. Thousands started approaching the Hajj Complex, wishing to adopt their infants. The situation got so out of hand that the public was disallowed from contacting the refugees in any circumstances.

We all want fair, blonde, blue-eyed babies. This is the reason that many wish to adopt Afghan children as well. But nobody is interested in adopting dark children. As opposed to this, there are people in the West who specifically adopt disabled children, and even those suffering from AIDS.

So if we do not even desire a dark child, how could we have a soft corner for stray dogs? But we must, because dogs also have rights — the right to freedom from hunger, thirst and malnutrition; freedom from physical discomfort and pain; freedom from injury and diseases; freedom from fear and distress; and freedom to express their normal behavioural needs. They have feelings just like us. Even chained pet dogs are miserable as they are unable to express their normal behavioural needs and chaining dogs causes them discomfort and pain.

A stray surrounded by humans who are constantly hurling stones at him, is extremely distressed and unhappy, and does not even know the reason for getting this ill-treatment. The State should establish shelters for stray animals in each city and town of Pakistan. The municipal authorities, and people feeling for the welfare of animals and respecting the rights of animals, should be encouraged to get involved in looking after such shelters. This is not an expensive proposition, and we can comfortably afford them.

This will be much better than shooting stray dogs, and giving them poisonous meals which result in extremely painful deaths. To quote Mr Khattak’s Express report:

`With a growling stomach, a homeless dog’s eyes light up as it sees a proper meal after days of mealy scraps.  What the poor animal does not know is that will be his last meal as moments later he will be frothing at the mouth, left to die an agonising death through poisoning. Others are simply shot dead and dumped like garbage, possibly wagging their tail at the gunman before he pulls the trigger on their life. Some of the thousands of victims may be little puppies looking for something to play with or mothers finding food for their litters, but for the administration, the living things are nothing more than statistics for their performance report.’

The stray dogs of Pakistan deserve a better treatment; and our children merit better role models. We should teach our children to be nice and merciful towards the unfortunate, whether they are humans or non-humans, ugly or beautiful, rich or poor. Otherwise, we would be living in a society which we can hardly be proud of. I will not call it 'living in a Jungle’, as Jungles are far better since carnivores only kill when they need to eat. We kill for recreation or out of fear, without any feelings of guilt. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 29^th,  2016.

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