It is the responsibility of every citizen to show kindness to animals, inclusive of dogs
KARACHI: This is with reference to a news story in this newspaper on March 14, “KMC’s culling of stray dogs has reached a new low.” I agree that the voiceless killing of the innocent animals should be stopped and they should safely be moved to a land outside the city, with shelter, food, water and medical arrangements. Humans kill each other based on ethnicity, colour, and race. Now, we wish to kill the helpless and speechless animals, too.
Our country has been shooting and poisoning stray dogs for decades now. Not only is this brutal and futile, it is insane. There are sophisticated alternative ways to deal with stray dog population and control rabies. World Animal Protection, an international organisation that works with governments and facilitates in providing vaccination plans involving local communities says in its publication, “Killing dogs is not the solution as it does not stop the disease; mass dog vaccination is the only proven solution.”
Vaccination is humane, guards the inhabitants and saves money. Numerous countries globally follow the World Health Organisation’s recommended mass vaccination and sterilisation campaigns. These even include Third World countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and India. Collaborating with various animal protection institutions in our country like can be another way of resolving this issue.
It is the responsibility of every citizen to show kindness to animals, inclusive of dogs. It is time the people of Pakistan went to court for prevention of cruelty to animals. Through your esteemed newspaper, I urge people to take up this issue and force the authorities to adopt a compassionate approach, one that is cost-effective and works in the long run.
Sharifa Hyderally
Published in The Express Tribune, March 21st, 2017.
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