Protecting our stray animals

Letter May 16, 2017
Strays that roam our streets and have become an integral part of our communities

HYDERABAD: As the temperature rises and the heat becomes almost unbearable, we are bombarded with forward messages providing us with guidelines to survive the summer. From staying indoors to keeping water dispensers outside our houses for strangers, we have been following these guidelines religiously lest we face the similar fate of 2015. But amongst these effective guidelines we have forgotten to include an equally important segment of our society: animals.

Strays that roam our streets and have become an integral part of our communities, often stay dehydrated under the scorching heat. If by chance they do have something to quench their thirst with, the unhygienic, sometimes only wastewater is left that they have to drink. Residence of our localities pay little heed to the deplorable conditions animals are made to live in. Neither do they provide them with clean water, nor let them take shelter in their man-made plant beds outside their houses. Instead, they often resort to shooing them away or call the municipal authorities to cull them.

What’s even more surprising is that some houses, if not many, have pet cats and dogs and yet these families feel no empathy towards the same species roaming outside their boundaries. The authorities concerned while sending public service messages of guidelines to take during the ongoing heatwave, should also include strategies that facilitates the wellbeing of stray animals. And, in fact, make it mandatory for the citizens to follow.

Waseem Bilal

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16th, 2017.

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