Celebrity talk: Love your pet

These creative minds treat animals like family members.

KARACHI:

After a day of juggling between work and social commitments, these pet lovers look forward to coming home to their furry friends.

The Express Tribune speaks to Faizan Haq, Shehla Chatoor and Saqib Malik about their love for animals.

Faizan Haq

TV host and VJ Faizan Haq has been an animal lover since childhood. He has reared different breeds of dogs apart from a brood of chickens and ducks. “I would make my chickens and ducks fat, but not in order to grill them one day,” Haq laughs. “I used to give them nutrition and take care of their well-being.”

Talking about his four-legged friends, Haq says, “I have always been fond of dogs, but I have never been a cat person.” With the passage of time, his fondness for animals has declined, however he picked up a new way of spending his leisure time. “I now grow plants as they not only warm up the house but also look good in an environment and enhance our living spaces,” he adds. The VJ grows spinach, tomatoes and salad leaves in his house.



Shehla Chatoor

Fashion designer Shehla Chatoor has an army of pets, from dogs and exotic birds to fish. Although an animal lover herself, Shehla says that her husband Salim Chatoor is more passionate about animals. Listing down the pets that the couple has, Salim says that they own eight Shih Tzu dogs (named Cinnabon, Bella, Buffy, Oreo, Biggles, Biscuit, Midnight and Poker Face), over a hundred Koi and Shubunkin fish kept in two ponds, four peacocks, and many kinds of birds including Macaws, Sun Conure, cocktails and love birds!

Shehla’s formula to unwind on any given day is spending time with her pets. “The peacocks open their wings and entertain us. Even looking at them [pets] de-stresses you,” she says, adding that her kids are more interested in playing with the dogs. She also expresses her love for the bustling sound of pets in her house, “I love waking up in the morning to the cooing and chirping of the birds in our home.”

Saqib Malik

Ace director Saqib Malik had a story to share when he was asked about keeping pets. At the age of three, Malik underwent serious emotional trauma when he lost his dog in a road accident. After the incident and his prolonged depression, his mother decided not to let him keep pets anymore. To spend his free time, the director indulges in interacting with friends and people. “Instead of gardening or having pets, I like to cultivate friendships with people and nurture relationships. I am not a tech savvy person so when I am free, I like to have people around, talking to me,” he says.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2013.

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Correction: In an earlier version of this article, Faizan Haq was mistakenly mentioned as Faizan Khan in few sentences. The error has been fixed.