Parked nearby was the Brooke Hospital for Animals’ van. They are an international organisation helping poor communities take better care of their working animals (donkeys, horses and mules). Two of their mobile clinics are now functioning in Karachi as well, and they have an office inside Richmond Crawford. I asked their vet to come over and have a look at the cat. They picked her up and handed her over to the Richmond Crawford staff who dressed the wound on her leg. The cat stayed there overnight. Today, on our request, the kind Brooke vet Dr. Shernawaz dropped the cat off to the Karachi Animal Hospital. Dr. Zulfiqar Otho, the director of the hospital, diagnosed her as most likely having a broken hip. He also said she might have jaundice, as her gums and eyes were quite yellow. She was also severely dehydrated and so was administered a drip and antibiotics.

We’ll be taking her for an x-ray to Gizri tomorrow morning. Hopefully, she’ll be able to get all better. She’s an extremely sweet natured cat and is currently confined to a cardboard box. The Karachi Animal Hospital is extremely limited on space – they only have about 4 pet carriers for cats and they are all already full of their own patients. Would anyone be interested in adopting or fostering her while she recovers from treatment? If you’re on facebook, sharing this cat’s story on your profile will help spread the word about her. Thanks!

Update – March 18, 2010

We took the cat for an x-ray to the Tabani Diagnostic Centre in Gizri today. According to Dr. Zulfiqar Otho, her pelvic bone is broken and will require surgery. However, she needs to recover from her jaundice first before she can be operated upon. Even today she was a bit dehydrated and required additional drips. She will also be on painkillers for a couple of days. He figures it would take at least two to three weeks for her to get strong enough for the operation, and then at least a month to recuperate from it.

The Brooke is the largest animal welfare organisation in Pakistan. They have centers in 8 cities of the country. According to their extensive experience with working animals, most of the donkeys you see roaming around on their own, injured or otherwise, are not stray. The owners are usually very much around and aware of their animals’ plight, but choose to leave them out on the streets for various reasons.

This particular owner, when located, refused to listen to The Brooke vets’ advice, claiming that he was already getting the services of a quack who would re-break the leg and try to fix it. The Brooke staff advised him against that, as they had diagnosed the leg as unfixable because of the way it had broken and healed. The donkey is unfit for any work in the future, and probably in pain, especially if the quack’s had a go at him. The Brooke staff administered a pain killer at that time, and suggested one of two options to the owner: either to ask the Edhi Foundation to take him to their animal shelter off the superhighway, or to euthanise him. But the owner would hear none of it.

Now such a situation puts one in a real fix. You can’t take away someone’s animal if they’re not willing to let go of it. It is often difficult in our country to try and help people when it comes to their animals because either they don’t trust you, or they want something more out of the situation. Someone said maybe the owner’s left the donkey out on the streets on purpose, and that too near a shrine, so that someone may come forward and replace his donkey for him. This we have done in the past and have learnt that such an approach doesn’t work. In almost all of the cases, the owner sold off the new donkey of his choice, and a dozen others of his neighbours pleaded for a new animal too. Obviously, one can’t keep doing this. There is also the danger that someone might injure a donkey on purpose and demand a new one from us.

The Brooke staff have since been to this owner four more times to try to talk sense into him, but he hasn’t budged. We sincerely wish the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) was active in Karachi like it is in Lahore. However, the Karachi SPCA, although founded in the late 1870s, is no longer functional. This is a classic cruelty case, one that the owner would’ve been immediately fined for and gotten his animal confiscated by the SPCA animal inspectors. Sadly, we have no SPCA, nor animal inspectors, and private NGOs are legally not allowed to take on this role. Till the day the SPCA is revived, we need to think of some other way to help this poor donkey.

We have an idea. Let’s 6 or 7 of us get together and try to soften the donkey owner’s heart and talk him into doing the best thing for his animal. We could have tea with him, or maybe even treat him to lunch. Once he agrees, we call Edhi and have the animal shifted to their shelter.

Any volunteers?

Btw, in case of emergencies, call Dr. Zulfiqar Otho at 0321 247 1053. Dr. Otho is the director of the Karachi Animal Hospital, a private clinic in DHA6 where we often take rescued injured street animals.

You can also help spread the word by putting a link to this post on your facebook account, posting at relevant facebook pages that you’re a fan of, and at online discussion forums.

In case the owner isn’t found in the next few days, the dog will be up for adoption.

Please forward this alert to friends, family and colleagues.

Found Dog

How you can help

If you can’t adopt any of these puppies, but would like to help us find homes for them, you can do any of the following:

Put a link to this post on your facebook account.

Email the link to friends, family and colleagues.

Post this notice on any appropriate discussion forums.

If you work in the print or electronic media, do a story on the puppies to help spread the word about their rescue and adoption.

Print out the flyer below and put up on public notice boards, such as at schools, coffee shops, supermarkets, etc. Be sure to get their permission first.

Six Puppy Adoption Flyer

How you can help

Consider adopting Brownie, a Pakistani street puppy, as your next animal companion. He’s been socialized with people since a young age, and is very charming. If not, pass this message on to friends, family and colleagues who may be interested in adopting him instead.

We’re also looking for volunteers to spend a little time with Brownie till he’s adopted. If you, or someone you know, would like to walk Brownie a few times a week, then please do get in touch with Dr. Zulfiqar Otho of the Karachi Animal Hospital on Kh-Rahat, DHA6 at 0321 2471053.

If you would like to help us find a home for Brownie, feel free to print out the flyer below and put it up in public places such as schools, coffee shops and supermarkets (with permission from the relevant authorities).

Brownie Poster Feb20 09

And so I immediately made a U-turn, and signaled the donkey cart driver to stop. He pulled up ahead and waited for me, probably wondering what it was that I wanted to ask him. It was a quiet residential area in DHA. I got out of the car and asked him why one of his donkeys was limping. He said it was because he got hit by a car two days ago.

Why are you still making him work, when his legs are all swollen and bloody, he’s limping, and hasn’t even recovered from his ordeal?

I asked him.

What can I do? I am a poor man. I have to make him work no matter what. Otherwise, how will I earn a living?

he replied.

Well, he’s limping and in pain. You have to let him rest till he recovers. Why don’t you use the other donkey for work till then?

I tried to reason with him.

By this time, the owner of the house that we were next to appeared, curious to know what the conversation was all about. As it turned out, the donkey cart owner was in the business of making kiaris, the little green space outside people’s houses. He had been working in the area for a number of years (40 he claimed) and the owner of this house knew him well. In fact, that morning he was working for him only. But he did not know that his man’s donkey was injured. He too agreed that an injured donkey should not be made to work.

I knew that if I left the donkey cart owner with advice to let his donkey rest, nothing would come of it. The poor animal would still have to limp along on the roads, day in and day out, with chances of his injury getting even worse. And so I made the fellow an offer he could not refuse.

Give this donkey to me, and I shall replace him with another one this coming Sunday.

He looked at me quite incredulously. I then explained to him that my friend Ayessha has horse stables in Shireen Jinnah Colony, and has space to keep a few donkeys. We shall give sanctuary to his injured animal at the stables, and get him another one from the market in Lyari the coming weekend.

What will I do with only one donkey for the rest of the week? How will I earn a living?

the donkey cart owner protested.

Listen, you will just have to wait a week. Till then, you’ll be fine with one donkey. The market is set up on Sunday. That’s six days from now. We will meet you at 11 o’clock sharp in front of this house.

I said to him.

He finally agreed.

I had called up Ayessha earlier and told her about the situation. She very kindly offered to take the donkey to her stables. In a little while, she too came over, and we made arrangements to transport the donkey to Shireen Jinnah. We hired a Suzuki pickup from around the corner, and asked the owner to accompany us to the stables. He was worried that his cart might get stolen if he were to leave it unattended on the road. Then the gentleman whose house we were in front of, offered to keep an eye on the cart while we were gone.

With everything sorted, we slowly made our way towards the stables at Shireen Jinnah Colony.

Nomi, our first rescued donkey was there to greet the new arrival. In fact, he got so excited that after chasing him around for a bit, he landed up on top of him! So we put Nomi inside one of the stables, and let the new donkey roam around in the outside area. The first thing he did was roll in the dirt for a little bit. Then the stables staff sprayed him with medicine for his wounds, and gave him some food and water. He seemed to know that this was to be his new home.

Next Sunday, we requested the Edhi Foundation to send someone to accompany us to the donkey market in Lyari. They would be able to negotiate a decent price. And so at 11am, we picked up the donkey cart owner and his little son from in front of the house where we met him, and went to the market. We got a nice healthy donkey for Rs. 8,000, thanks to donations from some generous people. The Edhi van then took him back to his house in Bilal Colony, Korangi. We instructed the donkey cart owner that we would come by to inspect his animal later, and would take him back if we did not find him in good condition.

A month later, the injured donkey, named Rocket, is doing very well. He has almost recovered from his injury, and has put on some weight too.

Currently, all of our rescued animals are housed at Ayessha’s stables (Gallop), where they are being looked after by her experienced staff. We are working towards getting a place of our own soon, and plan to come up with a sustainable community based approach to animal welfare. If you would like to contribute to PAWS, please get in touch with us at info@pawspakistan.org

It was the howl of despair that could have only come from a distressed soul. I was filming a documentary in the backwaters off the beaches of Sandspit in Karachi, when I heard the cries for help. A tiny brown and white puppy was wading through the murky waters of a mangrove swamp at the edge of a fishing village.

I first spotted the puppy while my crew and I were waiting for someone to show up for an interview. Something didn’t seem quite right about him as I observed him from a distance. He was wandering around aimlessly and seemed a bit confused. I lost sight of him as he disappeared into the bushes and decided to follow him to see if his mother was nearby. I went around the corner of a house next to the mangroves, but couldn’t see him anywhere. I thought maybe he was fit enough and had scampered off to where he had come from. But no. It was then my cameraman pointed him out in the shade next to a wall by the water’s edge. Although it was 3 in the afternoon on a hot summer day, the puppy was shivering and was too weak to even sit properly. He looked like he hadn’t had anything to eat since a few days and kept stumbling over if he tried to walk.

A few children from the fishing village were swimming in the mangrove channel. None of them had seen the puppy before. Then much later one of them piped up that the puppy’s mother had died a few days ago, apparently from hunger. I asked them to bring some water for the puppy. We had some milk biscuits with us which we soaked in the water and offered to the puppy. He had probably been having mangrove swamp water the past few days, and so was initially hesitant to drink, expecting it to be salty. When I held a biscuit under his nose, he just pressed his mouth on it, and seemed unable to open it. He had probably still been on his mother’s milk when he got separated from her. After a while, though, he finished all the water and the biscuits, and immediately seemed a bit more energetic. Soon, our van showed up, and we took out some chicken from our leftover lunch, and gave a little to the puppy. After that he was fine, and was running about following the children.

Still, the puppy was in no condition to be left all by himself, and so by then I had decided to take him with us. One of my friends, Ayessha, had been wanting to adopt a street puppy for her horse stables, and I knew that this little one had just found himself a home.

I put Saeed, one of my crew members, in charge of the puppy while the rest of the filming was being done. Once we had wrapped up from there, one of the children accompanied us with the puppy in our van to a nearby shop from where we picked up an empty cardboard box. We put the puppy in the box, said goodbye to the children who had followed us on foot all the way to the shop, and made our way to our next location. While we were filming in the open field, the puppy kept following Saeed around, and seemed quite happy.

We wrapped up the shoot around sunset, and made our way back to the city. The puppy slept in my lap the whole way. By then I had informed Ayessha about him, and went straight to her house to drop him there for the night. The next morning she took him to the stables which were to be his new home. The day after that we took him to Dr. Isma’s animal clinic for a check-up. She prescribed an antibiotic for his upset stomach, and said to bring him again in a few days for deworming and vaccinations.

The puppy, named Tiger by the stable grooms, is now on a dry puppy food diet and is getting used to his new surroundings. He also has the company of a dozen horses, two rescued donkeys, and a few chickens. But best of all, he is in the tender loving care of Ayessha, and does not have to spend the rest of his life fending for himself on the tough streets of Karachi.

We often come across little street puppies like Tiger who are in need of loving homes. If you would like to adopt such a puppy, please do get in touch with us at info@pawspakistan.org

We flagged the donkey cart down by the side of the main road, and walked across as speeding traffic whizzed past us. The boy appeared agitated as we held him up, and even more so as we asked him questions about his lame donkey. The donkey clearly was in no condition to walk, let alone pull a cart. Apparently, he had been hit by a car about a year ago, and broke his front leg right at the knee, and it healed up all crooked. The family had given him a rest since the accident (they had two other donkeys), and had only recently decided to make him work again.

What can I do? He’s very lame, but we need him to earn our daily bread

said Saifal.

You should retire him. Give him to us, we’ll get you another donkey

we said to him.

And thus began the story of Nomi’s rescue. We made arrangements with the Edhi Foundation to go pick him up from Buduni Goth (near Hawkesbay) where he lived and take him to their animal shelter off the Superhighway. Located in the suburbs, theirs is the only animal shelter in the city. Its four acres is a peaceful and safe haven for a number of dogs, cats and the occasional working animal. Mostly injured stray animals land up there, or people dump their abandoned pets when they no longer want them.

After picking up Nomi the donkey, Karim, 12 year old Saifal’s elder brother, accompanied us to the animal market at Agra Taj to look for a new donkey. However, as it was a Friday not many animals were available for sale, so we decided to come back on the weekend.

The following Sunday at noon, we met Karim at the animal market. This time it was bustling with hundreds of goats, sheep and donkeys. There is no designated place for this ad hoc market. It’s right on the main road. The donkey market was a 5min walk away, right on top of the Lyari Expressway. There were donkeys of all shapes and sizes. Some fit, some skinny, some clearly overworked with lips sore from bad bits, and exposed flesh due to bad harnesses. The nostrils of many had been slit by their misguided owners, in the belief that this will make their animal breathe better. Obviously, millions of years of evolution failed to accomplish such a basic need.

We left Karim to wander amongst the animals, taking his time to check each one out according to his requirement. He was looking for a fit, healthy donkey, and one that was similar in size to his two others so he could work them together. He finally located one that he liked. He was a good looking young animal, which we purchased for Rs. 9,500. We were told that donkeys can cost anywhere from Rs. 7,000 to 15,000, so this was a reasonable enough amount. The person selling the donkey was most pleased, as you can tell from his grin in the photos. We paid another Rs. 500 for transporting the donkey in a van to Karim’s house, which was just a few minutes’ drive away.

A few days later a friend of ours offered to adopt Nomi when she heard his story. Ayessha loves horses and has a few of them which she houses in her own stables at Shireen Jinnah Colony, near Boat Basin. We requested the Edhi Foundation to drop off Nomi at her stables, which they kindly did on an urgent basis. While waiting for the Edhi van to show up, we bought dozens of fresh sugarcane from a roadside stall as a treat for Nomi and the horses. Finally, the van showed up at the stables and from the moment Nomi stepped out he seemed to know this was the beginning of a new life for him. First thing he got was a big hug from Ayessha. Next, he was walked into the open area outside the stables, where he was greeted by the resident little naughty brown dog who seemed to think anyone who stepped into his territory was his enemy. Nomi, however, was quite calm and relaxed, and wandered about exploring the place. All the other horses were in their stables, catching up on afternoon sleep before their evening riding session by the sea nearby.

We had placed the sugarcane on a charpai (all-purpose bed) which the inquisitive Nomi soon managed to find. He probably never had the luxury of having sugarcane before in his life, and had the lion’s share of them. The rest were given to the horses. The stable hands are very experienced with horses, and gave the donkey a thorough inspection. The broken leg, they said, had healed up months ago, and was hopefully not causing him any pain. Apart from being a bit malnourished, Nomi seemed quite alright. He did have a small wound right inside one of his ears, and one on his back, which they were going to take care of. The wounds on his front knees had mostly healed up too as he had had nearly two weeks of rest at the Edhi shelter.

Next, a bucket of feed was prepared for Nomi, which he dug into immediately. He was then tethered temporarily to a corner, so that the horses in the stables could be saddled up for their evening exercise at Clifton Beach. While the horses were getting ready, Ayessha and I paid a quick visit to Jaja Mian’s stables next door. We were greeted by a very cute friendly little white dog, who was running circles around the place. One of the horses had had a baby a few months ago, and was in the stables with its mother.

Soon the horses were ready, and we all headed to the beach where we were joined by a few children who regularly come to Ayessha for horse-riding lessons.

Many thanks to Zeenat Aunty, without whose generosity Nomi would still be limping around pulling a cart for a living. Thanks to her kind donation to PAWS, he no longer has to work, has a loving new guardian, his very own stable, and many big horses and a little brown dog as his new friends! And last, but not least, thanks to Ayessha for giving Nomi a good home, and a good new life.