Friday, June 25, 3pm to 10pm
Saturday: June 26, 11am to 10pm
Sunday: June 27, 11am to 10pm

Location: Expo Center, Karachi

Volunteers are required for all three days. Duties include managing the stall and receiving visitors, informing them about PAWS and ways in which they can help animals.

If you are interested in volunteering, please send an email telling us about yourself, your availability, along with your contact details to info@pawspakistan.org

Patience, ingenuity and people skills are a must!

PAWS will provide lunch and dinner to all its volunteers.

Thank you!

PAWS Team

COMING to M.A. Jinnah Road from Electronic Market road, one finds bird sellers (mostly selling sparrows) caged and cramped over each other at traffic signals. It is apparent that these birds die with suffocation while their captors remain in search for those who would pay for their release.

This gross violation and killing of animals at the hands of their cruel captors must be stopped. I would like the authorities to take notice of this practice.

NIZAR DIAMOND ALI
Karachi

Please take this opportunity to send polite letters to the editor of DAWN encouraging the authorities to put an end to this cruel, immoral and illegal business. Remind them that under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1890, there is a penalty for cruelty to animals, punishable with a fine and imprisonment. Please urge them to implement the laws of the land. The animals cannot speak up for themselves. Your voice can make a difference.

DAWN accepts letters at letters@dawn.com

All letters should include the writer’s full name, postal address, e-mail address, and in the case of Pakistan, a day-time telephone number.

Please forward this alert to your friends, family and colleagues.

Karachi: In a city rife with political violence and terrorism, animal welfare often takes a backseat. But six years ago, Mahera Omar and Maheen Zia decided to take things into their own hands, or rather, their own PAWS.

More here.

Forty years after the first Earth Day, the world is in greater peril than ever. While climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, it also presents the greatest opportunity – an unprecedented opportunity to build a healthy, prosperous, clean energy economy now and for the future.

More here.

Outside the clinic we ran into Chandi and his owners. Chandi was a young little pup when he was rescued from the streets of Karachi by a kind soul. They brought him to the Karachi Animal Hospital for a checkup where Dr. Otho dewormed and then later vaccinated him. The kind soul who rescued the pup kept him at their house for a few days, and then shifted him to the hospital where he stayed another couple of days, after which the puppy was adopted by Mustafa and his son Ali Sher. They named him Chandi. Mustafa is a labourer who works and lives at an under construction building behind the hospital. His family adores Chandi and look after him well. He’s got a collar on and isn’t tied up so is free to roam around the neighbourhood.

Just today Mustafa’s brother Ghulam Shabbir adopted two very healthy 5 week old mongrel puppies from someone he knew. He lives in the same building and said he was giving Sohna and Mona milk and bread but their tummies were out. We asked him to get both the pups checked out at the Karachi Animal Hospital. Dr. Kathio and Dr. Otho gave them a clean bill of health. They dewormed the pups and asked Ghulam Shabbir to bring them in again after a week for their vaccination. They also recommended he give them rice with chicken but that’s not something the owner can afford. Watered down milk and bread is probably all these pups will get twice a day.

Inside the hospital, the vets were busy treating someone’s dog. A few veterinary students from Baqai Veterinary College were also present for volunteer work and to learn from Dr. I.H Kathio’s experience. Dr. Kathio will be off tomorrow for lectures in Peshawar and at the Veterinary University in Tando Jam, where he also has a charity animal clinic.

Just as we were leaving, we spotted a lovely young black and white dog in the empty plot to the side of the hospital. We found out that he was rescued by a nearby shopkeeper, Mohammad Zawir, who saw him roaming around the neighbourhood injured. So he brought the dog to the Karachi Animal Hospital where Dr. Otho treated his wounds. The dog is better now and the hospital staff has even put a collar on him. He looked happy and healthy and well cared for. We did ask Mohammad Zawir to put out an earthen bowl with water for the dog. If anyone would like to help provide this, it would be most welcome!

All three pups -Chandi, Sohna and Mona – and the black and white dog are absolutely adorable. They are lucky to have found such loving folks to look after them. We have two such rescued dogs with us that are still looking for good homes. If you would like to adopt any one of them, please email us at info@pawspakistan.org or post the links below on your facebook profile to help spread the word about them. Thanks!

Brown and White Dog (mixed breed rescued from DHA)

White Dog (mongrel rescued from Saddar)

Visit pawspakistan.org/support for ways in which you can support PAWS in its work.

Support PAWS on Valentine's Day!

FeeFee was always smiling or whining. She was barely ever serious. She also had a short fuse. Her spurts of anger were obvious from her mad dash to the gate, teeth bared, legs splayed and a low guttural growl that made the bravest of guests perch on the balls of their feet, ready for flight.

She was eight when I last saw her. Having given birth to a litter of three beautiful puppies, she was still more playful than her kids.

I would give up, out of breath with sweaty brow, well before she tired out. I would marvel at this tiny animal’s forceful energy. She would turn sharply, breaking the circle she would be weaving around the garden chairs in her game of ‘chase me’ and dive in front of me. Planting her triangular head and whiskered white ears over her dainty paws, she would then proceed to ogle at me with her big brown eyes, an endearing expression that can be best described as pouting.

She barely got sick. But when she did, it would change her demeanor. She would lose weight; her skin would sag; her eyes would go dull; her whippy tail would lose energy and she would start to sigh a lot.

She developed a fungal infection in her ear that, despite rigorous treatment, worsened with time. It developed into a burning skin disease that made her lose her hair and her appetite. She would fight the debilitating pain by sprawling on the wet grass in the dead of winter. The frost apparently numbed her suffering.

My sister Muni and Ami, horrified at the sight of Feefee sprawled in the cold, uncovered and shivering, would drag her back to her kennel, at times locking her in. Thinking, the poor souls, that they were doing what was best for her. Little did they know this was the last thing she needed.

When the disease started to spread from animal to human, Feefee’s vet raised the alarm; “hospitalize her at once and see a skin specialist for yourself!” he ordered.

Muni and Ami took Feefee to the local veterinary Hospital, the only available option. The University of Veterinary Animal Sciences is the oldest (125 years) and largest veterinary care hospital in the Punjab. But that doesn’t make it the safest. I’ve done reports on the place, and although the place has improved considerably, the conditions in which the research animals are kept are deplorable and inhumane.

She was there for three days and two nights. A phone call from the hospital broke the bad news on Saturday. Muni took the call. ‘You’re dog has expired- we’re sorry.’

What does one say at that point? I can imagine Muni standing in Ami’s doorway, phone receiver in one hand and the knife from chopping vegetables in the other, mouth ajar, eyes bulging and then what? What does one say to some indifferent, probably bearded Pakistani lab assistant who is busy picking his nose and examining his find on the other end of the line? How does one kill the messenger when the messenger is some one so deprived of empathy he can’t tell a loss of a loved one from the loss of a dirty green booger on a laboratory floor?

Poor Muni must have felt so alone in the world at that point. I wish she didn’t have to take the call and find out that way. I wish I were there. After our first dog died, Lassy the graceful and beautiful Alsatian, I had closed up and refused to cry. In the process I unintentionally left Muni out in the cold. She loved Lassy like no other. Since then, I promised myself I would never do that again.

But I’m here, some 10,000 miles away from where my family silently grieves… How do you comfort each other on the phone? How do words suffice for the yawning gap left in your home?

I remember we compared the two dogs; Lassy was the graceful, older and more mature one with a heart made of gold, and Feefee was what we lovingly called “Gawar,” or the uncouth one. She never learned how to indicate she wanted to go; I failed in potty-training her. Our training sessions on the terrace with the aide of sugar balls only resulted in two things; Feefee bouncing off the walls with the sugar rush and developing the habit of pee-ing just when someone would pet her.

I also failed miserably at teaching her how to fetch. Feefee would chase after whatever you threw her way, catch it, chew it, attempt to mutilate it and then leave it a few feet further away from where it landed. She would return to you with a gleeful smile as if to say, ‘Now you go get it.’ And so we would. It soon became our special fetch game- in reverse.

She preferred meat to milk and hated bread. The roti that we fed her with the choicest offal had to be broken into tiny pieces otherwise she would completely disregard it, leaving it for the birds to pick on in the morning.

She had the habit of picking her favorite pieces and walking away with them. She never ate directly out of her bowl. She loved ice cream. She loved tearing things up into tiny bits. Yes, even the morning paper.

And then Feefee had her bad days; when she just wanted to be left on her own. She’d dig herself a hole somewhere in the corner of a flower bed and lie there, curled; the look in her eyes distant and cold. Times like these she would growl if someone came near her. She wouldn’t even let me close. And then, just like that, she’d come bounding out, with that cracked smile of hers, black lips spreading from ear to ear, and embrace you as if to say ‘I’m sorry!’

Feefee was the most communicative dog I have ever come across. She would come hollering at you, demanding to be pet and played with. If you refused, she’d lie on her back and wave her feet at you, emitting a bark-like noise that sounded halfway between a pleading ‘come-on!’ and an admonition.

If you still refused, she’d sit back up and talk to you between a yawn that made her sound like a complaining child who’s denied candy. And if that still didn’t melt your heart, she’d hurl herself at you, planting her tiny padded paws on your knees and squeak until your ears hurt and you just gave in.

Feefee was a great watch-dog. She barked her head off at the smallest provocation. She woke the house up when a burglar jumped into our lawn. We called the police but the man managed to get away before the cops got there.

She hated cats. She could bring the peace of an afternoon siesta to a crushing halt with her vicious, berating barks. We’d come out groggy eyed to find a smug looking feline, sitting all puffy on a ledge. Thoroughly amused, the cat would watch a hysterical Feefee go black and blue from flinging herself at an eight foot high wall again and again.

Feefee’s bark was far bigger than her. She sounded like a monster from the other side of the gate but was shockingly small framed. When we went to Khunjerab, I left five-month-old Feefee in a friend’s care. Their she would routinely terrify guests on to beds and chairs with her barking. Only when she would emerge, her tiny body jerking with the force of her barks, would they climb down, embarrassed and thoroughly amused at the sight of the little creature.

I remember when I brought her home the first time. She was only three months old and flee ridden. The vet said she wouldn’t make it if we didn’t get the flees off her soon. She was weak and scraggly. After many days of scrubbing, plucking and washing, Feefee radiated like a white cotton ball. Two sparkling hazel brown buttons for eyes and a small black and wet heart for a nose were the only markings on that bundle of white.

It was cold out on the terrace, so I’d smuggle her into my bedroom-not accepted practice in my home. She’d snuggle under the bed and wet the carpet in at least four different spots by morning. The routine ended one night when Ami walked in and sniffed the air suspiciously. Before I could cook up a convincing story about a window left open, Feefee came ambling out from under the bed and peed at Ami’s feet.

We thought of calling her Reema and other random names. I kept calling her Meera, unintentionally, of course. Eventually, it came down to Feefee because somehow it fit perfectly.

Now Feefee is gone. She died alone on the cold floor of a shady hospital ward on February 6, 2010. None of us were there to help her. None of us were there to hold her tiny paw as she slipped out of consciousness, one last time. I feel more responsible than anyone else. I brought her home and I should’ve seen her out. Somehow that thought will never let me be.

For what it’s worth, Feefee, you will always be our favorite girl.

IT seemed that sanity would prevail this year but the end result was quite the opposite. It was earlier reported that no special permits had been awarded this time round for the annual slaughter of the houbara bustard, an endangered migratory bird that is ostensibly protected under Pakistani and international law. However, it now transpires that Arab dignitaries have been awarded at least 27 permits for their wintertime shooting spree in Pakistan.

More here.

Friday, November 20th, 3pm to 10pm
Saturday: November 21, 11am to 10pm
Sunday: November 22, 11am to 10pm

Location: Expo Center, Karachi

Volunteers are required for all three days. Duties include managing the stall and receiving visitors, informing them about PAWS and ways in which they can help animals.

If you are interested in volunteering, please send an email telling us about yourself, your availability, along with your contact details to info@pawspakistan.org

Patience, ingenuity and people skills are a must!

PAWS will provide lunch and dinner to all its volunteers.

Thank you!

PAWS Team

The Brooke is the largest animal welfare organization in the country, working in 12 districts to improve the welfare of horses, donkeys and mules in poor communities. The organization provides free emergency veterinary treatment and support services for the animals and arranges training in animal care and husbandry for the owners who depend on working equines for their livelihood.

Pakistan Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) is a young organization based in Karachi, with the goal of setting up an infrastructure for animal welfare work in the country. Rescued street animals like injured dogs and cats are provided veterinary treatment.

Participants of the event included:

Dr. Sher Nawaz, Dr. Mohammad Kashif and Dr. Niamatullah Somroo from The Brooke
Mahera Omar and Maheen Zia, Co-Founders, Pakistan Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
Dr. Chander Kumar, Veterinary Officer, Richmond Crawford Veterinary Hospital
Dr. Khalid Qayamkhani, Vice President, Pakistan Veterinary Medical Association
Dr. Gulfam A. Syed, Provincial Coordinator Farmer Association Pakistan
Equine owners from around the city

Dr Sher Nawaz, Senior Program Manager, The Brooke South Region introduced the event and the work of The Brooke organization.

World Animal Day is celebrated each year on October 4 throughout the world. Its purpose is to create awareness about animal welfare.

It is a day to reflect on our duty towards all of God’s creatures and to renew our promise to do more for the animals,

says Co-founder of PAWS, Maheen Zia.

Iqbal Ijaz, a folk doctor, has now, under Brooke’s guidance, given up cruel practices such as slitting donkeys’ nostrils and injuring them under the false belief of curing them of illness. He realizes that what he was doing was actually harmful, and now actively spreads the message of kindness towards animals to others in his community.

I have learnt a lot from Brooke, and I use the skills they have taught me to treat animals properly,

says Iqbal Ijaz.

Gul Sher, Sattar and Mohammad Ikhlaq, donkey cart owners, spoke about the basic care and management of donkeys and about harmful practices such as nostril slitting and bad harnesses.

Street animals in Pakistan generally include working animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and camels, as well as stray animals such as cats and dogs, and captive wild animals such as the monkeys used by beggars and birds sold at traffic signals. Stray dogs bear the brunt of our collective cruelty, as the city government regularly targets them with strychnine poison in order to get rid of them. One of the main objectives of PAWS is to introduce a humane alternative to reduce the stray dog populations of our cities. Killing dogs is an ineffective approach and has never worked in Pakistan or any other country of the world. PAWS is currently lobbying for the implementation of the Animal Birth Control program to be made part of government policy in Karachi.

Dr. Gulfam A. Syed spoke about our duty as human beings to look after those who cannot look after themselves, and this includes the animals we share our world with. He said that the Quran mentions donkeys to remind us that God has created them just like He has created Man. Islam attaches great importance to animals.

All creatures on earth are sentient beings. There is not an animal on earth, nor a bird that flies on its wings – but they are communities like you.

(The Quran 6:38)

It is also an established fact that cruelty to animals is linked to violent crimes in society. Numerous studies have been conducted proving this link and how deadly it can turn out to be. Children who abuse animals are more likely to grow up to be violent towards humans.

The street animals of Pakistan deserve to live in peace and without suffering or fear from humans. The Government of Pakistan should strictly enforce the current animal protection laws. Mahatama Gandhi once said:

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

The event concluded with a walk outside the veterinary hospital by all the participants in order to show their solidarity towards the cause of animal welfare in Pakistan.