On Tuesday November 10th concerned citizens met with Karachi University’s Vice Chancellor Dr. Muhammad Qaiser about putting an end to the stray dog killings on the university’s campus. The meeting was initiated by Sam Sattar, an animal lover who’s been at the forefront of creating awareness about humane stray dog management.
Karachi University has been poisoning and shooting dogs on its campus for decades. Pakistan Animal Welfare Society and others at the meeting urged the Vice Chancellor to consider adopting the university stray dogs as part of their natural environment and working toward neutering and vaccinating them. This would create a stable and safe stray population that would also prevent other outside dogs from moving on campus. It would also over time reduce the campus dog population as they wouldn’t be able to breed and produce more puppies. The remaining dogs would be rabies free and pose no threat to the students and staff on campus.
Dr. Qaiser said he agreed culling dogs was barbaric and welcomed other solutions. He hoped someone would step in and remove the dogs for them. When it was explained to him how it was necessary to maintain a familiar population to prevent new dogs from coming in he relented and agreed to a proposal for a project and subsequent meeting to discuss it.
The World Health Organisation and doctors of the Pakistan chapter of Rabies in Asia recommend mass vaccination and spay/neuter campaigns as an effective and humane method to deal with rabies and stray dog populations in developing countries. Such campaigns are already in practice in our neighbouring countries like India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.
It is hoped that necessary resources can be pooled in time to create a pilot project on the campus of Karachi University that is more befitting an educational institution of higher learning than routine culling of dogs.
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World Elephant Day
Spare a thought for the six elephants in captivity in Pakistan this World Elephant Day.
Kaavan, the lone Asian elephant in Islamabad Zoo, was donated by the Bangladesh government 28 years ago and is kept in chains. Suzi, the lone female African elephant at Lahore Zoo fares no better.
Four African baby elephants are in Karachi. They were captured from the wild in Tanzania, separated from their mothers, and kept in solitary confinement at a ‘quarantine station’ at the Safari Park a day after their arrival in 2009. [Read more…] about World Elephant Day
Humane solutions – stray dog management for Pakistan
Pakistan has been shooting and poisoning its stray dogs for decades now. Not only is this cruel and ineffective, it is madness given there are humane alternatives to stray dog population management and rabies control. “Killing dogs is not the solution as it does not stop the disease; mass dog vaccination is the only proven solution.” says World Animal Protection, an international organisation that works with governments and helps provides vaccination plans involving local communities. [Read more…] about Humane solutions – stray dog management for Pakistan
Public pressure to save turtles
Dear friends,
Illegal wildlife trade is rampant in Pakistan. Fortunately last month a smuggler was caught red-handed at Karachi airport taking 218 black spotted turtles to Bangkok to be sold as food and pets. The Sindh Wildlife Department has taken him to court. Please show your support in person at the hearing tomorrow. A good attendance will put pressure on the courts to set an exemplary punishment. [Read more…] about Public pressure to save turtles
A fresh start for freshwater turtles
A hearing at the Malir District Court today has cleared the consignment of 218 turtles confiscated at Karachi airport on 20th September for return to their natural habitat this coming Thursday. Details about the recovery are here. The next hearing is expected to set the penalty for the offending party and is scheduled for Saturday, 4th oct. [Read more…] about A fresh start for freshwater turtles
(P)oops, what a mess!
Fouzia Ahmed in DAWN:
We love our pets, but they sure can make a mess! Dogs track mud and dirt into the house, topple their food and water bowls; while cats fuss around their food, drop and drag around the bowl and then there are ‘accidents’ — and you need to clean those right away with the right kind of clean-up product.
More here.