Dr. Zulfiqar Otho and Dr. Shalla Hayat of the Karachi Animal Hospital check a blind donkey rescued by PAWS.

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

Swiss animal rights lawyer, Antoine Goetschel, recently made international news when he defended a dead pike in a case of cruelty by a local fisherman who was overheard boasting about landing the fish after a ten minute long struggle. The basis of his argument was that fish are sentient beings and that the fisherman had caused the pike needless pain. Islam is a religion where the sentience of all animals has been declared in the Quran. However, the expected application of such a belief is sadly amiss in Pakistani society. In fact, many of the most vocal advocates for animal rights in the history of Pakistan have been non-Muslim.

Under British rule, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act was passed in 1890 for the entire subcontinent. Earlier, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), modeled after the RSPCA in the UK, had been established in Karachi in 1878 by a group of animal lovers who convened a public meeting at the Frere Hall gardens. After Partition in 1947, India and Pakistan made their own amendments to the original 1890 act. The West Pakistan Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act was ratified in 1961 to include rules regarding the licensing of farriers, bits and harnesses for animals, draught hours for buffaloes, restrictions on loading animal drawn vehicles, and the age of service of working animals.

The act, however, needs to be reviewed and further amended to meet the requirements of the current times. The Government of India, for example, established an Animal Welfare Board in 1962 which was set up in accordance with their Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960. Some of the functions of this board are to advise the government on any amendments required to the laws, and to stop the killing of stray dogs and enforce the Animal Birth Control program throughout India. This has institutionalized the entire animal welfare movement by strengthening existing laws and ensuring they are implemented. The board requires, for example, the setting up of SPCAs in each district with an attached hospital on land given by the local administration.

In Karachi, up to the 1980’s, the SPCA had a functional animal shelter with a capacity of 150 animals. Lady Constantine, a Swiss resident of Karachi, was the society’s president at the time. She had limited funds and manpower, but was untiring in her efforts to work for the cause of animal welfare. Unfortunately, her death in the early 1990’s spelt a break in this century-old tradition of service to animals in the city. Soon after Lady Constantine’s death, the SPCA shelter land was taken away by the government and the special animal court at the Sindh High Court wound up. At present, Punjab is the only province in Pakistan where the SPCA is still active. The city of Lahore has an office and shelter for the society’s work on the premises of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences.

In such an absence of institutionalized support, the efforts of some individuals and organizations that are working towards the betterment of animals, is nothing short of heroic.

The Brooke Hospital for Animals is an international equine welfare organization whose motto is ‘healthy working animals for the world’s poorest communities’. The Brooke was established in Pakistan in 1991, and has centers in 12 districts across Pakistan. They have managed to turn entire communities around in their attitudes towards their beasts of burden, empowering both man and beast in the process. In 2009, for example, Brooke helped 280,000 working horses, donkeys and mules. It is also estimated that the work of this single organization supports the livelihoods of approximately 1.5 million people in 250 poor communities in Pakistan.

For more than 10 years, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and its member society, the Bioresource Research Centre, Pakistan (BRC), led by dedicated campaigner Dr. Fakhar-i-Abbas, have worked tirelessly to put an end to the cruel practice of bear baiting. In 2007 alone, BRC persuaded over a 1000 mosques in high-prevalence areas to preach against bear baiting. Over time, bear baiting incidences have seen a sharp decline. BRC also has a bear sanctuary in Kund (near Peshawar) that houses rescued bears.

The world’s largest NGO and Pakistan’s biggest charity, the Edhi Foundation, also maintains an animal shelter in the outskirts of Karachi. This shelter is home to several cats, dogs, donkeys, crows and kites.

U.S.-based veterinarian, Dr. I. H. Kathio, regularly contributes his expertise to the training of future veterinarians in colleges across the country. He also supports several veterinary clinics by donating medical literature and equipment, and is available to vets for consultation on complicated cases.

Urging the public’s moral conscience to consider the poor state of animal welfare, there are voices in the media which keep animals in the news. Three names, in particular, deserve mention for highlighting the cause of animals in the print media – senior columnist Ardeshir Cowasjee and journalists Bhagwandas and Faiza Ilyas.

Tiger the puppy, just moments after he was rescued by PAWS from a mangrove swamp in Karachi.

In the last decade there have also been a number of noteworthy events relevant to animal rights. In early 2000, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) and a U.S. based organization, Engineers and Scientists for Animal Rights, in collaboration with the Pakistan Arts Council, held an exhibit of drawings by 6 to 8 year old children expressing their concern for animals. The drawings were compelling, especially considering that the children had never been exposed to any animal rights literature or website before.

Dr. Jerry Valask, a renowned U.S. Surgeon, also visited and spoke at the PMA House against the use of animals in medical research, and Pakistani media Geo TV and SouthAsia magazine were recognized at the Humane Society of the United States’ prestigious Genesis Awards in Beverley Hills.

In conclusion, while stray dogs are still poisoned with strychnine or shot, adequate veterinary facilities are scant, and illegal animal trade flourishes in Pakistan, all of the above are reasons to hope this will not remain the case. In addition to precedents in faith, there are historical precedents to persuade us to be kinder to animals. Pakistan’s founding father, Mohammad Ali Jinnah is a reference point in any discussion that touches upon the vision for the country. It is often overlooked that Mr. Jinnah was an animal lover. It is a legacy equally deserving of being honored.

Article by Maheen Zia and Mahera Omar, co-founders of PAWS. Printed in May’s issue of SouthAsia magazine.

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.

MUZAFFARGARH, June 17: Cricket is often described here as a national passion but in some parts of Muzaffargarh, cockerel fight has over the years become much more than a favourite pastime, a local wrestle mania.

It is the sport at the local circuit that draws hundreds of spectators. April and May are the months when cockfight competitions are held and this season saw around two dozen of those in Baseera, Pattal, Basti Chajhra, Chowk Goudar, Mahmood Kot and Kot Addu. There were hundreds of people who witnessed the cockerels fighting, there was great enthusiasm.

More here.

The Monday, June 11 2007, edition of Pakistan’s leading English daily newspaper DAWN has news of the Liaquatabad Town Administration killing 167 dogs in their jurisdiction in Karachi. According to the news item, the sanitation department is encouraging residents to inform them about stray dogs in their area so that they can come to eliminate them.

Please write letters to editors of leading newspapers in Pakistan encouraging the Karachi City Government to adopt the animal birth control method to control the stray dog population in the city.

DAWN
letters@dawn.com

The News
news.post@thenews.com.pk

Daily Times
letters@dailytimes.com.pk

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

Eye-Opening Scenes Depicting Mutilation and Abuse Deemed Too Gruesome

Islamabad – A provocative new public service announcement (PSA) which aims to educate people about the plight of Pakistan’s dancing bears has been banned by Pakistan Television Corp. In a bid to expose viewers to the horrific mutilations and abuse that dancing bears endure, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Asia-Pacific (PETA) tried to buy a spot during the network’s prime time. PTV ad executives said the video – which shows a screaming man being burned and tethered through the nose like a dancing bear – was too graphic. PETA’s subsequent attempts to meet PTV’s requirements and run the ad during late-night spots with a subtitle ensuring viewers that it was made using special effects were also met with resistance. The 40-second PSA, written by Tony Burke and directed and produced by the award winning London based production company, Diamond Bullet Productions, has been forced on to the internet at www.peta.org.

“We’re shocked that with all the violence constantly aired on TV today, this ad – which motivates viewers to help rid Pakistan’s streets of illegal madaris with bears – would be rejected”, says PETA Director Jason Baker. “PTV claims this ad is too graphic, but it is a reality for the more than 600 dancing bears in Pakistan.”

Even though it has been illegal to capture bears in Pakistan since 2001, there are still more than 600 sloth bears being forced to dance for money by madaris. Bear cubs who are barely 1 year old squeal in agony as red-hot needles are jabbed through their noses and thick ropes are forced through the throbbing wounds. When the ropes are tugged, the bears lift their legs and “dance”. Most of their teeth are pulled out, and they are trained through pain and starvation. Many cubs die before the training begins because of the stress of capture; those who survive live an average of only 8 years – compared to the 30-year life expectancy of bears in the wild. PETA strongly urges anyone who encounters a madari with a bear to report the madari to the police.

For more information and to view the video, please visit http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/dancing_bears.

For Immediate Release:
29 May 2007

Contact:
Jason Baker + 852 6200 7588 (Hong Kong); JasonB@peta.org
Poorva Joshipura + 44 207 357 9229 (PETA Europe)

Click on the photograph below to see the Urdu version of the press release.

¹ACT No. XI of 1890 (21st March 1890)
(As modified up to the 15th December, 1937)

AN ACT for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Title, extent and commencement, and super-session of other enactments

WHEREAS it is expedient to make further provision for the prevention of cruelty to animals. It is hereby enacted as follows:-

1. (1) This act may be called the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1890.
(2) This section extends to the whole of British India; and the ²(Provincial Government) may, by notification in the official Gazette, extend, on and from a date to be specified in the notification, the whole or any part of the rest of this Act to any such local area as it thinks fit.
(3) When any part of this Act has been extended under sub-section (2) to a local area, the ²(Provincial Government) may, by notification in the official Gazette, direct that the whole or any part of any other enactment in force in the local area for the prevention of cruelty to animals shall, except as regards anything done or any offence committed or any fine or penalty incurred or any proceedings commenced, cease to have effect in the local area, and such whole or part shall cease to have effect accordingly until the ²(Provincial Government), by a like notification, otherwise directs.
(4) The ¹(Provincial Government) may cancel or vary a notification under sub-section (2) or sub-section (3).

2. In this act, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context -
(1) “animal” means any domestic or captured animal.
(2) “street” includes any way, road, lane, square, court, alley, passage or open space, whether a thoroughfare or not, to which the public has access.

Amendment of section 2, Act XI of 1890

(3) Phooka or doom dev includes any process of introducing air or any substances into the female organ of a milch animal with the object of drawing off from the animal any secretion or milk.

Substitution of new section for section 3, Act XI of 1890

3. If any person –
a) overdrives, beats, or otherwise treats any animal so as to subject it to unnecessary pain or suffering, or
b) blinds, keeps, carries or consigns for carriage any animal in such manner or position as to subject it to unnecessary pain or suffering, or
c) offers for sale or without reasonable cause has in his possession any live animal which is suffering pain by reason of mutilation, starvation, thirst, over-crowding or other ill-treatment, or
d) offers for sale any dead animal which he has reason to believe has been killed in an unnecessarily cruel manner, or
e) without reasonable cause abandons any animal in circumstances which render it likely that it will suffer pain by reason of starvation or thirst,

he shall be punished, in the case of a first offence, with fine which may extend to fifty rupees, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month and, in the case of second or subsequent offence committed within three years of the previous offence, with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with both.

Insertion of new section 3-A in Act XI of 1890

3-A. (1) If any person overloads any animal, he shall be punished with fine which may extend to fifty rupees, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month.

(2) If the owner of any animal, or any person who, either as a trader, carrier or contractor or by virtue of his employment by a trader, carrier, or contractor, is in possession of, or in control of the loading of such animal, he shall be punished with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees.

Substitution of new section 4, Act XI of 1890

4. (1) If any person performs upon any cow or other milch animal the operation called phooka or doom dev, or permits such operation to be performed upon any such animal in his possession or under his control, he shall be punished with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with both, and the animal on which the operation was performed shall be forfeited to Government.

Penalty for practicing Phooka

Provided that in case of a second or subsequent conviction of a person under this section he shall be punished with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees and with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years.

(2) A Court may order payment out of any fine imposed under this section of an amount not exceeding one-tenth of the fine to any person other than a police officer or officer of a society or institution concerned with the prevention of cruelty to animals, who has given information leading to the conviction.

Penalty for killing animals with unnecessary cruelty anywhere.

5. If any person kills any animal in an unnecessarily cruel manner, he shall be punished with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with both.

Penalty for being in possession of the skin of goat killed with unnecessary cruelty.

¹(5-A. If any person has in his possession the skin of a goat and has reason to believe that the goat has been killed in an unnecessarily cruel manner, he shall be punished with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees, or with imprisonment which may extend to three months, or with both, and the skin shall be confiscated.)

Presumptions as to possession of skin of goat

¹(5-B. If any person is charged with the offence of killing goat contrary to the provisions of section 5, or with a offence punishable under section 5-A, and it is proved that such person had in his possession, at the time the offence as alleged to have been committed, the skin of a goat with any part of the skin or the head attached thereto, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proven, that such goat was killed in an unnecessarily cruel manner, and that the person in possession of such skin had reason so to believe).

Penalty for employing anywhere animals unfit for labour

6. If any person employs in any work or labour any animal which by reason of any disease, infirmity, wound, sore or other cause is unfit to be so employed, or permits any such animal in his possession or under his control to be so employed, he shall be punished with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees.

Insertion of new sections 6A, 6B and 6C in Act XI of 1890

6-A. For the purposes of section 3-A and 6, an owner or other person in possession or control of an animal shall be deemed to have permitted an offence if he has failed to exercise reasonable care and supervision with a view to the prevention of such offence, and, for the purposes of section 4, if he fails to prove that he has exercised such care and supervision.

Interpretation

6-B. (1) The Provincial Government may, by general or special order, appoint infirmaries for the treatment and care of animals in respect of which offences against this act have been committed, and may authorize the detention therein of any animal pending its production before a Magistrate.

Treatment and care of animals

(2) The Magistrate before whom a prosecution for an offence against this Act has been instituted may direct that the animal concerned shall be treated and cared for in an infirmary, until it is fit to perform its usual work or is otherwise fit for discharge, or that it shall be sent to a pinjrapole, or, if the Veterinary Officer incharge of the area in which the animal is found or other such Veterinary Officer as may be authorized in this behalf by rules made under section 15 certifies that it is incurable or cannot be removed without cruelty that it shall be destroyed.

(3) An animal sent for care and treatment to an infirmary shall not, unless the magistrate directs that it shall be send to a pinjrapole or that it shall be destroyed, be released from such place except upon a certificate of its fitness for discharge issued by the Veterinary Officer in charge of the area in which the infirmary is situated or such other Veterinary Officer as may be authorized in this behalf by rules made under section 15.

(4) The cost of transporting an animal to an infirmary or pinjrapole, and of its maintenance and treatment in an infirmary, shall be payable by the owner of the animal in accordance with a scale of rates to be prescribed by the District Magistrate or, in Presidency-towns, by the Commissioner of Police:

Provided that when the Magistrate so orders, on account of the poverty of the owner of the animal, no charge shall be payable for the treatment of the animal.

(5) If the owner refuses or neglects to pay such cost or to remove the animal within such time as a Magistrate may prescribe, the Magistrate may direct that the animal be sold and that the proceeds of the sale be applied to the payment of such cost.

(6) The surplus, if any, of the proceeds of such sale shall, on application made by the owner within two months from the date of the sale, be paid to him.

Penalty for baiting or inciting animals to fight

6-C. If any person -

a) incites any animal to fight, or
b) baits any animal, or
c) aids or abets any such incitement or baiting, he shall be punished with fine which may extend to fifty rupees.

Exception – it shall not be an offence under this section to incite animals to fight if such fighting is not likely to cause injury or suffering to such animals and all reasonable precautions are taken to prevent injury or suffering from being so caused.

Penalty for permitting diseased animals to go at large or to die in public places

7. If any person willfully permits any animal of which he is the owner or is in charge to go at large in any street while the animal is affected with contagious or infectious disease or without reasonable excuse permits any diseased or disabled animal of which he is the owner or is in charge to die in any street, he shall be punished with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees where he is the owner of the animal, or to fifty rupees where he is in charge of but not the owner of the animal.

Special power of search and seizure in respect certain offence

17-A. [(1) If a police officer, not below the rank of sub-inspector, has reason to believe that an offence under section 5, in respect of a goat, is being or is about to be, or has been, committed in any place, or that any person has in his possession the skin of a goat with any part of the skin or the head attached thereto, he may enter and search such place or any place in which he has reason to believe any such skin to be, and may seize any such skin and any article or thing used or intended to be used in the commission of such offence].
(2) If a police officer, not below the rank of sub-inspector, or any person specially authorized by the Provincial Government in this behalf has reason to believe that phooka or doom dev has just been or is being performed on any animal within the limits of his jurisdiction, he may enter any place in which he has reason to believe such animal to be and may seize the animal and produce it for examination by the Veterinary Officer in charge of the area in which the animal is seized.

Search Warrants

8. (1) If a Magistrate of the first class or second class Presidency Magistrate, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Commissioner of Police or District Superintendent of Police, upon information in writing and after such inquiry as he thinks necessary, has reason to believe that an offence against this Act is being or is about to be or has been committed in any place, he may either himself enter and search or by his warrant authorize any police officer not below the rank of sub-inspector to enter and search the place.

X of 1882

(2) The provisions of the ²Code of Criminal Procedure, 1882, relating to searches under that Code shall, so far as those provisions can be made applicable, apply to a search under sub-section 3[(1) (or under section 7-A (1)].

Limitations for prosecutions

9. A prosecution for an offence against this Act shall not be instituted after the expiration of three months from the date of the commission of the offence.

Destruction of suffering animals

10. (1) When any Magistrate, Commissioner of Police or District Superintendent of Police has reason to believe that an offence against this Act has been committed in respect of any animal, he may direct the immediate destruction of the animal if in his opinion its sufferings are such as to render such a direction proper.

(2) Any police officer above the rank of constable who finds any animal so diseased, or so severely injured, or in such a physical condition that it cannot, in his opinion, be removed without cruelty, may, if the owner is absent or refuses to consent to the destruction of the animal, forthwith summon the Veterinary Officer in charge of the area in which the animal is found and, if the Veterinary Officer certifies that the animal is mortally injured, or so severely injured or in such a physical condition that its destruction is desirable, the police officer may, after obtaining orders from a Magistrate, destroy the animal or cause it to be destroyed.

Saving with respect to religious rites and usages

11. Nothing in this Act shall render it an offence to kill any animal in a manner required by the religion or religious rites and usages of any race, sect, tribe or class.

Provision supplementary to section I with respect to extent of Act

12. Notwithstanding anything in section 1, sections 4 and 13, sections 9 and 10, and sections 6A, 7A, 8 and 15 so far as they relate to offences under section 4 shall extend to every local area in which any section of this Act constituting an offence is for the time being in force.

Offence under section 4 to be cognizable

13. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1890, an offence punishable under section 4 shall be cognizable offence within the meaning of that Code.

General power of seizure for examination

14. Any police officer above the rank of a constable or any person authorized by the Provincial Government in this behalf, who has reason to believe that an offence against this Act has been or is being committed in respect of any animal, may, if in his opinion the circumstances so require, seize the animal and produce the same for examination by the nearest Magistrate or by such Veterinary Officer as may be designated in this behalf by rules made under section 15; and such police officer or authorized person may, when seizing the animal, require the person in charge thereof to accompany it to the place of examination.

Power to make rules

15. (1) The Provincial Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, and subject to the condition of previous publication, make rules to carry out the purposes of this Act.

(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, the Provincial Government may make rules -

a) Prescribing the maximum weight of loads to be carried or drawn by any animals;
b) Prescribing conditions to prevent the overcrowding of animals;
c) Prescribing the period during which, and the hours between which buffaloes shall not be used for draught purposes;
d) Prescribing the purposes to which fines realized under this Act may be applied, including such purposes as the maintenance of infirmaries, pinjrapoles, and Veterinary Hospitals;
e) Prohibiting the use of any bit or harness involving cruelty;
f) Requiring persons carrying on the business of a farrier to be licensed and registered;
g) Requiring persons owning, or in charge of, premises in which animals are kept or milked to register such premises, to comply with prescribed conditions as to the boundary walls or surrounding such premises, to permit their inspection for the purposes of ascertaining whether any offence against section 4 is being or has been committed therein, and to expose in such premises copies of section 4 of this Act in a language or languages commonly understood in the locality; and
h) Prescribing the manner in which cattle may be impounded in any place appointed for the purpose, so as to secure the provision of adequate space, food and water.

(3) If any person contravenes, or abets the contravention of, any rule made under this section, he shall be punished with fine which may extend to fifty rupees.

Persons authorized under section 14 to be public servants. XLV of 1860

16. Every person authorized by the Provincial Government under section 14 shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code.

Indemnity. XLV of 1860

17. No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against any person who is, or who is deemed to be, a public servant within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code in respect of anything in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act.

Footnotes:

1. For Statement of Objects and Reasons see “Gazette of India”. 1890, Pt. V., P. 4: for report of the Select Committee see Ibid, p. 95, and for Proceedings in Council, see ibid, Pt. VI. pp. 4, 10 and 62.

The Act has been declared in force in British Baluchistan by s. 3 of the British Baluchistan Laws Regulation 1913 (2 of 1913): in the Sonthal Parganas by s.3 of Sonthal Parganas Settlement Regulation (3 of 1872)

2. The portions of s. 2 [except sub-section (2)]. Section 5 so much of s.8 as relates to s. 5 and ss. 9 and 11 of this Act have been declared in force in the Angul District by s. 3 and Sch. Of the Angul Laws Regulation. 1930 (5 0f 1936) and in the Khondmals District by s. 3 and Sch. of the Khondmals Laws Regulation, 1936 (4 of 1936).

1. These words were substituted for the words “Local Government” by the Government of India (Adaptation of India Laws) Order, 1937

1. Sections 5A and 5B were inserted by s. 2 of the Prevention of Cruelty (Amendment) Act, 1917 (14 of 1917)

1. S. 7-A inserted by S.3 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Act, 1917 (14 of 1917)

2. See now the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act of 1898)

3. Added by S. 4 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Act, 1917 (14 of 1917)