A number of people have gotten in touch with us about an injured limping donkey on 26th Street in DHA, Karachi the past couple of weeks. The first time someone told us about him, we immediately contacted The Brooke’s senior veterinarian here in Karachi, who then sent their mobile clinic to look into the matter the very next day.
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.
give me a number to contact, I’d love to volunteer.
what if we asked him for a certain price for the injured animal?
I know many others including myself who would be willing to pitch in money and buy the poor creature off his cruel/illiterate owners hands.
contact me asap
sugafly54@hotmail.com
ONLY for those who are serious about animal rescue
Yes, as a last resort I do think offering the man a certain sum would convince him to give up the donkey, but again we set a dangerous precedent where people needing money may injure their animals and inform PAWS and refuse to give them up until they are compensated. I think a donation point or account should be set up by PAWS for people who want to donate to such a worthy cause and help give these greedy people some money if it means an innocent animal can be liberated from them.
I think the best thing to do would be to talk the owner into willingly giving up the donkey himself. I am convinced this can be done with kind words over a cup of strong tea. This donkey is of no use to him, and never can be. It’s been a couple of months and the fellow’s obviously earning something somehow. If he still thinks the donkey’s leg will miraculously straighten out, he’s quite deluded. If he insists on putting the animal through pain and misery, then the law of the land does not allow cruelty to animals and he can be gently reminded of this little known fact. Our religion also forbids cruelty to animals and it is our moral duty to treat them with kindness.
These people often give lame donkeys months for their injuries to heal any which way, then hand them over to their children to work the animal to death.
So, the plan is, we keep talking to him till he eventually gives up. It will work, you’ll see. If you bring money into the equation, none of the above applies.
Remember, there’ll be at least 8 of us there. That ought to be pressure enough for him.
Paws should think of a way of accepting donations. There will be lot of people who would like to donate money to this cause. The money can then be used to advertise in newspapers about the adoption drive among other things. Paws should try to set up a Paypal account so that the expatriate Pakistani community can send cash to Paws over the internet.
I saw the donkey again this morning, I think the owner has abandoned the donkey. I called Dr. Zulfiqar, who said he would send someone. I did not even know that an animal welfare society existed here, I am so glad to hear this.
I agree. Out of sheer ignorance, this man will probably not budge. I recommend talking to the guy, and if that doesn’t work, just buying the animal would work. I wish i were in Karachi so i could join you guys. Also, we’re all well to do people with friends. Do we know anyone in high places who can lend a little muscle at times like these?
I read about the little white doggie that you rescued Muzaffar. How is he doing? Its really nice of you to help poor little animals.
Has PAWS tried to get a Paypal account? Get some money flowing in through the internet. Then use the money to advertise and rescue.
We are working on getting a Paypal account.
I have send a plea to all my friends and family to donate to the Brooke foundation! I hope this is ok! My heart goes out to these animals and I shall do whatever I can to save them from the pain and suffering that they are going through!! We must all try to be there for these animals and thank you Brooke for helping them!!!
Charmainexxx
Hi Omar.
She’s very good now! Turns out she had the corona virus, and almost bled herself to death over 4 days. But she fought back super hard, and is our much loved tough little fighter. We decided to keep her, because it was absolutely unbelievable how strong her spirit is, how cute she is, and how ridiculously loving and friendly she is.
We took her to Dr Reza, and he really helped us out. He understands these things very well.
We’ve named her victoria. I’ll put up pictures soon.
The donkey is now at the Edhi Animal Shelter.
i am delighted that the donkey was able to be escorted safely to edhi! Great work.
aww, poor thing. yeah, i’m up for volunteering anytime.
I am so proud of your work Muzaffar… Just to let you know that even i am a pet lover and i rescue cats from the street and provide them aid and then take pictures and find good homes for them. If you are in Karachi then lets make a plan and all the pet lovers who are interested in working as a team should meet and lets see what we all can do for these animals who really needs shelter.
yesterday i was watching couple of videos on Youtube and i found a video of donkey drift in pakistan..and after that i saw another video in which some teenagers throws a donkey into the river from a bridge..it was terrible and horrific act. it stuck in my mind for whole night and i was thinking that i should do something in this regard, any suggestion for me would be wellcome as i live in UK and i know here animal rights are protected practically. what about in pakistan? what we can do in this regard?
We should appreciate and encourage those who realy doing efforts on this and help them. I dont know we have or not any association to help or give them shelter.
Thanks, Ambar.
Sanaa Z, check out our facebook page for ways in which you can help.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pakistan-Animal-Welfare-Society-PAWS/63595523592#/pages/Pakistan-Animal-Welfare-Society-PAWS/63595523592?v=info
Haya, it’s really nice of you to help street cats in need. Definitely, anyone interested in fostering or adopting any rescued animal, please send us an email at info@pawspakistan.org so we can build up a network of volunteers.
Raja Umar, in Pakistan we do have laws for the protection of animals, and at one point they were even implemented, but not anymore. I suppose what we can do is speak up whenever we see cruelty, and put pressure on the policymakers to implement the laws we do have in place. As an individual, one can always write letters to the editor of newspapers to highlight animal issues.
Here’s a video about the old Karachi SPCA:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7020075579901538618&hl=en
and a link to the magazine issued by the Karachi SPCA after a hundred years in the city:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/983304/SPCA-Centenary-Souvenir
Nadeem, many thanks for your kind words of encouragement. Please do visit our facebook page too: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pakistan-Animal-Welfare-Society-PAWS/63595523592#/pages/Pakistan-Animal-Welfare-Society-PAWS/63595523592?v=wall
who did u get in touch with from THE BROOKS here in khi?? do they hav a doc here ?? if so can u plz give me the number??
I’m so glad he is at Edhi now. Please do get your pay pal set up, I know there are lots of people who, since they don’t live there, would be happy to send funds.
I follow you on FB so hopefully you will post when it is set up.