436,408 cases of dog bites in 22 months, but the government shows little interest in solving the problem
A joint conference on stray dogs organized by Jamaat-e-Islami Lahore Public Assistance Committee and animal rights NGOs. JI Lahore Amir, lawyer of Ziauddin Ansari, chaired the meeting. PHOTO: ASIF MEHMOOD
LAHORE:
Animal rights organizations and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Lahore on Thursday announced a joint campaign against both the inhumane killing of stray dogs and increasing incidents of bites injuring citizens across Punjab.
They agreed on key measures, including adopting scientific methods of population control, developing a coordinated strategy and calling on district authorities to abandon conventional practices. This agreement was reached during a meeting held in Lahore between representatives of JI and various animal welfare organizations.
Among the participants were Amir Ziauddin Ansari of JI Lahore, Chairman of Public Assistance Committee Qaiser Sharif, Barrister Altamash Saeed and Barrister Mian Ahmad Farooq of Environment and Animal Rights Consultants Pakistan, Dr Aamna Ubaid Khawaja of LCWU Animal Welfare and Protection Society and Dr Bilal of Punjab Police Animal Rescue Centre.
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Fariha from Stray Hearts Rescue, representatives from Raffles Animal Welfare Registry, lawyer Masooma Bukhari from Farakhanda and Shehrat Bukhari Foundation, Aafia Khan from Give Us Life Animal Welfare, Musa Shoaib from TODS Welfare Society and Syed Mohsin from Comprehensive Disaster Response Services (Benji Project), among others, were also present.
Sharif said a ten-year-old boy was bitten by stray dogs even in Askari 10 area of Lahore.
“This is neither the first nor the last incident as 436,408 dog bites were reported in just 22 months, but the government is not interested in solving the problem; the unreported numbers could be much higher,” Sharif said.
Addressing the meeting, Ansari said culling stray dogs was not a sustainable solution, adding that scientific approaches such as capture-neuter-vaccinate-release could prove more effective.
The participants endorsed the eight-point agenda of the MOC and assured their cooperation in field work and technical support.
The meeting also urged district administrations to move away from traditional methods and implement the proposed recommendations to ensure a balance between public safety and animal welfare.
