Saving the Stray from Starving

It’s the responsibility of every human being to make sure the living beings in her/his surrounding do not die of hunger. Be it street dogs, cats and other animals.

Soon after joining the Amal Fellowship, I realized the need of a social action project (called Mega Project) to be carried out by each fellow for completing the fellowship. As the weeks passed, along with taking the courses, we had to brainstorm for the social action project, for which we were divided into groups called Mega Circles. Every person of the circle had different ideas and each coming from what influences that person the most, from their core purposes in life in one way or the other. Comparing and analyzing the issues proposed by the group members, we were in a dilemma.

While everybody else was working to alleviate human life and experience, why shouldn’t we pay heed to the other beings living besides us, who often accompany us to our ride to the bus, or provide us with a quick yet thoughtful gaze while we overlook them? Having these thoughts in mind, the commute to my university or even the market seemed to surprise me with the sight of a lot more of these animals in the streets than I had ever noticed. On the heaps of litter smelling every bit for something to eat, tragically limping by the roadside with an injured leg, one sight which I still wish I had not have is the dead body of the dog which might have been crushed by a vehicle in the middle of the road, his eyes still put chills across my veins.

It was a coincident that while coming back home from a wedding ceremony, we found our long-lost pet cat in the vicinity of our home wandering on a heap of litter, seeming starved of course, looking for food. In that moment, I was sure that there has to be done something for these souls too.

“The Comprehensive Disaster Response Services Benji Project Animal Sanctuary in the city has estimated there are at least 3 million stray dogs in Pakistan, with upward of 50,000 culled each year.”

“The Global Alliance for Rabies Control has said that more than 80,500 cases of dog bites are reported by basic health units across Pakistan annually, and the World Health Organization estimates that up to 5,000 people die of rabies in the country every year.”

The blogs commemorated these facts which are of course alarming and something needed to be done soon.

On April 24, Samaa’s website reported, “around 150 people including children have been bitten by stray dogs in Karachi in the past four days. ” Earlier on April 2, The News similarly noted that the 24/7 complaint cell of the Sindh Local Government Department “indicated a large number of complaints regarding stray dogs. ” What could be causing this animal, whose whole being strains towards loving and trusting human beings, to be so menacing all of a sudden? it’s because the animals, too, are starving and becoming angry and aggressive. The solution isn’t to kill them, it’s to ensure that they’re vaccinated and fed. However, the solution chosen for mitigating the situation is so cruel and inhumane in the country: Mass Mulling and appears crueler than Euthanasia which is not at all acceptable too.

Stray overpopulation stems from several factors: cats and dogs reproducing with little chance of their offspring finding homes, lack of spaying or neutering, pet owners relinquishing their pets to shelters, and irresponsible pet owners.

In March of 2021, the Pakistani government began a campaign for the mass culling of 25000 stray dogs in Sindh.

After some research we found out that Netherlands is the only place in the world which os free from stray animals (not through euthanasia or mulling) but by:

· Imposing massive taxes on store-bought dogs which drove many people to adopt dogs from shelters instead, freeing up space for strays to be taken in.

· Initiating a CNVR Program (Collect-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return)

· Creating police force just for animals

· Forming up with the Party for the Animals

While policies, police and taxes are solely dependent on the government’s decision and authorities, there’s still a lot that we could do. The CNVR campaign is surely viable option for controlling the population ethically and in a more humane way. There are numerous non-government non-profit organizations and youngsters investing their time and energy for this cause, a few of them, working in Karachi, Pakistan are:

·ACF Animal Rescue

·Innocent Pets Shelter Welfare Society

·Awaaz e Bezubaan

While these organizations worked for CNVR campaigns and the rescue of these animals, we realized that there was not ample work being done for feeding these animals.

Thus, our Mega Project is “Saving the Stray from Starving” which aims to mitigate the lives of these stray animals by providing them with food arrangements in our localities.

Hustling for which our action plan is:

· To provide leftover food/trimmings of chicken to the stray animals near our homes for a week or two. (which we have started to)

· To approach hotels/butchers in our areas, by sharing with them the pictures of what we had done past the week and convince them to collaborate for this cause and make it sustainable

· Target the organizations working for animals already and get guidance on how could this initiative be more productive.

Who knows my little drop in the ocean might get into a shell to emerge as a pearl.

Adding to this, I also jotted down a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan to consider the CNVR campaign instead of the mulling campaign for population control.

While our project has it’s humble beginnings, we have realized to become more empathetic, aware of the surroundings, the issues the world is facing and how an individual can contribute to bigger causes by just hustling a bit in his own capacity.