Husky latest victim in recent string of animal cruelty cases in Karachi

A dog has recently died in Karachi allegedly due to his owner’s negligence.

The dog in question was a husky (a Siberian breed), adopted by a renowned actor but kept on the footpath outside his house. The animal was kept chained in an iron cage under extremely unlivable conditions. Siberian dogs are not used to surviving in scorching temperatures as they are covered with extra thick coats.

The dog was severely dehydrated when he was finally rescued, his nose was dry and hard, he was feverish and his water bowl was empty.

In another such incident in the same week, the owner left behind a dog at a critter care service, in a critical condition because he couldn’t ‘take care of him’. The dog was dehydrated with low blood level, multiple liver problems, skin problems, fungal infection, breathing problems, and could not even properly move. The people at the critter care are trying their level best to save the dog but he’s in a critical condition.

All of these incidents have one thing in common; ‘breeders’ pull these dogs out of their natural habitats and then sell them off at exorbitant rates. The ‘owners’ keep these dogs in pathetic conditions, normally outside of their houses on public display, often in iron cages which have the tendency to heat up tremendously in the extreme temperatures that the country experiences.

Animal cruelty is not a new thing in Pakistan; earlier this year animal rights activists and the civil society in general raised a huge hue and cry, when the Karachi Municipal Committee killed actor Muznah Ibrahim’s dogs in a culling drive against stray dogs.

Section 3 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1890 makes cruelty to animals punishable by law. Additionally, section 429 of the Pakistan Penal Code makes it a criminal offence to kill, maim or abuse animals in any other manner, punishable with five years imprisonment or fine or both.

Both of these laws are not enough to deter people from abusing animals due to the fact that they’re old and have never really been implemented in Pakistan.

Since the law has not been modified ever since partition, it has lost its deterrent effect.

Lately, animal rights activists have called upon the government to ensure the implementation of the 1890 law (the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act ) under which maltreatment of any domestic and captured animals is a punishable act.