Animals also have rights

By: Rubail Ahmed, Harmeen Shah, Usama and Sakina Mufaddal.

The callousness shown by our state and society towards humanity is often such that it comes as no surprise that less noble creations fare badly too. From the alleged rape of a kitten by teenagers in Lahore to the death of two lions during transfer from zoo, institutional and informal animal cruelty has come under scrutiny in Pakistan.

Islam also forbids treating animals cruelly or killing them except for food. Zabiha rules stipulate how an animal to be slaughtered must not be mistreated or caused undue pain. Yet, animal cruelty is rampant and exists in varied forms in countries like ours.

It is not that there is nobody to care: a number of animal welfare charities and societies operate across the country, amongst them several Edhi-run shelter and rescue homes. The problem is that basic empathy, even regard for life, is largely missing — no stray cat or dog may can slink away unscathed from a group of children without having a stone hurled at it.

Cruelty to animals is a criminal offense in Pakistan; however, there are no rules in place to enforce this law. In October 2018, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice called for stricter punishment for cruelty against animals and asked the government to formulate laws that would help prevent animal abuse. However, these suggestions were never implemented.

There is a general absence of adequate laws related to animal welfare and animal slaughter. Pakistan’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (1890) aims to protect many animals, including draught animals. This law is however outdated and does not reflect the prevalent scientific, cultural, or commercial compulsions pertaining to animal welfare. It is time to update this law to protect both pet and wild animals, to institute mechanisms for their care, and define consequence for those who are neglectful towards animals.

Limited facilities

Organizations working for the welfare of animals have been around for nearly a decade but are still fighting to be taken seriously by the authorities.

Ariya Stray Animals SW

Ariya and Raheel runs a Non-Governmental Organization for the welfare of stray Animals. Their Page is AWS and they're located in Karachi.

Ariya and raheel selflessly works for the poor animals without thinking to get any returns. No one supports then but still they manage to feed and shelter 70 plus Animals including Cats and Dogs. She believes, that every Animal has right to live freely and protected but due to less awareness and inhuman mentality of our people these voiceless have to go through a lot.

She shared the barbarian act of people on the dogs such as Acid victims, rape and etc. People still don't have any shape to do such activities neither the state take responsibility to punish them.

Ariya and Raheel have been doing this just for the will of Allah SWT. They think that Allah has chosen them to help them and ease their pain and sufferings so they don't need anyone's attention but wanted to make people at least feel these Animal's pain and let then live freely.

They have separate rooms for different nature dogs and Cats and provide them as much as they could but her sorrow is that people don't visit her shelter and for this reason those sheltered Animals get depressed sometimes and needs human attention. Our team spent some precious time with Ariya, Raheel and their loving dogs and cats. They were too happy by our presence there.

ABOUT PAWS

The Pakistan Animal Welfare Society (Paws) started working for rights and welfare of animals back in 2004. The organization has been active for more than 18 years without a proper office or paid staff members. It is funded primarily by donations made by animal lovers across the country. It coordinates help for animals in need by putting people in touch with each other through social media. They find homes for rescued animals that are up for adoption. They advocate humane stray dog management, legislation for animal welfare laws and work towards increasing compassion towards all sentient beings.

Abuse Cases of Animals

A country where Dolphins can be SEXUALLY EXPLOITED and Donkeys are gang-raped, what to even think of human beings?!

There is an alleged tradition in rural Sindh of raping Indus dolphins. “The locals liken Dolphin’s genitals to the sexual organ of women,” the article titled “Disgusting tradition of having sex with blind dolphins in Sindh” was published in Urdu blog Hum Sub.

Source credit:

HumSub. Article “Disgusting tradition of having sex with blind dolphins in Sindh”.

Drishtikone. Article "Pakistan and Animal Sex – Dolphins and Deer Raped, and Donkeys Gang-Raped"

VETERINARY SERVICES

Veterinary services mean the provision of treatment, care, advice or guidance, or other services, or supplies, related to the health or death of an animal or to animal populations, to the extent necessary to respond to an emergency. Surgvet Pet Hospital is a privately owned veterinary service provider in DHA, Karachi. Dr. Waseem at the hospital believes “one should never trust a person who isn’t kind to animals”

He is known as one of the best vets in Karachi. His love for animals drives him to work beyond all the constraints of his schedules. Even the staff at the hospital is very passionate about animals.

ONE MAN AMBULANCE FOR ANIMALS

Syed Faysal is a social activist, who voluntarily runs One Man Ambulance for Animals in Karachi. He is running Pakistan’s first animal ambulance. He rescues stray animals and provides food and shelter to as many as possible. He urges people to gather good deeds as much as possible by helping these animals and join his cause.

AWAZ-E-BEZUBAN,

spreading empathy and awareness for voiceless

Awaz-e-Bezuban is a Pakistan’s first student based animal rights organization with the mission; to change society’s mindset towards animals and create an empathetic and safe society for them to live peacefully. Their vision is to be able to create a society who is tolerable of animals around them and treat them in a humane manner. Moreover, they are thriving to create a place where there are laws that protect the animals against any abuses and or any cruelty.

LEGAL RIGHTS OF ANIMALS

In an interview, Dr. Kamil Lakho, senior professor at SMIU talked about the Legal Rights of animals.

Do the animals have legal rights? The answer to this question, without any hesitation, is in the affirmative…. Like humans, animals also have natural rights which ought to be recognized. It is a right of each animal…to live in an environment that meets the latter’s behavioral, social and physiological needs.”

Conclusion

Cruelty to animals is rampant and everyone should stand up against it. We must all fight animal this evil in our society. Animals cannot speak for themselves, so we must speak out on their behalf. Every individual must instil within themselves this very basic level of empathy toward animals and prevent them from being subjected to torture.