STRAY DOG MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN

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Stray Dog Management <http://pawspakistan.org/2006/05/06/stray-dog-management/>

Published by MO <http://pawspakistan.org/author/mahera-omar/> May 6th, 2006 in

News <http://pawspakistan.org/category/news/> Tags: government

<http://pawspakistan.org/index.php?tag=government>, karachi

<http://pawspakistan.org/index.php?tag=karachi>, neuter

<http://pawspakistan.org/index.php?tag=neuter>, rabies

<http://pawspakistan.org/index.php?tag=rabies>, stray dogs

<http://pawspakistan.org/index.php?tag=stray-dogs> The Thursday, May 4 edition

of the Pakistani newspaper, the Daily Times, has a story headed, " Jalil proposes

sending Karachi's stray dogs to

Korea<http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\05\04\story_4-5-2006_pg12_4\

> " .

 

City Naib Nazim Nasreen Jalil suggested to Korean Consul General in Karachi

Suckchul Chang at a meeting Wednesday the possibility of sending the stray dogs

of the city to Korea and said that if this proposal materialised, it would help

rid the city of the dog menace.

 

This is one of the few suggestions often put forth by successive city

governments <http://www.pawspakistan.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=41> in an

attempt to combat the spread of rabies. Not only would Ms. Jalil's proposal be

ineffective in reducing stray dog populations, it would also be blatantly

violating Korean law, which forbids the sale and consumption of dog

meat<http://wspa.org.uk/campaigns.asp?campaignType=21>.

Each year millions of dogs suffer excessive cruelty in the dog meat industries

<http://www.idausa.org/campaigns/korea/korean.html> of countries such as China,

Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and Taiwan. The animals are routinely tortured before

slaughter as the adrenaline in their blood is said to increase the virility of

men who eat it. Ms. Jalil ought to encourage Korean authorities to implement

Korean law, instead of offering our dogs to support their illegal industry

<http://koreananimals.org/dogs.htm>.

 

Meanwhile, civic authorities

<http://www.pawspakistan.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=40> in Karachi continue to

kill stray dogs by strychnine poisoning

<http://pawspakistan.org/photos/stray-dog-management/> and shooting with guns.

They have even involved the general public in this from time to time by offering

cash as reward for every dog killed. What they fail to comprehend is that no

matter how many dogs are killed, the remaining will move into the area and

quickly breed up to the carrying capacity of their ecological niche.

 

The World Health Organization

(WHO<http://www.who.int/rabies/trs931_%2006_05.pdf>)

advocates Animal Birth

Control<http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/IMPORTANT_MATS/birth_controlProgsBenefit\

..html> (ABC)as a humane method of reducing dog populations and rabies control.

In an ABC program, street dogs are captured, sterilized, vaccinated against

rabies and released back to the area from where they were captured. The

percentage of dogs that need to be sterilized to curb population growth and

vaccinated to prevent the spread of rabies is 70%. If these efforts are

meticulously planned and well directed, they will be effective and long-lasting.

 

The ABC strategy is already in effect in many countries of the world including

Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, UAE, Egypt, Brazil, Greece, Kenya and Turkey. In

India <http://www.bluecross.org.in/adoptathon.html>, which has the highest

instances of rabies and dog-bite cases in South Asia, ABC has been the official

government policy for some time now, including cities such as Madras, Hyderabad,

Bangalore, Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, and Jaipur.

 

A sustained ABC program <http://www.vetwork.org.uk/abc.htm> in every

municipality of the city, in addition to proper garbage disposal,

pet<http://pawspakistan.org/photos/dog-adoption/>registration/vaccination, and

awareness programs in schools and the mass media will produce dramatically

visible results just as they have in other parts of the world.

 

Please send polite letters to editors of leading newspapers in Pakistan with a

message for Karachi's city government

<http://www.pawspakistan.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=15> that killing dogs or

exporting them to dog-eating countries, is an ineffective approach and has never

worked in Pakistan or any other country of the world. Remind them that under

the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1890, there is a penalty for cruelty

to animals, punishable with a fine and imprisonment. Please urge them to

consider implementing a strategy

<http://www.animalindiatrust.org/DogControl.html> that has been scientifically

proven to be effective in many cities of the world.

 

All letters should include the writer's full name, postal address, e-mail

address, and in the case of Pakistan, a day-time telephone number.

 

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