Animal lovers, activists, and welfare organizations held a peaceful protest outside the Karachi Press Club on Sunday to demand a ban on dog culling and zoos in Sindh, and enforcement of the TNVR (trap, neuter, vaccinate, rescue) program across the province.
The protest was organized by Mohammad Tauqeer, who heads the Pakistan Animals Rescue and Shelters Chain (in Lahore), and Danish Iqbal.
As per a press release shared with ProPakistani, the agenda of the protests was to apprise the public governing bodies of Karachi and Sindh of the following:
- Pakistan has clear laws against animal cruelty, enshrining the humane treatment of animals and the prevention of dog culling, but they are not implemented.
- The cruel practice of killing stray dogs is on the rise in all the major cities and several popular housing societies and must be prohibited.
- Appeal for the adoption and enforcement of the TNVR program across Sindh as it has already begun in other areas of Pakistan, particularly in Islamabad.
- Zoo animals all over Pakistan are suffering and are often denied their basic rights, including proper food and medical care, which is why zoos must be shut down and their ‘inmates’ treated and rehabilitated.
Tauqeer also shared a four-phase ‘Animal Rights Activism Action Plan’ with this scribe, highlighting and working on pertinent concerns for stray, pet, and wild animals through protests, shelter mechanisms, and legal procedures. He is currently working with other animal rescue welfare organizations and animal rights activists in the metropolises to propel a large-scale animal rights awareness program across the country.
