Karachi DMC-East starts dog killing campaign without govt's go ahead

Photo: Online The killing of stray dogs in Karachi seems to have resumed as the District Municipal Corporation East started a campaign against stray dogs this week. They say the campaign started after the DMC received complaints from different areas of dog bites. News of the campaign surfaced after pictures of dog culling were shared on social media starting Monday. Action against stray dogs is being taken in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block 11, Juma Goth, Ittehad Bungalows, Gulistan-e-Jauhar’s Blocks 1, 2, 4, 14 and 15 and Khudadad Colony. DMC East chairman Moid Anver told SAMAA Digital that the municipal corporation has taken the initiative on its own and the campaign will for an indefinite period. He says complaints about dog bites “compelled” them to start the campaign without the consent of the Sindh government. When asked what procedure the DMC staffers were using to kill stray dogs, Anver refused to respond and only managed to say, “Yaar, kyun NGOs ko meray peechay lagwao gay [Why do you want the NGOs to come after me],”. “I am on an agenda to eliminate stray dogs from the district whether to use injection or give them poisonous capsules,” he said, adding that the campaign had no specific time limit and will continue till the removal of “mad dogs”. The Sindh government has yet to formulate an anti-rabies plan. Pakistan Animal Welfare Society founder Mahera Omar termed the act of the DMC East authorities “senseless and inhuman”. Omar said the authorities concerned should adopt a scientific way to control rabies and dog bites, such as mass vaccination – a procedure being followed in almost all South Asian countries. “The start of an anti-stray dogs’ campaign in DMC-East is also a contempt of court directions as the court ordered that reasonable and scientific ways be followed to address rabies,” she said. “The killing of dogs brutally is not an answer. In fact, the district municipal administration should control and eliminate places like piles of garbage and rotten foods through which the growth of stray dogs continues rapidly,” she said. She said the DMC finds thrill in killing dogs. “They enjoy killing stray dogs in this way,” she said. Omar opined that the authorities concerned are killing dogs using poisonous capsules, which they are purchasing to mint hefty amounts of commission. No other municipal corporation administration has started such a campaign. They were discontinued in 2017 after different non-governmental organisations raised serious concern over the anti-stray dogs’ campaign of DMC South. Follow SAMAA English on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram