Karachi’s dog-bite cases: Animal rights body should be mindful of human rights, says SHC

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday directed the counsel of an animal welfare organisation, which sought an injunction against the campaign of culling stray dogs, to place on record the data of dog-bite incidents in Karachi and inform the court what the organisation had done for the welfare of those victims.

The direction came on a petition of the Pakistan Animal Welfare Society and others that had moved the court against the killing of stray dogs by the district municipal corporations of the city and the cantonment boards.

During the petition’s hearing, a division bench of the SHC, headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, asked the petitioner’s counsel if he knew about Karachi’s dog-bite incidents being reported daily in the media and if the petitioner had any concern about it.

The high court said the petitioner was looking after the welfare of animals, but it should be well aware of the rights of human beings.

The petitioner said the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and the district municipal corporations were killing strays dogs to eliminate their population in toto, and there were several incidents where pets of some of the petitioners and other persons were killed by the dog-hunting squads.

They asked the court to declare all existing by-laws and rules that call for the culling of stray dogs unlawful, and direct the civic agencies to fulfil their statutory duties and formulate or modify rules so as to exclude and invalidate the animals’ killings. The counsel sought time to place on record certain data regarding adoption and catching of street dogs and the areas from where such dogs were trapped.