ven as the Canal Road goes quiet in the dead of the night, the staff at the animal rescue centre near Ichhra bridge on Ferozepur Road sits alert in order that they may not miss a call from any part of Lahore.

The serenity at the Police Animal Rescue Centre is occasionally broken by the bark of a dog that may be hurting and in need of treatment.

Tahira Ambreen, an officer at the centre, tells TNS how a stray dog was hit by a vehicle that left it injured. “Jubilee [the dog’s name] was spotted by a passerby in Jubilee Town this morning. The caller alerted us and we dispatched an ambulance to the scene, rescued the dog and brought it to the PARC.”

“Once the animal is out of danger, it is shifted to a shelter house and is up for adoption,” says Aroosa Hussain, another call responding officer.

The PARC was inaugurated in August this year. It started operations on September 2.

“The centre works as a rescue as well as first-aid help centre for animals. It is working for their safety, protection and wellbeing,” adds Zulfishan Anooshay, the head of operations at the PARC, and the founder of JFK (Justice for Kiki), an animal rescue and shelter service. “In our documents, the word ‘animal’ includes all kinds — wild animals, livestock, equines, domestic animals, street dogs, birds, pets etc.”

According to Hussain, since its opening, the centre has rescued and treated more than 100 animals before sending them for rehabilitation and/ or adoption. These include dogs, cats, kittens, squirrels, birds and reptiles such as snakes. She points to a performance chart that is lying on her desk and is updated every day.

At least six NGOs are registered with the centre, she says. Besides, the PARC has engaged over a dozen rescuers. It has four shelter homes, a couple of vets and clinics, six lawyers/ law firms and 15 volunteers. The centre has its own rescue vehicle and driver along with an official team for emergencies, raids, visits and monitoring.

The PARC rescues injured as well as sick animals, provides them with first-aid treatment and moves them to the shelters if the need arises. To quote Anooshay, “An important aspect of the centre is that it brings the rescuers, volunteers, shelter givers, NGOs and animal lovers together.”

Recently, the Police Department got positive press when it initiated a rehabilitation programme for its trained dogs, an initiative by ASP Shehrbano Naqvi. When asked if the idea of the PARC came from the Police Department’s efforts for animal rehabilitation, Naqvi says, “No. But I wanted the police to work against animal cruelty. That was the driving factor. Thankfully, IGP Usman Anwar was open to executing it.”

The PARC has engaged over a dozen rescuers. It has four shelter homes, a couple of vets and clinics, six lawyers/ law firms and 15 volunteers. The centre has its own rescue vehicle and driver along with an official team for emergencies, raids, visits and monitoring.

In response to a query, Naqvi says that Anooshay was hired because she is “a true animal lover, and has been working actively for animal safety for more than five years. We’re glad to have her. She’s working in the right direction to make the centre sustainable.”

Anooshay’s is a textbook case of fight against animal cruelty. She began her Justice for Kiki (JFK) campaign after a CBD squad shot dead her dog, named Kiki. She organised and engaged in protests, visited police stations, submitted petitions and demanded action against the animal killers, but failed.

“There was no avenue for Kiki to find justice,” she recalls. Eventually, she came across the PARC. She says the PARC has the authority to issue notices and file cases against those who hurt, injures, torture or mistreat an animal, or cause them to live in an unpleasant and stressful environment. The centre has so far lodged five FIRs against animal killers/ beaters.

Hussain is the complainant in a case that looks at the malnourished, maimed and beaten animals that were recovered from a house in Township, Lahore, in September. The PARC staff not only rescued the animals and shifted them to the centre, but also arrested the house owner under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1890.

On October 10, a so-called hakeem in Shahdara Town was arrested for maiming and killing animals for medicinal purposes.

Hussain says action is taken only when they receive “credible information, in the form of videos, pictures and locations.”

The PARC also offers the rescued animals for adoption. It was here that Syed Kumail Zaidi adopted a kitten recently.

“Adopting an animal [from the PARC] is not an easy task,” he says. “I had to fill a series of forms, pledging quality care and monitoring the diet for the animal, before they handed it to me. Besides, I have to be at home every time a PARC team visits my place to make sure the kitten is being treated well.”

Anooshay explains, “The PARC covers three aspects: a) interaction with the public; b) functions with the help of police and volunteers; and c) checks at the pet/ animal markets.”

She invites the public to visit the centre and adopt animals. “A stray dog ceases to be a stray dog once it has been in care and custody for a month,” she says.

The writer is a media veteran interested in politics, consumer rights and entrepreneurship