This year has wreaked havoc on entire ecosystems, specifically or perhaps more overtly for countries that underwent wildfires. As per a WWF report, almost 3 billion animals were killed or displaced in the Australian wildfires, with a few of the victim species entering the endangered list. The Australian wildfires were followed by uncontrollable fires in America and then Brazil, all leading to loss of natural habitat for millions of animals.

While the world was still suffering from the after effects of the wild fires, a strange new virus was spreading. Little did we know that within months it would have the entire world in its grasp. It was hypothesised, initially, that the virus first formed in the wet markets of Wuhan, China, where wild animals like pangolins were smuggled from the forests or savannahs, tied up and thrown in tiny cages, made to suffer for weeks before being cruelly used for medicine, other treatments or consumption. While the origins of the virus are still a matter of debate, what scientists and medical researchers believe to be most likely is that the virus jumped from animals to humans.

As the virus spread, animal rescuers in Pakistan struggled to not only protect themselves, and the rescued animals. They were also required to deal with a whole new catastrophe of animal abandonment and mistreatment. Panicking and fearful about the spread of Covid-19, scores of people in Pakistan callously abandoned their pets on the streets. Rescuers had devastating reports like cats being thrown from apartment buildings in a frenzy. As rescuers and activists struggled to find foster homes and placements for abandoned pets, Pakistan went under a strict lockdown. With that, came even more hurdles. Animal welfare projects and rescue operations were hampered as movement and businesses came to a standstill across the country.

As roads were barricaded and people banned from exiting their societies or homes, it became difficult to rescue animals, and while some animal NGOs were still finding ways to operate their shelters in a new world of lockdown and pandemic, they faced a bunch of new challenges.

First, the number of animals starving on the streets increased. Animals that had previously being fed by restaurants, roadside stalls and chicken/meat shops were suddenly out of food. Second, it was discovered that as pet shops were also closed in the lockdown, the owners had locked animals inside, without food and water for days. Third, as people lost their jobs, they found it difficult to fend for themselves, much less provide for their pets or livestock. Rescuers, activists and charities received calls from people, asking for food for themselves and their animals.

In some aspects, however, there was some respite. Animal rescuers found that they were receiving fewer cases of roadside accident and injuries, because of less or no traffic on roads. There was also a decrease in reported cases of animal abuse. As humans went into quarantine inside their homes, animals were free to walk around without fear of being beaten or hit.

In these dismal and dark times, the animal rescue community came together and worked through the challenges in an inspiring way. Todd’s Welfare Society (TWS), for instance, joined hands with Brooke’s Welfare to provide food and essentials for families and livestock working at the then-closed brick kilns. Together, NGOs initiated the hashtag #FeedAStray to encourage feeding stray animals in the communities. Animal rescue NGOs and individual activists and rescuers, Usra Qureshi of Voice for the Voiceless, Annie Amber of ACF Animal Rescue, GULAW, TWS, Critters Ark, IPS, and JFK to name a few, joined hands across Pakistan to open the closed pet shops and feed/rescue the starving animals inside them. They also made efforts towards establishing proper SOPs and end animal cruelty in the pet shops.

A monumental highlight of the year was the relocation of “the world’s loneliest elephant”, our very own Kavaan. He had spent three decades chained in a small area and almost a decade all by himself after the death of his partner, Saheli. This year brought confinement for humans across the world, but for Kavaan it brought freedom. He was finally relocated to a sanctuary in Cambodia, with help from Owais Awan, Friends of Islamabad zoo, Four Paws, Cher, and countless unsung individuals. The entire world held its breath and watched on screens inside their locked homes, as Kavaan took his first steps into a life of freedom, and as he made his first contact with another of his own after 10 years.

This year, and the events that took place during it, have given us a window to ask what it is like for animals locked in cages around the world, be it in zoos, pet shops, aquariums, research centres or places we label as recreational zones.

So many have felt suffocated and miserable whilst locked in with access to their favorite food, their TVs and gadgetry, and family; one can only wonder what an animal’s life is like and what goes through their head when locked alone, without another of their kind, with nobody to love or interact with and having to endure humans shouting and throwing things at them day in and day out. Imagine an entire life, chained in a small cell, unable to articulate your pain. Perhaps, dreaming of a day when you would finally see the sun without the bars in sight; when you would finally feel the land, and not hot concrete, under your feet; when you would finally be treated as a living being, and not a product.

The writer is founder and president of Todd’s Welfare Society. She tweets @kiranmaheen