Our country has been shooting and poisoning stray dogs for decades. Not only is this brutal and futile, it is insane. There are sophisticated alternative ways to deal with stray dog population management and rabies control.

The World Animal Protection, an international organisation that works with governments and facilitates in providing vaccination plans involving local communities, says in its publication “killing dogs is not the solution… mass dog vaccination is the only proven solution.”

Vaccination is humane, guards the inhabitants and it also saves money. Numerous countries globally follow the World Health Organization’s recommended mass vaccination and sterilisation campaigns. These include Third World countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and India. Another way of resolving this issue is by collaborating with various animal protection institutions in our country like ACF and SOS.

It is every citizen’s responsibility to show kindness to animals. It is time the people approached courts for the prevention of cruelty to animals. I urge people to take up this issue.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

Sharifa Hyderally

Karachi

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2017