Voice for the voiceless.

GOD has created all the creatures on purpose. Dogs are best for security, donkeys for carrying a load, horses for a swift ride and all the other animals have some characteristics which make them worthwhile in human life. Animals spend their lives being a means of business for humans profiting them lucratively. The purpose of their life is just to stay within the bounds of their owner's set domain for them. They know no outer world where they can share their grief with their companions if they have any. Take a horse, it spends all day long in sweltering heat or extreme cold, affixed to the chariot with blinkers on his eyes unaware of the world around it, not enjoying the life around and just moving on the commands of his owner passed to him through the bridles and sometimes with a whip, which I am sure must not be a good experience for it.

Donkeys are often seen pulling overloaded carts while their owner using abusive language in a very harsh tone for which its totally unaware, just for the passers-by to listen and ruin their moods. Yet it is not that the donkey doesn't pick the vibes of the tone and knows he will be beaten up with a think stick hurting his back like a hell. One wonders how long that is going to hurt, a day, two or more. Dogs are the most intelligent and sensitive creatures among others. They have the ability to sense the moods of their owners. They are good at reading body language of humans and react accordingly. This special characteristic is what makes them good for security purposes. However, this also put them in danger in case of stray dogs.

Stray dogs are in abundance in urban areas. Being homeless and no proper human support and training since their birth, they are left on the mercy of society, which take it as a bane. They feed on the leftover food dumped in the garbage, wonder in the streets and often face wrath of not only kids but sensible elders too. Sometimes harshly beaten with sticks and sometimes stone pelting consequently leaving them with injuries.

Feeling the sensitivity of the issues and calamity faced by stray dogs, a few people took the responsibility to take care of these voiceless creatures. "Voice for the Voiceless" campaign has emerged as a blessing for the street dogs in Lahore. It is a campaign supported by the animal welfare organizations in Lahore such as Give us Life Animal Welfare society, Be-Zuban Animal Trust an independent rescuer Hina Shah, a good dog project, Compassion for street dogs, SPCA and TWS. The Campaign "Voice for the Voiceless" is led by Ayeza Haider who is continuously advocating the rights of animals on different platforms.

"Voice for The Voiceless" has planned to launch a TNVR campaign for dogs with the collaboration of the Punjab government. As the first step, 50 dogs will be caught, captured, vaccinated. The second step will be the castration of the dogs through surgical and non-surgical methods. The dogs will be kept for a couple of weeks for the post-surgery care and will be released back to the place from where they were picked. A seminar cum workshop was also arranged with the collaboration of "Voice for the Voiceless" and SA gardens for this cause. 

MPA Amna Iqbal, while giving a speech in the seminar said that “We as a society need to let the other living beings live including animals and plants. The day I heard about the brutal culling of dogs I have been working to find an appropriate and humane solution to the 

problem.”

Managing Director Give Us Life Animal Welfare Society – Reg Aniza Khan explained TNVR (Trap Neuter Vaccinate Release) as a campaign similar to the campaign for birth control and family planning for Humans. She added that the dog population could only be controlled through Neutering and spaying. Culling has been rejected worldwide and TNVR campaigns have emerged as a successful and effective method to not only control the dog populationt but also helpful in decreasing the cases of dog bites and rabies.

Dr. Abid Hussain, a known Veterinary doctor added to it that once the dog is neutered or spayed it becomes more docile. Neutered and Spayed dogs will not reproduce, neither they will show aggression and bite people. Vaccination will keep the dog healthy and rabies free that will eventually benefit humans as there will be no chances of transferring the disease to humans when there will be no disease in dogs.

SA Garden’s CEO Shoaib Afzal Malik has also ensured that he is all available for any assistance required by the "Voice for the Voiceless" team in their campaign.

People from the society have taken this initiative and convinced local government to collaborate with them to provide a sustainable and long term solution for the issue. Animal Welfare activists are very hopeful that now this could be the time when the dog culling will be completely banned in Pakistan.

M. Abid Hafeez

Director of information Technology

Odyssey Group of companies Pvt. Ltd.

abid.hafeez@odysseyanalytics.net