Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab on Wednesday appeared to back the controversial practice of dog culling to achieve “immediate relief” for rising incidents of dog bites in the city.
Despite international best practices calling for trap-neuter-release programs to curb the populations of stray dogs, municipal administrations across Pakistan tend to opt for mass culling, either through poisoning or gunshots. The practice has increasingly drawn criticism in recent years, with animal rights activists pointing to harrowing images of dog carcasses after every culling and noting the bodies are often dumped in trash heaps, encouraging the spread of disease. First Lady Aseefa Zardari, in 2016, condemned the poisoning of stray dogs on Twitter.
Answering a question on a recent surge in stray dog bites in Karachi, Wahab acknowledged that public opinion on the issue varied sharply. However, he said, policy should not be dictated by a “small group” for a city of over 25 million people. “If I ask people here in Ittehad Colony what should be done about stray dogs, they will say that the dogs should be killed. But if I go to Clifton, there are 10 to 15 people who say, ‘No, this should not happen.’ Those 10 to 15 people impose their way of thinking on 25 million people,” he said.
Maintaining democracy called for considering the will of the majority, he said a “handful” of individuals cannot determine the best response to any issue.
On TNR practices, he said the method shows results after some time, and until the situation resolves itself, authorities are criticized for inaction. “If neutering is to be done, its impact will take time to appear. Then people should not criticize when dogs bite,” he said. “If the city wants quick results, then culling will have to be carried out,” he added.
“We are prepared for both options. Hundreds of people have been bitten in just a few days. I appeal to critics to listen to victims and their families before objecting to decisive measures,” he said, lamenting that the “small group” blocked culling attempts with court orders. He pointed to India as an example to emulate for Pakistan: “This issue also came up in the Indian Supreme Court, and it resolved it. The court said that instead of neutering, culling should be done.”
“Ask those people who have actually gone through this experience what they want—culling or neutering?” he added.