Madness in Karachi rabies response, from from ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2005

[Guest guest]

>From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2005:

 

" Madness " in Karachi rabies response

 

KARACHI, Pakistan-- " Karachi mayor

Niamatul-lah Khan is about to go on a rampage,

poisoning 500,000 stray dogs in total disregard

of alternatives presented by the Pakistan Animal

Welfare Society, along with a large number of

doctors, health officials, and Karachi

citizens, " Engineers and Scientists for Animal

Rights founder Syed Rizvi warned on Friday, May

13, 2005, in an e-mail quickly distributed

worldwide by pro-animal newsgroups.

Born and raised in Karachi, Rizvi now

lives in San Jose, California, but maintains

close contact with Pakistani animal advocates.

" The City of Karachi is preparing 500,000

strychnine capsules, " Rizvi charged. " I have

been in constant touch with Mahera Omar of the

Pakistan Animal Welfare Society, who is asking

that e-mails and letters from the international

community be sent to the authorities, asking

them to refrain from this barbaric practice.

" Please e-mail to General Parvez

Musharraf, the President of Pakistan, who is a

dog lover himself, " Rizvi asked. " Some might

have seen his picture in Newsweek recently,

holding his two little dogs close to his heart. "

" The World Society for the Protection of

Animals will fax a letter to the President of

Pakistan on behalf of our 506 member societies in

126 countries to protest this decision, and to

offer WSPA's services to discuss a more humane

policy, " responded WSPA director general Peter

Davies.

The intensive exposure of the poisoning plans brought mixed results.

" On the one hand, the city government

has offered cooperation to PAWS in setting up an

Animal Birth Control program in Karachi, " Mahera

Omar and Maheen Zia of the Pakistan Animal

Welfare Society posted to <www.pawspakistan.org>

on June 3. " On the other, it is resolutely

continuing its senseless dog killing. While we

fully intend to take the nazim [mayor] up on his

word, we believe the offer of help is

lip-service, as the May 30 meeting which was

supposed to explore alternative strategies began

with the distribution of flyers announcing the

strategy already decided upon: mass strychnine

poisoning of stray dogs.

" The 3-page handout indicated that

photographs of dead dogs are to be published in

leading newspapers to keep the public informed of

the progress of the campaign, " Omar and Zia

said. " In addition, two million rupees [about

$34,000] have been allocated as rewards for the

most successful poisoners. This is clearly

madness, " Omar and Zia opined.

 

Warning tied to vaccine issue

 

Animal Save Movement president Khalid

Mahmood Qureshi, of Multan, warned ANIMAL

PEOPLE on March 18, 2005 that the dog massacre

was coming.

E-mailed Qureshi, " The mayor of Karachi and the

health department have declared that they will

kill dogs in 18 towns, " once suburbs, now

engulfed by the sprawling metropolis. Qureshi

said that the Karachi city government and the

Sind state governments had offered bounties

amounting to about 40¢ per dog.

Qureshi alleged that the dog-killing had

begun in response to a shortage of human

post-exposure vaccine.

ANIMAL PEOPLE consulted many other

sources, but for six weeks all denied that there

was either a vaccine shortage or a dog massacre

underway, other than sporadic poisoning by

aggrieved private individuals.

Indirect confirmation finally came

through a forwarded statement by Infectious

Disease Society of Pakistan president Naseem

Salahuddin, who is also a member of the World

Health Organization Expert Committee on Rabies.

" For nearly seven years the Infectious

Disease Society of Pakistan has advocated that

the National Institutes of Health in Islamabad

should discontinue dispensing the obsolete and

ineffective Semple sheep brain post-exposure

vaccine, " Salahuddin explained. " Public

pressure has finally prevailed. "

On April 8 the official Pakistani

post-exposure rabies vaccination became a tissue

culture vaccine, with a much higher reliability

rating. Conversion to tissue culture

vaccinations had already been underway at some

hospitals for as long as 10 years.

Rumors about a vaccine shortage may have

developed as result of hospitals using up their

stocks of the Semple vaccine before introducing

the alternatives.

Just two major hospitals in Karachi

provide post-exposure vaccination to more than 50

dog bite victims per day, Salahuddin said.

" There is a great need to educate the

general public regarding danger of dog bite, its

relation to the deadly disease, and prevention

of rabies by using proper preventive measures, "

Salahuddin emphasized. " This must be done

regularly through the press, lectures and

handouts. Most doctors [in Pakistan] are

inexperienced and not updated on modern methods.

Wrong advice and improper handling of bite cases

can lead to rabies, " and to public panic,

Salahuddin continued.

" The Infectious Disease Society of

Pakistan plans to hold workshops on rabies

prevention in small towns and rural health

centers, " Salahuddin promised.

" Most importantly, " Salahuddin stated,

" dog bite should be prevented by reducing the

stray dog population. Niamatullah Khan supports

this viewpoint, " Salahuddin said, recommending

a three-point strategy.

" Catch, neuter, vaccinate and release

stray dogs, " Salaheddin urged as one essential

element. " Neutered animals not only are likely

to be less aggressive, but will not multiply.

" Encourage people to own stray or pet

dogs, " Salaheddin added. " Vaccinate them and

keep a vaccination record. Rogue dogs should be

killed, as they pose the greatest danger to the

human population, " Salaheddin concluded, making

clear that he meant only dogs who have threatened

or attacked people and other animals.

" Killing dogs randomly has never been

proved to be successful in any country, "

Salaheddin reminded, citing the success of

Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia in using a

similar strategy to " successfully reduce their

numbers of dog bites and rabies cases to very low

levels. "

But only three days later, Dawn, the

leading English daily newspaper in Pakistan,

announced that Niamatullah Khan had " decided to

launch a major campaign " against homeless dogs,

to " continue until their total elimination. "

In all likelihood " total elimination "

cannot be achieved due to the abundance of refuse

and rats in Pakistani streets. Dogs may become

less visible for a time, but will rapidly breed

back up to the high carrying capacity of the

habitat within a year or less, as after previous

poisoning and shooting campaigns.

" The nazim directed the Department of

Health to take concrete measures for providing

the required number of [poison] capsules for

killing stray dogs, " Dawn reported, " strongly

instructing that they should not fall short, as

in the past. "

Acknowledged Salahuddin, " Mahera Omar

[of the Pakistan Animal Welfare Society]

suggested more humane methods, such as ABC or

vaccinating stray dogs. This is highly

impractical, given that we have no vets in the

government sector to carry this out.

" People of Karachi do not want to see

dead dogs, but neither do we physicicans want to

see horrible cases of dog bites and rabies. We

have a duty to save our people first, " Salaheddin

said.

 

" Colored water "

 

" The rabies situation in Pakistan is a

total disaster, as bad as the worst I saw in

West Africa decades ago, " offered Henry Wilde,

M.D., director of the Queen Saovabha Memorial

Institute in Bangkok, established in 1921 as a

rabies prevention and treatment facility, now

involved in fighting many other viral diseases.

Wilde has visited Pakistan three times to

lecture and investigate rabies outbreaks, he

told ANIMAL PEOPLE. " They have been using Semple

vaccine made locally for years, which my staff

and local as well as Paris experts have found to

be completely devoid of antigen, " Wilde said,

describing it as " colored water. "

Wilde opined in an hour-long meeting with

ANIMAL PEOPLE that the shortage of veterinarians

in Pakistan is so acute and the abundance of

street dogs so large that it will be necessary to

kill dogs just to reduce the numbers enough to

have a hope of being able to sterilize and

vaccinate 70%.

" I know you don't want to hear that, " Wilde said.

 

Introducing sterilization

 

" A handful of animal loving organizations

and people from Geo T.V. are trying their level

best to stop the mass killing of dogs, " offered

I.H. Kathio, DVM.

Born in Larkana, Pakistan, Kathio, 51,

now owns three U.S. veterinary clinics and three

others in Pakistan. His primary practice is in

Pennsylvania, but he also directs a pilot dog

and cat sterilization project at the

government-funded Richmond Crawford Animal

Hospital in Karachi.

" In this hospital I am setting up an

American-standard surgical and examination room, "

Kathio told ANIMAL PEOPLE in November 2004. I am

donating surgical and medical supplies. "

Kathio expressed hope that he can

eventually train enough veterinary surgeons to do

high-speed sterilization under strictly aseptic

conditions to equip Karachi, and Pakistan, to

deal with dog overpopulation humanely.

Meanwhile, argued Rizvi, " Dogs are a

part of our urban ecology. Poisoning them can

create environmental havoc. Moreover, poisoning

is a painful way to kill animals, and inimical

to the teachings of the Holy Prophet, who said

'Whoever is kind to the creatures of God is kind

to himself.' I understand people in Karachi are

being rewarded when someone shoots a dog and

brings the tail to the authorities for

compensation. This is in total contempt of the

teachings of the Holy Prophet, who said 'If you

must kill, kill without torture.' "

Rizvi told fellow protesters against the

Karachi poisoning that Pakistan is not an

inhumane nation, regardless of superficial

appearance.

" A few years ago, I visited Karachi, my

former place of residence, and was overwhelmed

by the positive response I received when I talked

about animal rights at the Hotel Metropole, " he

said. " The Pakistan Arts Council, the Pakistan

Medical Association, and Engineers and Scientist

for Animal Rights had sponsored an art exhibit on

the humane treatment of animals. I was moved by

the children's presentations. They profoundly

expressed their concern for animals. "

" We will strongly protest this genocide, " Qureshi pledged.

 

--Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

 

--

[Guest guest]

Hi, all

 

My name is Maria and I come from Greece. I have just received the

information below and I am really shocked by the fact that there are

some of our kind who act in the most inhumane and brutal way, by using

the power that people generously offered them. By reading the article it

is perfectly clear that animals are not to blame for the whole

situation. Inadequate vaccination with inappropriate medicines is all

local government's and authorities' fault, maybe due to its low cost

when applied. And now, that things are finally on the edge, animals are

once again in the front line to pay for it. Even under these

circumstances, humane, applicable solutions are proposed by animal

welfare organisations. Solutions that would make animals' and people's

life better, easier and healthier. But no- the authorities refuse to do

the logical and humane-what for? To demonstrate their power against

animals and generally, nature? To take revenge from these poor creatures

that got sick because some of their fellows abandoned them in the

streets with no food or medical care after having played enough with

them? No, sirs, this is not the way to prove the world your

civilization. It is certainly a shame for such countries with so

remarkable, long-aged traditions and religious beliefs that represent

the harmonic coexistence between human and nature, to procceed in such

brutalities in order to solve a problem that people themselves create.

We, all people caring for animals and people welfare, plea to your

conscience and heart. Do not commit this crime. " Catch, neuter,

vaccinate and release stray dogs " along with encouraging people to own

stray or pet dogs comprise the essential elements of the most effective

and humane solution to this great problem. We are looking forward

hearing that compassion and humanity had their chance in Karachi.

 

With best regards.

 

 

Kim Bartlett wrote:

 

>>From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2005:

>

> " Madness " in Karachi rabies response

>

> KARACHI, Pakistan-- " Karachi mayor

>Niamatul-lah Khan is about to go on a rampage,

>poisoning 500,000 stray dogs in total disregard

>of alternatives presented by the Pakistan Animal

>Welfare Society, along with a large number of

>doctors, health officials, and Karachi

>citizens, " Engineers and Scientists for Animal

>Rights founder Syed Rizvi warned on Friday, May

>13, 2005, in an e-mail quickly distributed

>worldwide by pro-animal newsgroups.

> Born and raised in Karachi, Rizvi now

>lives in San Jose, California, but maintains

>close contact with Pakistani animal advocates.

> " The City of Karachi is preparing 500,000

>strychnine capsules, " Rizvi charged. " I have

>been in constant touch with Mahera Omar of the

>Pakistan Animal Welfare Society, who is asking

>that e-mails and letters from the international

>community be sent to the authorities, asking

>them to refrain from this barbaric practice.

> " Please e-mail to General Parvez

>Musharraf, the President of Pakistan, who is a

>dog lover himself, " Rizvi asked. " Some might

>have seen his picture in Newsweek recently,

>holding his two little dogs close to his heart. "

> " The World Society for the Protection of

>Animals will fax a letter to the President of

>Pakistan on behalf of our 506 member societies in

>126 countries to protest this decision, and to

>offer WSPA's services to discuss a more humane

>policy, " responded WSPA director general Peter

>Davies.

> The intensive exposure of the poisoning plans brought mixed results.

> " On the one hand, the city government

>has offered cooperation to PAWS in setting up an

>Animal Birth Control program in Karachi, " Mahera

>Omar and Maheen Zia of the Pakistan Animal

>Welfare Society posted to <www.pawspakistan.org>

>on June 3. " On the other, it is resolutely

>continuing its senseless dog killing. While we

>fully intend to take the nazim [mayor] up on his

>word, we believe the offer of help is

>lip-service, as the May 30 meeting which was

>supposed to explore alternative strategies began

>with the distribution of flyers announcing the

>strategy already decided upon: mass strychnine

>poisoning of stray dogs.

> " The 3-page handout indicated that

>photographs of dead dogs are to be published in

>leading newspapers to keep the public informed of

>the progress of the campaign, " Omar and Zia

>said. " In addition, two million rupees [about

>$34,000] have been allocated as rewards for the

>most successful poisoners. This is clearly

>madness, " Omar and Zia opined.

>

>Warning tied to vaccine issue

>

> Animal Save Movement president Khalid

>Mahmood Qureshi, of Multan, warned ANIMAL

>PEOPLE on March 18, 2005 that the dog massacre

>was coming.

>E-mailed Qureshi, " The mayor of Karachi and the

>health department have declared that they will

>kill dogs in 18 towns, " once suburbs, now

>engulfed by the sprawling metropolis. Qureshi

>said that the Karachi city government and the

>Sind state governments had offered bounties

>amounting to about 40¢ per dog.

> Qureshi alleged that the dog-killing had

>begun in response to a shortage of human

>post-exposure vaccine.

> ANIMAL PEOPLE consulted many other

>sources, but for six weeks all denied that there

>was either a vaccine shortage or a dog massacre

>underway, other than sporadic poisoning by

>aggrieved private individuals.

> Indirect confirmation finally came

>through a forwarded statement by Infectious

>Disease Society of Pakistan president Naseem

>Salahuddin, who is also a member of the World

>Health Organization Expert Committee on Rabies.

> " For nearly seven years the Infectious

>Disease Society of Pakistan has advocated that

>the National Institutes of Health in Islamabad

>should discontinue dispensing the obsolete and

>ineffective Semple sheep brain post-exposure

>vaccine, " Salahuddin explained. " Public

>pressure has finally prevailed. "

> On April 8 the official Pakistani

>post-exposure rabies vaccination became a tissue

>culture vaccine, with a much higher reliability

>rating. Conversion to tissue culture

>vaccinations had already been underway at some

>hospitals for as long as 10 years.

> Rumors about a vaccine shortage may have

>developed as result of hospitals using up their

>stocks of the Semple vaccine before introducing

>the alternatives.

> Just two major hospitals in Karachi

>provide post-exposure vaccination to more than 50

>dog bite victims per day, Salahuddin said.

> " There is a great need to educate the

>general public regarding danger of dog bite, its

>relation to the deadly disease, and prevention

>of rabies by using proper preventive measures, "

>Salahuddin emphasized. " This must be done

>regularly through the press, lectures and

>handouts. Most doctors [in Pakistan] are

>inexperienced and not updated on modern methods.

>Wrong advice and improper handling of bite cases

>can lead to rabies, " and to public panic,

>Salahuddin continued.

> " The Infectious Disease Society of

>Pakistan plans to hold workshops on rabies

>prevention in small towns and rural health

>centers, " Salahuddin promised.

> " Most importantly, " Salahuddin stated,

> " dog bite should be prevented by reducing the

>stray dog population. Niamatullah Khan supports

>this viewpoint, " Salahuddin said, recommending

>a three-point strategy.

> " Catch, neuter, vaccinate and release

>stray dogs, " Salaheddin urged as one essential

>element. " Neutered animals not only are likely

>to be less aggressive, but will not multiply.

> " Encourage people to own stray or pet

>dogs, " Salaheddin added. " Vaccinate them and

>keep a vaccination record. Rogue dogs should be

>killed, as they pose the greatest danger to the

>human population, " Salaheddin concluded, making

>clear that he meant only dogs who have threatened

>or attacked people and other animals.

> " Killing dogs randomly has never been

>proved to be successful in any country, "

>Salaheddin reminded, citing the success of

>Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia in using a

>similar strategy to " successfully reduce their

>numbers of dog bites and rabies cases to very low

>levels. "

> But only three days later, Dawn, the

>leading English daily newspaper in Pakistan,

>announced that Niamatullah Khan had " decided to

>launch a major campaign " against homeless dogs,

>to " continue until their total elimination. "

> In all likelihood " total elimination "

>cannot be achieved due to the abundance of refuse

>and rats in Pakistani streets. Dogs may become

>less visible for a time, but will rapidly breed

>back up to the high carrying capacity of the

>habitat within a year or less, as after previous

>poisoning and shooting campaigns.

> " The nazim directed the Department of

>Health to take concrete measures for providing

>the required number of [poison] capsules for

>killing stray dogs, " Dawn reported, " strongly

>instructing that they should not fall short, as

>in the past. "

> Acknowledged Salahuddin, " Mahera Omar

>[of the Pakistan Animal Welfare Society]

>suggested more humane methods, such as ABC or

>vaccinating stray dogs. This is highly

>impractical, given that we have no vets in the

>government sector to carry this out.

> " People of Karachi do not want to see

>dead dogs, but neither do we physicicans want to

>see horrible cases of dog bites and rabies. We

>have a duty to save our people first, " Salaheddin

>said.

>

> " Colored water "

>

> " The rabies situation in Pakistan is a

>total disaster, as bad as the worst I saw in

>West Africa decades ago, " offered Henry Wilde,

>M.D., director of the Queen Saovabha Memorial

>Institute in Bangkok, established in 1921 as a

>rabies prevention and treatment facility, now

>involved in fighting many other viral diseases.

> Wilde has visited Pakistan three times to

>lecture and investigate rabies outbreaks, he

>told ANIMAL PEOPLE. " They have been using Semple

>vaccine made locally for years, which my staff

>and local as well as Paris experts have found to

>be completely devoid of antigen, " Wilde said,

>describing it as " colored water. "

> Wilde opined in an hour-long meeting with

>ANIMAL PEOPLE that the shortage of veterinarians

>in Pakistan is so acute and the abundance of

>street dogs so large that it will be necessary to

>kill dogs just to reduce the numbers enough to

>have a hope of being able to sterilize and

>vaccinate 70%.

> " I know you don't want to hear that, " Wilde said.

>

>Introducing sterilization

>

> " A handful of animal loving organizations

>and people from Geo T.V. are trying their level

>best to stop the mass killing of dogs, " offered

>I.H. Kathio, DVM.

> Born in Larkana, Pakistan, Kathio, 51,

>now owns three U.S. veterinary clinics and three

>others in Pakistan. His primary practice is in

>Pennsylvania, but he also directs a pilot dog

>and cat sterilization project at the

>government-funded Richmond Crawford Animal

>Hospital in Karachi.

> " In this hospital I am setting up an

>American-standard surgical and examination room, "

>Kathio told ANIMAL PEOPLE in November 2004. I am

>donating surgical and medical supplies. "

> Kathio expressed hope that he can

>eventually train enough veterinary surgeons to do

>high-speed sterilization under strictly aseptic

>conditions to equip Karachi, and Pakistan, to

>deal with dog overpopulation humanely.

> Meanwhile, argued Rizvi, " Dogs are a

>part of our urban ecology. Poisoning them can

>create environmental havoc. Moreover, poisoning

>is a painful way to kill animals, and inimical

>to the teachings of the Holy Prophet, who said

>'Whoever is kind to the creatures of God is kind

>to himself.' I understand people in Karachi are

>being rewarded when someone shoots a dog and

>brings the tail to the authorities for

>compensation. This is in total contempt of the

>teachings of the Holy Prophet, who said 'If you

>must kill, kill without torture.' "

> Rizvi told fellow protesters against the

>Karachi poisoning that Pakistan is not an

>inhumane nation, regardless of superficial

>appearance.

> " A few years ago, I visited Karachi, my

>former place of residence, and was overwhelmed

>by the positive response I received when I talked

>about animal rights at the Hotel Metropole, " he

>said. " The Pakistan Arts Council, the Pakistan

>Medical Association, and Engineers and Scientist

>for Animal Rights had sponsored an art exhibit on

>the humane treatment of animals. I was moved by

>the children's presentations. They profoundly

>expressed their concern for animals. "

> " We will strongly protest this genocide, " Qureshi pledged.

>

>--Merritt Clifton

>Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

>P.O. Box 960

>Clinton, WA 98236

>

>Telephone: 360-579-2505

>Fax: 360-579-2575

>E-mail: anmlpepl

>Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

>

>

>

>