Dog lovers in Dhaka went out to protest against culling. They stood outside Dhaka City Corporation and shouted "Don't Kill! Sterilize!" The reason being that dogs are being killed brutally in Bangladesh by the government's main agency - Dhaka City Corporation every year.
Every year Dhaka City Corporation kills at least 20,000 stray dogs for concerns like rabies in the cities. Killing in the rural areas are also carried out. It is true that Bangladesh has the highest number of people that die of rabies in the entire world. In 2009, around 2000 people died because of rabies in Bangladesh, which is why they are taking it very seriously to control the dog population.
This protest was organized by spreading the message through facebook and twitter to gather dog lovers in one place and this was the first time ever such a protest took place.
Rubaiya Ahmad, who is the head of Obhoyaronnyo Sanctuary spoke that the purpose was to ensure that the brutal practice of fog culling is stopped. The organizers supported the anti-rabies drive but demanded an end to brutal methods used to kill the dogs such as breaking their necks with tongs and beating them to death. Instead, the authorities should sterilize dogs or vaccinate them against rabies.
Their point is use more humane ways of tackling the same issue that are very much there. Rubaiya Ahmad also said, "If you're cruel to animals, you're also cruel to humans, although some Muslims think dogs are unclean, the religion does not prescribe brutal treatment of dogs."
This is indeed very true. No religion is unkind towards any animals.We hope that Bangladesh would opt for more humane and compassionate ways to carry out their anti-rabies drive now.
