ISLAMABAD: Police in Pakistan’s eastern Bahawalpur district registered a case on Sunday against a landowner for wounding a buffalo with ax for straying into his fodder field, in another case of animal brutality in the country. 

As per a copy of the police complaint seen by Arab News, the complainant Bashir Ahmad, a laborer and resident of the Ismail Pur area of the Ahmadpur East city, said the incident took place on Jan. 24. 

Ahmad said he arrived at his home after work on Saturday to find that his buffalo had escaped. Ahmad searched for the animal along with two others he cited as eyewitnesses in his report. They discovered that the buffalo had strayed into a fodder field nearby owned by a man named Manzoor Hussain.

“During this time, Manzoor Hussain came with an ax and as we watched, attacked both of the front legs of the buffalo,” the police report quoted Ahmad as saying. 

The complainant said the buffalo collapsed as a result of the assault. It did not mention whether the buffalo had died or not. 

Ahmad said the suspect abused him and the other eyewitnesses and left the area after they arrived. 

“Manzoor Hussain has committed a grave injustice by injuring my buffalo,” the report quoted Ahmad as saying. “I want action to be taken against him.”

Police registered a case against Hussain under Sections 427 [mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees] and 429 [mischief by killing or maiming cattle of any value or any animal of the value of fifty rupees] of the Pakistan Penal Code. 

Local media reported the suspect had been arrested following the police complaint. 

Animal abuse cases in Pakistan have frequently made headlines over the years. In June 2024, a local landlord in the southern Sanghar district was accused of chopping off a camel’s leg after it strayed into his fields for grazing. 

The story, which triggered an uproar on mainstream and social media, led to the camel being transported to an animal shelter in Karachi for treatment. Six suspects were arrested by the police. 

In another incident in the southern Umerkot district during June 2024, a camel was found dead with its legs amputated. 

In July 2024, a man was arrested in Pakistan’s eastern Shahpur city for chopping off a buffalo’s tongue.

Pakistan’s existing animal cruelty laws, rooted in the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1890, prohibit various forms of animal cruelty, including beating, overdriving, and mutilation. 

The legislation also prescribes penalties for breaches of these anti-cruelty provisions, which can include fines and imprisonment, though these are not always effectively enforced.