ISLAMABAD: A man was arrested in Pakistan’s Punjab province for chopping off a buffalo’s tongue, state media reported on Monday, highlighting the latest instance of animal abuse in the South Asian nation.
The death of elephant Noor Jehan, 17, at the Karachi Zoo last year revived concerns about animal treatment and criticism of the nation’s zoos. In 2020, after years of campaigning by animal rights advocates and pop star Cher to rescue him from grim zoo conditions with no companion, the ‘world’s loneliest elephant’ Kaavan was airlifted to an elephant sanctuary in Cambodia.
“A man was arrested on the charge of cutting the buffalo’s tongue here in the jurisdiction of Shahpur City police station,” the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said on Monday. “The accused Bilal was taking fodder in a loader rickshaw when a buffalo ate the fodder on the way, after which he cut off his tongue with a sickle.”
Sargodha district police took notice of the incident and arrested the suspect, APP added.
Animal abuse in Pakistan caught the spotlight last month when 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 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 last month, a camel was found dead with its legs amputated.
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.
And despite the laws, officials themselves poison hundreds of dogs yearly in an effort to curb a population of strays that attack thousands of people.
