ACF rescues animals left for dead from Empress Market in Karachi

Ayesha Chundrigar Foundation (ACF) came to the rescue of animals who were left without food or water at Empress Markets and pet shops in Karachi.

The Sindh government allowed for pet shops to remain open for a few days in order to make other arrangements for the sheltered animals. However, ACF’s team witnessed the horrible state the animals were left in and decided to step in.

“Animals screaming in agony, locked in small cages together, a dead animal lying next to a living one who is barely conscious because they are slowly suffocating to death. No food and water in weeks. No ventilation or air, just complete darkness and no one listening to their screams. A whole lot of dead bodies just lying everywhere,” ACF wrote in a post on Facebook.

The following day, the team posted an update, saying they managed to rescue 18 cats from Empress Market.

On Monday, ACF shared another updates, saying that while DHA shops did not allow them to enter the shops, they were able to hear the animals screaming in agony and despair inside.

“If COVID-19 doesn’t kill us, this kind of cruelty towards animals that leads to decay and toxicity will eventually,” the wrote, urging people to be more compassionate towards animals during these trying times.

“The COVID-19 outbreak only began because of severe cruelty towards animals. This is commonplace, in fact a norm in our country as well where animals are seeing as private property rather than living beings with rights of their own that must be respected. And any decent human being should be able to see that rather than creating a separate type of human called an ‘animal lover’. You shouldn’t have to be an animal lover to care about the suffering of others.”