Actress Sabeena Farooq has called out the practice of killing stray dogs in response to rabies cases, saying that collective punishment of animals is neither just nor humane.
In an Instagram story posted on Tuesday, Farooq questioned why calls for dog culling emerge whenever rabies is reported.
“When we don’t punish all people for the sins of any one person, we shouldn’t punish all dogs because a few carry rabies. Only people with thoughtfulness and compassion will understand this,” she wrote.
Addressing those who sent her hate over the stance, she said she prayed for “God to soften your hearts one day.”
Farooq’s posts came after she shared a video on Monday by Lahore-based animal rights activist Uswa Ahmed, who confronted sanitation workers from the Suthra Punjab project while they transported a trailer full of dog corpses.
The workers denied killing the animals and drove away with Ahmed following them.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) has barred authorities from culling dogs and directed them to adopt humane methods of population control under the Punjab Animal Birth Control Policy 2021.
Despite the court order, reports of dog culling using guns and poison in the city continued as recently as last month.
