The sale of infant sheep and goats in every part of Karachi is not only a cruel practice and violation of animal welfare, but such practices also pose a serious threat to Sindh’s livestock.
These animals are supposed to provide the province with milk, meat and leather, but by selling animal infants, the province’s stock is at serious risk as these infants usually die due to improper feeding, weather changes and unsanitary conditions in the places where they are kept.
Decreasing water flow, increasing prices of agricultural inputs, spreading of viral diseases and climate changes have already affected the livestock of the province; and the sale of these animal infants would have a further negative effect on the stock.
Non-governmental organisations working in the province for animal welfare, government authorities and the provincial livestock department have hitherto taken no notice of such growing practices in the city.
One can see men with herds of lambs and goat kids on any roundabout of the city. These infants are hardly a few weeks old and the vendors do not properly feed them.
Recently at a roundabout near Punjab Chowrangi, this scribe witnessed goat kids sucking the thumb of a seller due to hunger. These lambs and goat kids don’t usually reach adulthood when they are taken away from their mother.
Surprisingly, the vendor at Punjab Chowrangi was also selling Kamori goat kids. Kamori goats are milk-producing goats and are found in Dadu, Larkana, Nawabshah, Badin, Sanghar and other districts of the province. They are usually large in size with reddish brown, white and black spots on their body. They have a long body with well-developed udder and teats. The daily milk production of a Kamori goat is on average between 1.5 to 2 litres a day.
Besides Kamori goat kids, infants of some other milk-producing goats - like Kohistani, Sindhi, Patri, Barbari and Tapri - are also sold in many parts of the city; and their sale could reduce the number of these famous goats.
Most sellers bring these animals from rural districts of the province and decorate them with seemingly uncomfortable collars, beads and colourful threads to get higher prices. Most of these infants are sold between Rs 3,500 to Rs 5,000. Interestingly, even though there are laws for wildlife, there is no particular law prohibiting the sale of animal infants.
