KARACHI: The Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) has made registration of pet dogs mandatory, days after two dogs attacked a senior lawyer in the upscale Defence Housing Authority area.
The CBC issued a notification saying that under section 119 and the Cantonment Act 1924, it is required for all dog owners to get their pets registered. The rate of the form has been fixed at Rs250, while the registration fee will be Rs2,000 per dog.
The form requires the name of the dog owner, ID card number, address where the dog is kept, mobile number, email ID, colour of the dog, breed, sex, and reason for keeping it. The date of vaccination of the dog will also be entered in the form.
A vaccination card, with the signature of the dog owner, a photograph of the dog, a copy of the owner’s ID card, the vaccination report given by the doctors, and a copy of the fee payment challan shall also be attached along with the form.
However, once the form is submitted, it remains the prerogative of the CBC to allow the residents to keep the dog. The CBC said the non-registration of a dog will make it impossible for the board to determine whether the dog has been muzzled and is disease-free.
It said keeping an unregistered dog will be illegal and could lead to the detention or culling of the dog, imposition of fines, or legal actions. The form can be acquired from the cantonment board’s office.
The measures are being taken after two pet dogs mauled an elderly citizen who was walking in Phase 6 of DHA and tackled him to the ground. The caretaker of the dogs tried hard to restrain the dogs rom the passerby identified as lawyer Mirza Ali Akhtar but to no avail.
The caretaker ran off to find another man and they both then rescued the lawyer from the dogs. The two caretakers left the lawyer injured on the road and took the dogs away. Police registered a case against the dogs’ owner, Humayun Khan, and nominated the two caretakers in the case as well.
On Saturday, a Karachi court had ordered the police to arrest the owner of two pet dogs who attacked the lawyer. The Additional District and Sessions Judge South issued the directives after rejecting the appeal for pre-arrest bail of the owner whose two dogs had attacked the lawyer leaving him severely injured.
