New Straits Times

Outcry over lockdown deaths of animals

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DHAKA: Hundreds of animals have died in the city’s biggest pet market after stores were forced to close during Bangladesh’s coronaviru­s lockdown, leaving owners desperate and rights activists angry.

“We need to keep the doors open so the animals don’t suffocate,” shop owner Mohammad Polash said.

About 400 birds and dozens of dogs, cats, rabbits, rats and guinea pigs had died since the market shut on July 1, said Rahman Shikder, a spokesman for the Katabon market’s store owners associatio­n.

After the deaths made national headlines, the government on Wednesday ordered police to let the pet market’s 75 tiny shops open their doors for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon.

Animal rights activists have accused the shops of keeping pets in hazardous conditions.

“Places like Katabon should not exist in the first place,” the head of animal rights group Obhoyaronn­o, Rubaiya Ahmad, said.

“The animals there were already kept in extremely inhumane conditions and it’s no surprise they met such horrible deaths,” she added.

“Wherever animals are kept in confinemen­t, they will always be the first to pay the heaviest price.”

Police were patrolling Katabon when AFP visited on Wednesday. Some officers gave shopkeeper­s a warning for opening outside of the permitted times.

“Police would fine us if we open our shutters,” owner Bappi Khan said.

Despite an official death toll now above 17,000, Bangladesh has allowed some lockdown limits to be lifted for Aidiladha, the country’s second-biggest religious festival.

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