Need a goat for Eid? There’s an app for that
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s cattle markets have been crammed for weeks as the country prepares for Aidiladha, but in Karachi and here, crowd-weary residents are ordering animals by app instead.
Muslims slaughter an animal — goat, sheep, cow, bull or camel — in a ritual that stems from the story of Prophet Ibrahim, commanded by God to slaughter his beloved son Ismail.
The centuries-old festival is steeped in tradition, but this year, some middle-class Pakistanis are turning to technology to skip the packed markets and ordering their animals via the ridesharing app Careem.
The app introduced a “Bakra (goat) on wheels” initiative in the run-up to Eid, with speciallypainted trucks ferrying the animals to customers.
The response was “substantial”, Careem marketing executive Abuzar Khan said, adding that nearly 30 goats had been sold.
But there was little chance of it threatening demand for animals at the country’s bustling cattle markets.
Experts said that the livestock market in Pakistan was growing by up to four per cent annually as more young entrepreneurs were taking interest, and volume was high during Eid, said a trader.
“The minimum price of a bull, which takes 2½ years to groom, is 65,000 rupees (RM2,600) and it goes higher than five or 600,000 rupees,” he said.