One of the ways in which we judge the civility of a society is the way it treats its most vulnerable members -- the poor, the sick, the downtrodden.
And perhaps the most vulnerable amongst these remain the mostly harmless animals who roam our streets and, to them, we as a society have been anything but kind.
Most recently, a press release from the People for Animal Welfare Foundation, revealed that Comilla City Corporation has been indiscriminately killing dogs for the last two or three weeks, with little to no evidence that these dogs had posed any harm to residents.
What makes the act worse is the barbarism shown, with the dogs being caught in iron traps and caged -- a most unnecessary act of cruelty that is not becoming of a civilized society.
It must be remembered that animal cruelty remains a criminal offense; in July of this year, the Bangladesh Parliament passed the Animal Welfare Bill 2019, which imposed stricter punishments for cruelty to animals, a move we could not help but commend.
However, it seems that certain segments of society are yet to catch up. While we understand the need to protect citizens from rabid dogs, such acts of cruelty cannot be carried out without proof of the matter.
This most recent culling must be investigated and whoever responsible for these actions must be brought to justice.
We as a society cannot allow cruel practices such as these to exist, no matter who they are carried out against -- man or beast.
