t was a festival and children were happily insisting and pulling their parents to let them ride it.

The old white horse having a colorful harness and other gaudy embellishments seemed lifeless. `Why the long face?` On a closer look at the horse, it turned out that tissue in one eye of the horse was badly damaged. The red eye was so damaged it seemed blind.

`Somebody hit him with a stick, quickly explained Gul Ahmed, the young owner, who was busy bargaining the fare with the parents and whether he could let one or two children ride on it for Rs50.

Not caring to tell whether he had got the horse`s eye treated or not, Gul Ahmed just shared that he had been making this horse work for him for the last three years. The horse had been working for another guy for about 18 years. The horse had even injuries on its joints which were hidden with col-our of henna. After all those years of labour, scars of which were still visible, the old horse like thousands of working horses, donkeys and mules in Pakistan would be relieved of the burden and labour if only rescued by death whether accidental or mercy killing one day. Till that fateful day comes the old horse must die little by little every day to provide for the family of his owner.

`When our parents get old or have a fracture, we continue to treat them but it is not so with the old working animals like horses, donkeys and mules in Pakistan,` said veterinary surgeon Dr Ahmed explaining why people at times opt for mercy killing of animals rather than continuing to treat them.

Since the equine or working animals are mostly owned by the poor people using them for earning bread and butter, they are unable to care for the animals like those who keep such animals at their stables as a hobby.

`As long as the working animal is cost-effective, it is made to work. Once it is injured or has a fracture, poorowners can`t afford to keep it,` a vet said, adding that such animals were usually euthanised.

Explaining its vision, the Brooke`s organisation states in a message on its website that it is working for `a world in which working horses, donkeys and mules are free from suffering`.The organisation is perhaps the only of its kind in the country working since 1991 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Peshawar).

It has been creating awareness among owners about how to take care of their working animals for almost 23 years now, but generally owners push their animals to work too hard.

Donkeys carrying or pushing overloaded carts is a common sight. During its average life a horse or donkey which is overworked starts showing ailments at an early age.

Dr Ahmed says working animals as young as four years old are being brought to the vets with ailments and injuries like lameness, work related or accidental injuries, fractures, injuries due to beating with a stick, due to load, colic pain due to substandard food or eye and skin problems. In gruelling summers working animals suffer from many problems too.

`Mostly old animals have wounded feet but fractures are life-threatening, said Dr Ahmed.

In a country like Pakistan where human labourers don`t enjoy proper work conditions, treatment and wages despite labour laws and a fully-fledged department supposedly to cater to their needs, it is not hard to imagine how working animals, mostly owned by poor people, get mistreated. There is no law or authority to stop cruelty to animals in the country.

There is a British-era law (for British India) called Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1890 which penalises for cruelty to animals with imprisonment and fines that might have been a huge sum back in those days but the law is obsolete now.

The livestock department has its focus on dairy-producing animals andthere seems to be no stated responsibility of this government department to look into problems like malnutrition and maltreatment especially to the aged and suffering working animals.

`We don`t have any legal powers to check overloading of working animals.

We can not even stop the sale of substandard meat and milk in the market, said an official of the livestock directorate, adding there was a dire need for a law to check cruelty to animals and define role of the department in this regard.

In the absence of laws to check cruelty to animals very few voices speak up for animal rights in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as in the country.

Callousness to animals is evident from how stray dogs are killed. While many consider dog a man`s best friend, in our country there is a sufficient segment of society which looks down upon showering love and care for pets like dogs, cats and birds.

Keeping a dog as pet is still considered obnoxious and waste of money in many households. In the absence of a general loving and caring sentiment for the working animals, mostly owned by poor people, there is a dire need for the government to inspect how they are made to work and treated by their owners.

Since there is no law to check cruelty to animals and punish those committing it, it seems the hardworking animals like horses and donkeys would continue to suffer in Pakistan.

There is no retirement for working horses and donkeys. They must keep on carrying the burden till death in one painful form or another frees them from the shackles of this tough life of labour.