Female camel tortured after ‘destroying crops’ in Sukkur handed over to Karachi shelter

A female camel, tortured allegedly by a landowner in Sukkur, was handed over to a private animal shelter in Karachi on Saturday, officials said.

A first information report (FIR) of the incident was registered at Sukkur’s Kandhra police station under sections 114 (abettor present), 428 (mischief by killing or maiming animal with value of Rs10 or more), 429 (killing or maiming cattle, etc, of any value), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of Ghulam Mustafa.

The incident took place at 2pm yesterday, according to the FIR, wherein three suspects were nominated.

According to the complainant, when his camels were returning after drinking water from a pond on the land, one of the suspects hit one of them with an axe, breaking its leg. Then he dragged the camel with his tractor.

The complainant said he kept pleading with the suspects to spare the camel, but they did not listen.

According to the FIR, the suspects reacted angrily, saying that the camel had destroyed crops.

Later, a post on X by the Sindh Chief Minister House’s official account condemned “the gruesome” attack, adding that the CM had ordered strict action against the culprits.

The post also stated that police had so far arrested two suspects and the hunt for a third suspect was under way.

On the CM Murad Ali Shah’s directive, Sukkur District Council Chairman Syed Kumail Hyder Shah was “supervising” the injured camel’s treatment, it added.

Kumail Shah also posted about the incident on X, saying: “Heartbreaking to witness such cruelty against a helpless camel in Rohri.

“I’ve personally spoken to the owner, the wounded camel has been shifted to Karachi for immediate treatment. No animal should ever suffer such cruelty, every life, human or voiceless, deserves compassion and care.”

Separately, Sukkur Commissioner Abid Saleem told Dawn.com on the phone that the camel was shifted to Karachi after coordination with a private sector organisation that deals with such cases of injuries.

He said the camel would undergo surgery on its leg, adding that she had also sustained injuries on her jaw.

Meanwhile, the Comprehensive Disaster Response Services (CDRS) Benji Project for Animal Welfare in Karachi, which had helped another mutilated camel^[1] stand back with a prosthetic leg, said earlier today that its veterinary doctors would examine the camel.

“On Friday, September 19, a two-year-old female camel suffered unspeakable abuse in Sukkur. She had wandered onto land in search of water, where the landowner viciously broke her leg and then dragged her with a tractor,” the CDRS project wrote in a post on Instagram.

The organisation said it “immediately began coordinating with the Government of Sindh to rescue her”, adding that it was extremely grateful to Faryal Talpur, Sukkur MPA Awaiz Shah and MPA Sumeta Syed “for their efforts in helping us secure this camel […] and for so vehemently taking action”.

“Once our vets have examined her properly, we will share an update,” CDRS said, affirming that its team will try its “very best to give her love, comfort, and some semblance of peace”.

“There are no words left to explain the cruelty we continue to see. It is unimaginably painful to witness these beautiful, voiceless beings — created in such perfection and innocence — suffering at the hands of humans who were meant to protect them. All we can do is keep standing up for them and take one day at a time,” CDRS wrote.

The recent incident bears similarity to that of Cammie, a camel who had her front leg chopped off^[2] allegedly by a landlord in June 2024 as punishment for foraging in his field for fodder. She was taken in by the CDRS Benji Project, where she got her prosthetic leg in July and is still in care^[3].