Pet shops get a window of relief, so do animals in there
In just eight days until July 8, pet animals worth Tk30 lakh died in 65 shops, as per an estimate of Dhaka University Market Aqua and Pet Association
At the break of dawn every day, owners and staff of pet shops in the capital's Katabon stealthily supplied food to animals, birds and fishes in cages and aquariums. But the ongoing lockdown did not allow the shutters to remain open, leading to an accumulation of heat and humidity inside.
Before the shop owners' association could draw the attention of the authority to get a remedy, many animals, which could do nothing on their own to save themselves, succumbed to the suffocating environment in spaces as little as 100sqft.
In just eight days until July 8, pet animals worth Tk30 lakh died in 65 shops, as per an estimate of Dhaka University Market Aqua and Pet Association. The largest pet-trading hub has thousands of pets, including 6 varieties of dog, 7 kinds of cat, 15 species of birds and 20 species of fish.
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Finally, in a letter to the home ministry on Tuesday, Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim addressed the matter. He requested the home ministry to ask law enforcers to allow the shops to remain open for two hours every day.
The minister said the pet shops could remain open for tending to the animals even amid the movement restrictions. During this time, shop owners will provide food and medicines and vaccinate the animals.
"We need to be sympathetic to them," the minister said.
A staff of an animal shop named Soukhin Park, Md Manik said two Cockatiel birds worth Tk7,500 each had died in his shop in just two days because of suffocation.
"In hot weather, we have to maintain the temperature at a moderate level," he said. The exhaust fan installed at the front could not ensure enough circulation of air inside and out when shutters were down.
There was no exhaust fan mounted on the rear side of the shop because Dhaka University teachers living in the quarters behind the market do not allow it, Manik added.
Amid the crisis, the shop owners talked to Shahbagh police last week and took permission to keep the shops open for two hours. During the two-month lockdown last year from March through May, there was permission to open the shops for a couple of hours a day for air circulation and supplying food.
This time, shops did not have the approval.
"In the morning, we opened shops to feed the animals at the risk of being arrested and harassed by police," said Bazlur Rahman, general secretary of the association.
He said two hours was not sufficient to ensure airflow into the shops, whereas they remained open for 12-14 hours without lockdown.
The owner of Munna Aquarium Center, Md Swapon said fish is a very sensitive creature. Food has to be given timely, water temperature maintained at a certain level and oxygen flow into the aquarium uninterrupted.
"If the motor used for oxygen supply stops or the power-line goes off for two to three hours, all fishes in an aquarium will die. We are given only two hours which is not enough to keep the fish alive. We need at least five hours."
Since the start of the lockdown, the shop has seen 20-25 fishes die every day, said a frustrated Swapon.
"It is not only a matter of business. We love these animals. We cannot stay home, not bothering about the needs of the poor animals. I have come from Jatrabari on foot only to feed the animals and let them breathe in the fresh air," said Md Kamrul, staff of Blue Birds.
