Karachi: With Pakistan in the third week of a partial lockdown, life is becoming difficult not just for its citizens but also the country's stray animals.
The problem is more acute in its biggest port city Karachi, with an estimated 1 million stray animals, according to animal aficionado Ali Khurshid, though that number is hard to verify.
Ali has taken it on himself to feed the stray dogs in his area.
Stray animals starve for food in Pakistan amid lockdown "Stray dogs depend on restaurants for food. They eat the leftover food. Because of the lockdown, all the restaurants as you know are closed," said Ali, while urging others to do the same.
His wife Noor, a professional photographer like him, joins him as they feed the dog that Ali befriended during his daily.
Ali regularly uploads videos of his interactions with stray canines on social media, which he says has resulted in people helping him in the effort.
"We need everyone to become friends with the dogs and the cats," said Noor.
Noor also urged people to treat stray animals better.
"They don't come close because all the experiences they have had with humans is of people throwing stones at them, shooing them away, just being generally very mean."
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The city and the southern Sindh province has had a troubled relationship with stray animals, particularly after a dozen rabies-related deaths late last year.
It even led to a vaccination drive in November that sought to vaccinate half a million dogs across the province.
While the drive suffered from administrative delays, the top provincial court was informed in January that authorities had 'killed and dumped' nearly 50,000 dogs, with over half of them in Karachi.
The move came under criticism from animal rights activist, who have called for neutering and spaying of strays in order to control the population.
Last week, hundreds of animals died of starvation at the two main pet markets in Karachi and Lahore, where they had been left behind by their owners forced to leave due to the lockdown. Hundreds of others, on the verge of starvation, were rescued after the intervention of rights activists.
