Walk through almost any Pakistani city, and you will encounter stray dogs. From informal settlements to some of the country's most affluent neighbourhoods, free-roaming dogs have become part of the urban landscape. We have learned to live with them — or, more accurately, to pretend they are not there.

“Whenever I am walking outside my house in Lahore’s premier housing authority, I see dogs resting in front of the gates, inside under-construction buildings, barking at passers-by and sometimes following cars and people walking on the streets. As a woman, I feel all this snatches away one’s sense of security,” said Syra, who recently shifted to her new home in Lahore from Finland.

Children and women are among those frequently exposed to dog attacks, while every year families confront the devastating consequences of rabies. In Sindh alone, 25 people have reportedly died of rabies this year.

Rabies is almost invariably fatal once clinical symptoms appear, but timely wound cleaning, vaccination and, where required, rabies immunoglobulin can prevent the disease after exposure. The real battle, therefore, is not fought when a patient reaches a hospital with encephalitis. It is........

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