Pakistan, Oct. 6 -- Islamabad's residents are once again pleading for help. In sector after sector, packs of stray dogs roam freely, children are being bitten, and anti-rabies vaccines are often hard to find. The Capital Development Authority (CDA) insists it has a plan, including a sterilisation drive, a shelter, and a helpline for complaints. But, like so many municipal promises, these measures exist more in press statements than in practice.

The CDA's Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Release programme was meant to replace the old, cruel culling drives. Yet the city's stray population continues to rise, and activists have documented neglect and overcrowding inside the very shelter built to embody humane reform. The problem, as ever, is not the do...