Cruelty. Benevolence. Illegal. Tolerated. Prosecuted. Unpunished. Accepted. Condemned. Caged. Freed. Virtue. Wrongdoing.
Q: which of the above words apply to the way in which this post’s pictured persons earn their living?
A: all of them…and it is a very safe bet that none of the pictured persons are wealthy.
If the featured image leads you to believe that this activity is one “conducted in the shadows”, you would be much mistaken.
The same man is pictured below; he was untroubled by me photographing him.
His demeanour was certainly not that of someone who felt “ashamed”, and he did not appear to be even the least bit “malevolent”.
Islamic teachings generally frown upon the caging of wildlife.
However, a 2018 newspaper report suggested that in Lahore around one million caged birds were sold in that year.
You will be looking at a very long “results” list if you enter in the Google search box this phrase: Lahore birds for sale
Most of the “bird men” on Lahore’s streets are not bird hunters, nor breeders, nor pet shop proprietors.
For generations, many of them have purchased their wares from places like Lahore’s Tollinton Market, which has long been a hub of the “pet trade”.
Most of the “bird men” on the oft-phenomenally-hot streets of Lahore (and other cities in Pakistan) are persons of modest means, trying to earn a living.
Generally, their customers are not buying pets; they buy the birds in order to free them!
The customers regard this as an act of benevolence, a good deed so powerful that it could even “cast away evil”.
Unsurprisingly, not a few birds die whilst still “on sale”.
