Following two separate incidents of cats being exterminated at two different halls of Dhaka University, students started raising their voices protesting brutality against cats on campus.
Earlier, four kittens were found with their throats slit near the pond of Bangabandhu hall and another cat was found dead, at Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib hall.
In this regard, Jahid Hasan, a resident of Kabi Jashim Uddin Hall, said: " Yesterday when I was going to tuition, I saw those kittens playing in the hall garden and I decided to write a post on Facebook so that someone could adopt those. But later I forgot to give the post. Today morning when I saw a Facebook post about those killed kittens, I was shocked."
General students also raised awareness on cruelty to cats and demanded to punish the killer after identifying.
Asif Mahmud, a post graduate student of Dhaka University said, "As I know there is no regulatory board to control cats or dogs. If the number of cats is increasing, then it shall be controlled systematically. Killing can never be a solution. Whoever killed these kittens must be a mentally sick person; otherwise no one can cut the throats of adorable kittens."
"I think DU authorities should pay attention to these animals and create a body within the university to look after them," he added.
In this regard, provost of Kabi Jasimuddin Hall Shahin Khan said, "I don't know whether these cats were of our halls. But whoever did this, did a very heinous thing that calls for strong punishment."
A hint of who may have been behind the killings came when resident authorities of Bangamata Hall and Bangladesh-Kuwait Moitri Hall posted notices asking for cooperation to catch cats from the hall premises, as some of the students were disturbed by them.
A student named Nawrin wrote (about the notice from Bangamata hall), on her Facebook timeline: "No one is insisting those who do not like animals should love animals. The cats and dogs just eat our leftovers and live around the premises of our halls, sometimes they walk in our corridors in search of food. Is it a disturbance? Is it a valid reason to vilify them? Vilifying and snatching away their right to life is nothing but an exposure of low mentality."