According to the Pakistan Daily Times, on average, 100,000 birds are consumed daily in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The consumption remains high in winter and during wedding season, while it drops in summer. This large number of birds comes mainly from poultry farms of Murree and Abbottabad.

Azharuddin, a senior environmentalist, told Daily Times that poultry feed was mostly prepared in unhygienic conditions and no scientific measures were followed to gauge its nutritional value.

“Feed is prepared in big pans in the open and ingredients are added lump sum without any measurement,” he said. He said feed ingredients like fishmeals and blood meals were often contaminated with heavy metal ingredients.

He said mostly, the fish used in fishmeals were caught from the creeks of Karachi Sea, which were highly polluted by effluents from powerhouses, textile factories, tanneries and other industries. “Such toxic substances and chemicals can’t be separated from fish even at high temperatures, though the compounds may change form,” he said.