3 Sept
About 17,600 dogs were poisoned last year by municipal workers in the Afghan capital in an effort to protect residents from disease and to control the rocketing population of canines that roam the city's streets and open ground.
The method of killing is brutally effective.
Teams of dog-catchers wearing orange suits use long steel hooks, wooden bars and large nets to ensnare their prey with practised skill.
A heavy boot is put on the dog's neck, and a spoon is used to press deadly strychnine into the mouth and gums.
Then the dogs are tied to ropes, and die within an hour in spasms of agony.
Alternatively, poisoned meat is left out at night and by morning the ground is littered with corpses.