The Times of India 09.09.2010
Inhuman treatment of stray dogs angers Animal Board
LUCKNOW: Management of stray dog population in Lucknow has raised the heckles of Animal Welfare Board of India ( AWBI). In a letter addressed to municipal commissioner SK Singh and district magistrate Anil Sagar, the chairperson of the statutory body under the ministry of environment and forest, Major General (retd) RM Kharb has expressed grave reservations about the `grossly unlawful and utterly barbaric methods being employed in Lucknow’ and has advised the authorities to strictly adhere to the animal protection laws.
The Board, says the letter, has received complaints from several shocked citizens of Lucknow that the Lucknow Nagar Nigam was breaking the limbs of animals with iron rods before catching them and then either killing or dumping them outside the city area. “Rather than buttress and support the effective implementation of the animal birth control programme in Lucknow, the corporation,” Kharb said, “is, in fact, undermining the efforts being made in that direction by persisting with these completely barred practices.” The strategy, he has pointed out, not only contravenes the Animal Birth Control (dogs) Rules 2001 and Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act but also the action constitutes an offence under the Indian Penal Code.
Stating that the manhandled stray dogs will eventually turn hostile to humans, the chairperson stated it is a known fact that dogs don’t usually bite without provocation, but an animal which has been treated cruelly can turn vicious. Displacing and dislocating dogs will not solve the problem of over population because other dogs would enter the vacuum thus created, he explained .
As the Animal Birth Control (dogs) Rules 2001, strictly prohibit killing of stray dogs, the only acceptable method to manage dog population, the letter points out, is sterilisation and immunisation.
Rule 6 of the said rules also lays down the obligation of the local authority. “If the municipal corporation or the local authority thinks it expedient to control street dog population, it shall be incumbent upon them to sterilise and immunise street dogs with the participation of animal welfare organisation, private individuals and the local authority,” quotes the letter.
The latest report of WHO on rabies, according to the letter, states that sterilisation programme offers the only answer to contain the dog population and reduce the number of human rabies cases. The chairman has, therefore, called for putting an end to the unchecked barbarism and providing the infrastructure to promote and support the ABC programme instead.
The Board, says the letter, has received complaints from several shocked citizens of Lucknow that the Lucknow Nagar Nigam was breaking the limbs of animals with iron rods before catching them and then either killing or dumping them outside the city area. “Rather than buttress and support the effective implementation of the animal birth control programme in Lucknow, the corporation,” Kharb said, “is, in fact, undermining the efforts being made in that direction by persisting with these completely barred practices.” The strategy, he has pointed out, not only contravenes the Animal Birth Control (dogs) Rules 2001 and Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act but also the action constitutes an offence under the Indian Penal Code.
Stating that the manhandled stray dogs will eventually turn hostile to humans, the chairperson stated it is a known fact that dogs don’t usually bite without provocation, but an animal which has been treated cruelly can turn vicious. Displacing and dislocating dogs will not solve the problem of over population because other dogs would enter the vacuum thus created, he explained .
As the Animal Birth Control (dogs) Rules 2001, strictly prohibit killing of stray dogs, the only acceptable method to manage dog population, the letter points out, is sterilisation and immunisation.
Rule 6 of the said rules also lays down the obligation of the local authority. “If the municipal corporation or the local authority thinks it expedient to control street dog population, it shall be incumbent upon them to sterilise and immunise street dogs with the participation of animal welfare organisation, private individuals and the local authority,” quotes the letter.
The latest report of WHO on rabies, according to the letter, states that sterilisation programme offers the only answer to contain the dog population and reduce the number of human rabies cases. The chairman has, therefore, called for putting an end to the unchecked barbarism and providing the infrastructure to promote and support the ABC programme instead.
