Lack of civic sense dogging City: NGOs

Lack of civic sense dogging City: NGOs
Deccan Herald

A techie in Girinagar rang up the animal helpline to complain of dogs barking all through the night. When volunteers arrived at the spot, they found dogs having a merry time tearing apart garbage bags left on the road by residents, to be picked up by garbage collectors the next morning. That is not all...

nOn Friday night, NGO volunteers were attacked by slum dwellers for trying to pick up ferocious dogs claiming that they were ‘pet’ dogs.

nA resident of Basavanagudi filed a police complaint alleging that NGO volunteers were selling stray dogs to the ‘dhabas’ for its meat.

nA ‘compassionate’ German couple in Kacharakanahalli locked up members of a dog squad, when they tried to round up stray dogs.

The death of eight-year-old Sridevi on Friday, who was mauled by a pack of dogs in Chandra layout, has once again triggered the blame-game between the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) and the animal rights’ volunteers. However, what is missing is the finger that points towards the citizen, cry NGOs.

Citizens share an equal burden of guilt for the growing dog menace. If slum dwellers maintain a batallion of stray dogs as ‘pets’ (mostly for breeding), the mushrooming illegal meat shops dumping waste in the open, compound the problem by providing ample food. In the posh localities, the citizens end up feeding leftovers to these dogs and they also carelessly dump household waste.

Says Mr Manu Baligar, DC (Health), “Unless, people stop dumping garbage the stray dog menace will not end. The BMP, along with NGOs, pick up stray dogs for sterilisation from time-to-time. We have eliminated nothing less than 41,000 dogs in the last five years. Moreover, mass killing of healthy stray dogs is not permitted under the law - PCA Act 1960 and ABC Rules 2001.”

Mr Baligar also hinted at a crackdown on illegal meat shops.

For critics of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme, the NGOs and the BMP have a volley of questions - Do you see a large number of puppies on the streets after ABC was launched in 2000? How should NGOs tackle citizens threatening legal action if dogs are euthanised? How many citizens have given a written complaint about dog menace in their area?

“Not many know that sterilisation alone can reduce ferociousness in dogs by 40-60 per cent. ABC was launched in 2000 and the dog population has reduced from two lakh to about 50,000. Most importantly, no rabies case has been reported in the City. The dog population cannot be controlled as dog breeding is going on parallely as it is a lucrative business,” says Dilip Basna of Animal Rights’ Fund, one of the four agencies handling ABC programme.

“Dog breeders and owners sell the good-looking puppies and abandon the rest,” points out Ms Poornima of Krupa, another NGO.