Prevent & penalise illegal relocation & harassment of community dogs

The Issue

Thanks to ignorance of many facility and security organisations, dogs are getting relocated and culled - despite strong animal laws & messaging. This lawlessness needs to be fixed. Toni, a blind 11 year old tried her best to return from a forest she had been dumped in to her Cunningham Rd home but she died enroute.

Shameful. Most of this is done by unaware guards & housekeeping staff at commercial/residential complexes, following resident's orders. We demand IFMA (INDIAN Facility Management Association), Security Association of India, CAPSI , APSA & others like CREDAI, RERA, Group4 & other facilities & services take the responsibility & enforce the law. It is they who control the admin & management of many large companies & residential building so they should to take overall ownership, ensure member companies and facility managers, guards & staff are instructed on the illegality of this and are kept aware of their role responsibility and culpability. Naturally, suitable action against the leadership & management of erring companies should be taken, not just the largely ignorant or unaware sub staff or guards following orders . Private organisations or associations like the IFMA, SAI& CREDAI , which handle so many of the large corporate or residential facilities across the city must be made cognizant of their member companies' role & penalties in perpetrating illegal activities by freely relocating the dogs. We have actual proof and examples with large corporates and it is inexcusable to see how single-mindedly & uncaringly dog catchers are employed and done .

Look at the picture : thats friendly, loving feisty Toni of Cunningham Road aka Blocky. 11 years old, mostly blind & deaf..she, Brownie, Chiku & Harlequin were inconvenient in a fancy HM Geneva House, so these friendly dogs were put into a vehicle (on a holiday weekend when we office goers were not around) & thrown in a forest 50kms away by the Building Manager . Blind Toni was neutered, vaccinated , loved the sun and chicken bones & used to make her displeasure by an odd singing bark, especially when you missed her meal! Nondescript Streeties to others , but all of them were beloved by the community. She had some ear problems that we often admitted her to CUPA for so the staff there also knew her - the stories they could tell you ! The building security loved her as did we . We searched , we begged the building people and made a police complaint. We kept posting and searching, feeling helpless, the walls of disinterest closing around us. Nothing . We never stoped hoping . A year later, blind old Toni trying to make her dogged slow way back to us was spotted by a dog lover in Domlur , but was so weak and despite being treated, she died soon after, before she reached her home . Our hearts broke. We could not forgive ourselves. What would the others do in a forest alone, without their community & carers ? We shudder to think of her confusion, sadness & suffering. And there are HUNDREDS like them every month.. so many peaceful community dogs have been illegally relocated in Bangalore & other cities. See this NewsMinute Article .

The Supreme Court says no dogs can be relocated or culled , only sterilised and vaccinated . If sterilisation & vaccination followed , then dog population is controlled and humans and dogs are safe . The problem is that ABC at such a slow pace is exacerbating the problem, and that is a genuine issue . But laws cannot be broken .

Yet the ABC Centers and BBMP are deluged with calls from people, even councillors and prominent citizens asking for dogs to be killed or relocated. Companies with large software parks or locations are freely getting their Facility Mangers to ‘remove’ friendly dogs and throw them somewhere. Check links below.

This is monstrous as dogs won’t survive in a new place, and their community guardians are left devastated. The dogs die or are attacked . These are neutered, vaccinated dogs so it means that the money and effort of BBMP & tax payers money is wasted. At best , we can assume that the perpetrators don’t know the law and may do this out of ignorance ( still not acceptable) and at worst they are breaking the law with full knowledge , aware that the penalties are not so high . Another trend is a deliberate plan to attack an area - we have noticed that the localities are suddenly more open to robbery and breakins a small there are no more community dogs .

AWBI, We demand the laws for relocation be tightened and it be made a non bailable offence with at least ₹5000 fine and community service for the transgressors . It is the transgressers responsibility to find the missing dogs at their cost .

We demand that Councillors , Police, and BBMP Health departments escalate the ABC in that area on war footing and ensure that training is done across departments so the law makers, enforcers and representatives do not break the law or go against the constitution.

We demand that CCTV footage of such acts immediately made available to police and animal activists, so that valuable time is not lost suitable punitive action is taken. Such people should not be allowed to have our own dogs in the future.

We demand that the police whether training, whether by individual acceptance of missing dogs at stations, or sensitization off their teams, should support this in a more empathetic and focused fashion. As of now many of the police don’t even know the law there by making it easier for perpetrators get off .

TAKE ACTION NOW! We are sick of this constant & flagrant breaking of the law that affects innocent dogs and their community guardian like this . Leave them alone.

As per the law, just let them be.

L e t t h e m b e .

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