The residents of Panchsheel Hynish Society in Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh) have removed stray dogs from their society in the most brutal fashion. They not only removed them from their society but also tied them with ropes and then brutally beat them up with sticks. These wild and barbaric men didn't even spare small puppies. Just watch the video to believe it.
https://www.facebook.com/1904488516479991/posts/2636684636593705/
There was only one brave man who had the nerves and courage to speak out for these voiceless souls but then around 70 odd men surrounded this man's flat and started threatening him. The man apparently went to the police station but we all know what must have happened there........
An article has got published on 8th August 2020 in the Indian Express. This is the same newspaper in which few days back an article entitled "A bizarre and unscientific policy is behind the menace of stray dogs all over India" got published. This article was written by Coomi Kapoor.
Indian express has yet again published another article entitled "Dog feeding without accountability". The author of this article is Meghna Uniyal.
I don't want to criticize the authors as they have all the right to speak their mind but there are few facts which there two authors should know:
1 The ABC programme is the only scientific and humane method of restricting stray dog population. The Indian govt adopted it in 2001 and both the authors have blamed the former union minister Maneka Gandhi for introducing this in India. I am sure there must have been other people too along with Mrs Gandhi who were responsible for introducing this most scientific method for controlling dog population in India and for that we Indians should be thanking them and applauding them and not criticizing them. It seems the authors would have been happy had India continued killing the dogs as was done by the corporation prior to 2001. This is probably what is done by Pakistan our neighbour.
2 The authors probably have a solution to end all this dog menace and the way out is to starve the dogs to death or to dump them in shelters. This is exactly what the municipal corporation should be doing picking up the dogs and shutting them away to some unknown place away from the sight of these educated city dwellers. Coomi has claimed 60 million stray dogs in India. So how will they accommodate so many dogs in shelters? or are they planning to make a dog sanctuary in India?. And who will bear their cost? The govt? Or are they suggesting that stray dogs be killed? None of them is the right solution because running a dog sanctuary or shelter is not feasible both financially and physically. Shelters are the worst place for animals in India and if the authors do not know then they should pay a surprise visit to any of the govt aided animal shelters and see their condition. Let's face it India is still a developing country and it just cannot afford dog shelters and sanctuaries. Unless of course the govt plans to kill the dogs by dumping them into shelters. They would anyway die there in few months time due to starvation and sickness.
3 According to the authors the caregivers are the main culprits as it is due to them that the stray dog population has increased. These authors should watch the above video and decide for themselves if blaming the caregivers for dog overpopulation and dog biting is the right thing to do. Instead the caregivers have been the victim of this faulty system. They have been and are still being abused. Most of the caregivers don't even know that they are to get the dogs sterilised. Not all municipal corporations in India are running ABC programme. In Delhi alone there are many caregivers who don't know whom to contact for dog sterilisation. People don't even know the basic things like notching of the ear as a mark of a sterilised dog and rabies vaccination for dogs which actually is the only way to eradicate canine rabies from India.
4 The authors talk about public health and safety. It seems they have never seen dog cruelty or even if they have they don't give a damn to it. Not a day goes by when a dog is not poisoned or beaten to death. Some get reported and some don't. Do they know that a caregiver was murdered for feeding dogs in his colony in Delhi? The number of people going to hospitals for rabies vaccination after a dog bite does not prove that so many dogs are rabid. Most of the cases don't even require injections. And the kind of rabies awareness programme which has been happening in Delhi alone is most misleading and obnoxious. God knows what kind of awareness is being done and who is benefiting from it because neither the humans are benefiting from it nor the dogs. This is no way to make India canine rabies free. By such awareness we are actually making India canine free. Human life is very precious and no life should be lost due to rabies but is the Govt or the dept responsible for it making the right awareness programme? And the answer is no. The primary focus of the rabies awareness programme should have been on stray dog vaccination but instead all the focus is on dog bites and human vaccination against rabies.
4 The fault is neither of the ABC programme nor the caregivers but of the faulty implementation of the ABC programme.
Mahatma Gandhi would never want the Indian dogs to get killed or dumped at some remote place without food and water to die. He is right when he says why should we give left over food to dogs. Also why should there be stray dogs? Shouldn't we Indians come forward and adopt a stray? Why cant each one of us make just one chapati for a stray sitting outside our house? Why should the burden of feeding stray be taken by one or two people in a colony? Why can't the whole colony take the responsibility of feeding the dogs and getting them sterilised and vaccinated?
The fault lies not with the ABC programne, the caregivers or the Indian dogs. All three of them have been the victim of faulty policy and lack of political will. .