Last week a case was reported from Mansarovar, Shahadra East Delhi where a woman caregiver, Swati was being harassed for feeding the dogs of her society both by her neighbours and her RWA. Many dogs were also found dead mysteriously. Posters had been put up all over the building which said " Beware of dogs as they bite and we are fed up of dogs and a bitch living here"
Swati was in a miserable state with no help around her. The police too could not get the posters removed and nor were the residents afraid of law or the police.
So ultimately Swati contacted PFA and the founder of PFA, Member of Parliament and former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi gave full assurance to Swati that she will be helped. And within few hours time the PFA volunteers came to Swati's place and removed the appalling posters and in its place pasted the dog rule posters.
Also PFA contacted the President of RWA and told him the rules. Also told him that during rainy season if the dogs come on staircase to take refuge then as civilized citizens we should help them and not beat them and shoo them away as being drenched in rain will only make them sick and uncomfortable and out of irritation their chances of biting might increase. let's hope that the president of the RWA has understood this simple logic behind not beating or shooing the dogs away. And he also put some sense into his residents.
Because beating dogs or pelting stones at them is actually inviting them to bite.
Swati is now much relaxed and has seen a positive change in the attitude of her RWA.
Putting up gates at the entrance of buildings and parks just to keep the stray dogs away has become a new norm in Delhi.
A gate (pic in the post) has been put up just two days back right at the entrace of a staircase of a DDA flat in East Delhi. The caregiver Vaibhav stays on the second floor so many a time the dogs come up and lie down on his floor. It is a DDA self financing building which is quite spacious and two or three dogs on the second floor will not make the place congested. But the hearts and minds of the people living there is quite congested. Too small to adjust two dogs on second floor. The common staircase leads to 12 flats. So one can imagine the kind of space this building has but the majority of the residents can't bare the sight of a dog lying down on their floor. So they instal large gates to obstruct their passage into the building. Not just that many RWAs in Delhi have put gates in public parks with boards saying dogs not allowed inside the park. Now why are parks having gates? Why should a public park have gates? That too the ones in residences?
Will these intelligent people tell where will the dogs go? The dogs look for a safe place to sit and lie down.
These super intelligent people have closed the parks, closed the buildings so where do they expect the dogs.to go? Do thet expect them to disappear in thin air ? Or do they want them to die?
What if these men are kept in open in scorching heat and heavy rain?
What if these men are starved and kept thirsty with no food and water?
What if these men are beaten with sticks and shooed away all the time?
Is it really dog menace or it it actually human menace which is leading to dog bites?