Last year our very wise and humane Prime Minister talked about two most important things:
1 Adoption of the Indian breed dogs (stray dogs) as pets
2 Adoption of stray dogs and taking care of them will make India self reliant (Atma nirbhar)
Both these goals are very much achievable. Provided we take steps in right directions and come out with concrete measures.
Now to fulfill these two missions the Ministry has came out with a proposal. The proposal is called 'conservation of desi breed dogs and cats and exporting them as pets'.
Now this proposal sounds very appealing atleast the first part but the second part raises huge questions???????
A video regarding this ambitious mission of the ministry has gone viral where a gentleman who most probably is a veterinarian himself talks about the mission in detail. You may go on the link below to hear him.
He very openly talks the truth about the Indian mentality. He says that "Indians do not like to adopt desi breed dogs. For instance they like to adopt Labrador and German Shepherd. Labrador is an American dog and German Shepherd a German dog". He seems very hopeful that as we Indians like to import foreign breed dogs so also citizens of other countries will.also like to adopt our indian breed dogs. And exporting of Indian dogs means lesser population of stray and generation of foreign currency. Both goals sound great but let's see if this will actually happen or the ministry is making a plan which will end in a big fiasco.
Americans and Germans love dogs. In America every third house has a pet dog and majority of them may not have imported these dogs from India or any other nation. Moreover unlike indians, Americans and Germans may refrain from adopting or buying an Indian stray dog if they find their own indigenous dogs living a life of a stray. They will by all prabability first give their own native dogs a decent life and a loving home before helping any stray of any other country. This is something which we Indians too need to learn from them. .Also there is no dearth of dogs in these countries. They often adopt Indian stray dogs to rescue them from a diplorable and cruel life. Don't know if our dogs will atract them to buy them from the Indian market. And even if they do just how many will they buy? And who will bear their transportation costs? The ministry? Or the buyer?
We indians first have to love and respect our own breed dogs before convincing others to buy them. How can we expect other countries to buy dogs which we consider inferior, rabid and dirty? Because in reality they are none of these. They are neither inferior, nor rabid nor dirty. This mindset of Indians needs to change.
Will Asian countries be a market for our dogs? Well China kills and eats dogs and Japan is a dog loving country. China might buy our dogs provided we export them for dog meat. Japan might again take our dogs for adoption but again out of sympathy. Just to rescue them. Will they be ready to buy our dogs??? Dont see any other Asian nation or African nation buy our indian dogs. On the contrary many asian and African countries are themselves struggling with the stray dog problem. Middle East may but then we will have tough competition. Indian dogs vs European and American dogs.
Also what the ministry does not realise is that every animal is unique and is accustomed to a particular climatic condition. Getting a Saint Bernard to India and exporting indian dogs born in a hot and humid climate to cold countries may not be very congenial.for them. We might be risking their life and reducing their life expectancy. Rescuing an animal is very different from trading an animal. Proposal of trading indian dogs rather than rescuing them that too coming from animal welfare ministry is not very welcoming.
The Ministry has to change their mindset. Dogs and cats cannot be treated as commodities. They are not sandal wood or cardomom which india can easily export. And they are definitely not an endangered species. They are in plenty. There numbers is in millions. Wonder from where will the ministry get the buyers?????
As for conservation the ministry has plans to.rope in The Indian Council of Agricultural Research ( ICAR) to carry out research on how to make Indian breed better and more useful. Well studying the Indian breed dogs and finding the hidden talents in it is indeed a very good step. But how will they make the dog better and what will they do to help in the development of stray dogs is yet to be explained in detail by the ministry.
The gentleman further says that India needs to become canine rabies free by 2030. This is one of the UN goals and India is a part of it. Also he says that according to the Integrated Disease Surveilance Program of the Ministry of Health a total number of 55574644 dog bite cases in humans were reported in 2018. So inorder to meet these two goals of making india canine rabies free and reducing the dog bites this two mission proposal has been drafted.
Now how will export of dogs and conservation of dogs reduce dog bites or make India canine rabies free one fails to understand. Because export is not a feasible solution and God knows what they mean by conservation. Let's hope conservation does not mean picking up all.the dogs from the streets and putting them in cages. This way the dogs will all.die and perish. There is another remarkable revelation the gentleman has made. He said the cats and dogs who live in forest are wild animals and so come under the ministry of Environment and Climate Change. The stray dogs living in towns and villages come under the ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairyimg.
Just want to share a small incident which has been reported from Telangana.. The municipal commissioner of Jagtial district Telangana has picked up.100 stray dogs and dumped them in the forest area. Now which ministry will these dogs come under? Can the gentleman give us the answer?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/sgacc/permalink/3932437083488826/
The Ministry should be focusing on implementation of dog rules and stop such illegal relocation of dogs which is happening rampantly across India.
A holistic approach to reduce dog bites and make India canine rabies free is already being done in the form of ABC program. And the ministry just needs to implement this program in a more scientific and systematic manner. Also it will be nicer if the ministry stops dancing to the tune of the health ministry who is more human centric than animal centric in their approach. Which is absolutely justifiable for the health ministry but the animal welfare ministry should think about the welfare of animals first.
In Delhi we have already experienced the obnoxious rabies poster which were exhibited all over the place that too for three successive years. It only did more harm than any good. The health ministry has shown the dog bite numbers but have they tried to find out how many dogs bit out of provocation and just how many were rabid??
Also the gentleman says that the AWBI looks into cruelty cases only. This is absolutely absurd. The AWBI had been entrusted with the implementation and monitoring of the ABC program.
It's time the Board became fully functional under the Ministry. of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. Also the finances for the ABC program should be budgeted properly and should come from the Ministry itself. And not from any other ministry.
The ABC program is in a very bad state in India. Even in Delhi it's not being implemented properly. Most of the ABC centres have not been paid by the municipality. Friendicoes was earlier charging Rs. 1500 per dog for sterilization and today they are demanding Rs. 3000 for the dog. The poor caregivers have no other option but to pay for their furry friends. And its not the fault of the ABC centres too. How will they carry out sterilization and immunization against rabies if they don't get funds on time? The Ministry is absolutely blind to the ground reality. Mass sterilization and rabies vaccination of stray dogs pan India is the only solution to make India canine rabies free. But yes this cannot be achieved without people's participation. The Ministry has to find ways and means to encourage people to participate in the ABC program.
Wonder how many veterinarians who are behind this proposal have an Indian dog as pet at homet? Also if any of them have ever fed a dog on a regular basis as caregivers do in India? Or have actually gone to the streets of India and seen for themselves the plight of dogs and caregivers in India. Witnessed themselves how difficult it is to pick up dogs for sterilization without the involvement of caregiver.
If the ministry really wants to fulfill the dream of out honourable Prime Minister of making india atmanirbhar and giving the Indian dog a better life the ministry should try to change the mindset of the people and encourage them to.adopt a stray. And ABC program done in the right manner will encourage community ownership of dogs as well. Sterilization is a one time cost which with every passing year will reduce the expenses of the Govt once the population of dogs has been controlled.
A system is already in place for the last 20 years so the Govt will do a blunder if they destroy the existing system and replace it with some other infeasible and vague system. All it needs to do is strengthen the existing system and remove the loopholes from it. Also the veterinary University and college students may be involved in rabies vaccination. They may be allotted areas where they can with the help of caregivers vaccinate the dogs. This will not only save india from wasting crores of money on futile projects but also make India canine rabies free along with controlling the dogs population and giving the dogs of India a happier and healthier life.
To read about the proposal in detail kindly go on the link below: