Every day a new challenge for the caregivers, pet owners and the dogs of India and this time the challenge has been posed by the apathetic Gurgaon Municipal Corporation
In a public notice the corporation has said to destroy unclaimed dogs.
These are some of the major points in the notice:
1 Registration of pet dogs is mandatory
2 All pet dogs in public places must wear collars with a "metal token" and any dog found not wearing one would be taken into custody and the owner will have to pay a detension fee.
3 If the owner does not claim the dog or pays the detention fee within a week, then the dog would be "disposed of" or "destroyed".
Does India anymore look like the land of Gandhi, Mahavira and Buddha who preached the philosophy of live and let live?
No law in India talks of killing dogs but the municipal corporation has not only broken the law but also conveyed a sick and anti dog mind set. Already there is too much hostility for dogs in India and the pet owners and caregivers are looked with contempt. Just imagine the kind of impact such orders will have on our overall environment. This will only add more hostility and more hatred.
Already the percentage of pet ownership of dogs in india is very low and after such negative orders those who are planning to adopt pets will be discouraged and those who already have may choose to abandon them
Entrusting the municipal corporations for welfare of animals especially stray dogs was the biggest mistake committed by our policy makers
For municipal corporations animals are equivalent to furniture which can be easily bought, moulded and disposed off.
In Bangalore city the dogs who have been sterilized and who do not bite are being openly relocated by the residents themselves
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl6uEwnyge7/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=
Why is the situation of dogs and their caregivers so bad in India?
The fault lies in the system and the people who have been running it.
The Animal sector in India never evolved and developed the way other sectors developed.
A law which came into existence in 1960 unfortunately stayed confined in few pages. No one knew that animals too have a right to life and safety and that cruelty towards them is a punishable offence.
If the common man knew it then today by all probability the Gurgaon Municipal corporation would have fully known that dogs in India cannot be killed. And hence would not have come out with such an inhumane order.
Similar fate came to the ABC program which came into existence in 2001. It became a close door affair between the corrupt and apathetic municipal corporation and the Self centerd Animal Welfare organizations who just didn't bother to address the growing animosity against dogs and the caregivers. And needless to say the uncontrolled stray dog population.
Its time the indian judiciary, the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandy and Dairying and the Animal Welfare Board of India removed the weaknesses and loopholes which have plagued this sector for almost 5 decades now.
India needs a robust animal sector free from interferences from political leaders who use mute animals as agenda to win their elections