To

The Hon’ble Chief Justice of India 

Sub: No dog Killing in Kerala only Animal Birth Control (ABC) program to control stray dog population 

Respected Sir,

The growing intolerance towards man’s best friend and the recent dog massacre in Kerala has forced us to approach you. ‘The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, clearly lays down that no animal can be subjected to unnecessary pain or suffering. The Dog Rules 2001 clearly specifies that the stray dog of India cannot be relocated. It can only be picked up for sterilization and rabies vaccination and thereafter be dropped back to its original location. Yet in many parts of India the Animal Birth Control (ABC) program in which while bringing down the population of street dogs in a humane manner, also dramatically reduces the cases of human rabies, is not being implemented despite allocation of sufficient funds and in those where it is being implemented, it is being done in an unsystematic and complaint centric manner. The dogs are often picked up randomly by the municipal corporation when a complaint of a dog bite or dogs barking come from the residents. The people who feed and take care of dogs also face hostility from other residents. People go to the extreme and allege fake cases of dog bites against the feeders which further jeopardizes the smooth implementation of the ABC Program. This is nothing but human rights violation vis-a-vis animal rights violation.  

To add to the misery of the dog is the myth connected with him that he is rabid. This has created fear in the minds of the people and they like to maintain distance from him. The East Delhi Municipal Corporation had put up obnoxious rabies posters for three consecutive years (2018, 2019, 2020) which showed that a dog bite or scratch will infect humans with rabies. This acted as a catalyst in bringing more hatred and fear in the minds of the people towards dogs. Rabies is a deadly disease but one which is 100 percent preventable. And this can be done by giving the dogs rabies vaccination. 100 percent dog vaccination means 100 percent rabies free India. A dog bite from a healthy dog will never infect any human with rabies.

The municipal corporation pan India has been the main culprit in the failure of the ABC program.  To show the world how effective the ABC program can be if it is done with the help of the caregivers / feeders we the members of India Unites for Animals Rights organized a rabies vaccination drive from 2nd Oct 2022 to 9th October which started from Rajghat on Gandhi Jayanti. The drive is being conducted in Delhi NCR with the support of CGS Gurgaon, a vetinary hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre, Rakshan Trust and Dr. Anoop Pandey, a veterinarian who provided us with rabies vaccine and the vets who carried out the vaccination. For feeding the T shirts were sponsored by Max Vet and the dog food was sponsored by Farmina. The vaccination drive till date has been conducted on 2nd , 3rd,  4th, 5th 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th of Oct, 2022) in parts of South Delhi, East Delhi, West Delhi, Central Delhi and Noida and to our surprise we were able to vaccinate around 550 dogs in just a matter of few hours in a day. This was accomplished because of people’s participation. It was the feeders / caregivers who were involved in vaccination of the dogs. It was so much easier to get the dogs vaccinated as they were easily approachable by their feeders. In this vaccination drive no use of nets, wires or loops were made which is the normal practice by the municipal corporations.

The states of Sikkim, Rajasthan and Goa have already shown the world how ABC program can be effective if it is done through public private partnership.

Respected Sir, it is not dog menace which has plagued India but human menace created by sheer negligence and apathy of the municipal corporations which has led to so much man-dog conflict.

We do not say that there are no dog bites, however the state of Kerala is showing exaggerated figures of these dog bites due to their prejudices against the stray animals. If these dogs are not fed properly, they will (as has happened in Kerala) become aggressive which may be one of the reasons again for an attack on humans. On the other hand, its proven that feeding assists in the sterilization and vaccination process of these strays.  

We request our Hon’ble Court to punish the perpetrators who massacred hundreds of hapless and defenceless dogs of Kerala. Also we request the court to direct the government to bring amendment in the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 which is a very archaic act. This clearly shows the lack of political will to deal with the subject of animal welfare appropriately.

We also request you to press upon the government of India to implement the ABC program pan India through people’s participation. 

The signatories to this petition are individuals from India  along with more than 40 Animal welfare NGOs. Their names with signatures are enclosed.

With high regards,

Yours sincerely,

Members

India Unites for Animal Rights

#IndiaUnites4AnimalRights

CC: Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Chairperson, People for Animals ( PFA) 

CC: Ms Nanita Sharma 

CC: Chairman, Animal Welfare Board of India