Cooperative Housing Societies(CHS) and Resident Welfare Associations(RWA) spreading fake news saying that dogs and cats can cause COVID is a violation of the Disaster Management Act 2005.
Strict action will be taken against such misinformation by the Government of India.
Please take note and share with societies who are spreading misinformation about animals spreading #COVID19.
Details of how to and whom to complain are shared in the images below.
Animals don’t spread or get #coronavirus. We humans do.
Don’t be a #COVIDIOT. Don’t spread misinformation, it’s is not only irresponsible but also a criminal offence.
Please do file a formal complaint if a CHS/RWA or member of such CHS/RWA does not desist from spreading false information even after your warning and sharing facts.
Globally, over 17 lakh people have been infected with COVID-19, whereas, there have been only 4 isolated and rare cases of animals that have tested positive for COVID. Experts suggest that these animals got it from their positive pet parents with whom these animals were living.
NO cases in India whatsoever, and NO evidence GLOBALLY to prove that animals spread it. Instead, there is more than enough evidence to prove that humans spread the virus to other fellow humans and that is precisely why we are in a lockdown, animals are not.
So, if at all anyone has to be scared, it’s the animals who should be scared of us and not the other way round.
You are way more safe with an animal than with an unknown human.
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India (abbreviated as ‘MHA’) on 25th March, 2020 has issued an addendum (meaning “add-on”) to its guidelines issued on 24th March 2020, asking Veterinary Hospitals and pharmacies to remain operational during the lockdown, which includes private Veterinary Clinics, too. This is part of the Government’s effective action step to prevent animals from suffering without medical aid.
P.S: Para C(f) and Para D of the Addendum under the signature of Union Home Secretary Government of India, are really good, providing scope for Wildlife Vets and Animal Husbandry Department Vets serving for domestic and companion animals.
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This addendum comes on the same day as the PM’s request to the nation, to be “Compassionate Citizens” & feed the hungry, both the poor humans and neighbourhood animals. The video can be watched below –
Prime Minister Modi urged fellow Indians to show the spirit of “Compassion” to ovetcome the threat of Coronavirus in the country. He said this while he was interacting with the people of his Lok Sabha constituency — Varanasi — via video conference on Wednesday, 25th March 2020.“Whoever has the capability, take the pledge to take care of 9 families for 21 days. It will be a true ‘Navratri’. Due to the lockdown, animals are also facing trouble. I appeal to the people to take care of the animals around them,” said Prime Minister Modi. (Read the full article here).
By saying what he has today, PM Modi has only reiterated the importance of being a Compassionate Citizen of the Country, which is a Fundamental duty of every Indian Citizen as per the Indian Constitution, as well.
Please watch full video of his address below. He says the above between 25 minutes to 26.30 minutes in his address🙏
Please carry printouts of the PM’s advisory to the States about street animal welfare, and the letter from the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Upamanyu Basu, to show the authorities if they stop you from feeding.
Please also keep an eye out for animals that may be suffering inside closed pet shops and inform the authorities immediately.
Sharing the same below for ready reference:
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News Article in ‘The Print’ dated 23rd March by Journalist Sanya Dhingra (Please scroll below for relevant images, that you can download, print and keep handy, while you feed/look after animals in need and street animals in general. This is the time to show humanity, kindness and compassion to all living beings)
The Narendra Modi government has told all states to ensure that medical help for animals is treated as an essential service, which does not get suspended during COVID-19 lockdowns across the country.
While several states announced lockdowns Sunday in a bid to arrest the spread of the deadly disease in India, they did not include veterinary services in the list of essential services that would be exempt under it.
In a letter addressed to all chief secretaries dated 23rd March, the Centre said, “It is requested that veterinary hospitals and dispensaries in the state, including private veterinary clinics, veterinary pathologies, animal shelters etc. function in the normal course and the veterinary services be considered in the list of ‘Essential Services’.”
The letter, written by the joint secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Upamanyu Basu said, “It is necessary to ensure continuous emergency services in the animal husbandry and veterinary sector, especially in emergent animal health issues situations.
“These May include but are not restricted to, emergency services like disease diagnosis and treatment, monitoring of any emergency livestock and poultry diseases, immediate disease reporting, etc.”
However, the government has urged veterinarians and other related officials to ensure strict personal hygiene and avoid public gatherings.
‘Animals and birds should not suffer during lockdown’
On the same day, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) wrote another letter to all states emphasising that all law enforcement agencies ensure that animals and birds do not suffer due to hunger during the lockdown due to COVID-19.
Please carry printouts of the PM’s advisory to the States about street animal welfare, and the letter from the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Upamanyu Basu, to show the authorities if they stop you from feeding. Please also keep an eye out for animals that may be suffering inside closed pet shops and inform the authorities immediately.
“This is a valuable service consistently provided by compassionate individuals and the absence of it may cause a large number of animals and birds to suffer and die and carcasses of the dead animals and birds may further spread different diseases amongst community which will be difficult to control,” Dr O.P. Chaudhary, Director of the AWBI has written.
Meanwhile Delhi Government has issued the following order as well.
“The situation is quite alarming,” BJP MP Maneka Gandhi said. “In some places, food is being stopped…No animal grains and chara is being allowed to come to Haryana from UP. Even pedigree from Hyderabad is being stopped by Mumbai,” she said.
“Animals and birds cannot be allowed to starve in the country in this manner.”
Senior BJP Leader and Member of Parliament, Maneka Gandhi on Saturday said that “The coronavirus is not transmitted through live animals.” Please scroll below to watch a news clipping, on this subject.
She has also issued a letter on her letterhead earlier today on 23rd March 2020, which is shared below-
All Animal care takers and Feeders can keep this letter by Mrs. Maneka Gandhi, Honourable Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha, Government of India) handy in case they are stopped by authorities while feeding community animals.
Share this letter with your RWA’s and nearest Police Station.
Please take a print out of this letter, if possible or save it on your phone, and keep it handy when you are stepping out for an animal rescue or to feed them.
A humble request to all, be kind towards animals:
Please make two extra Chapatis/Rotis daily in your home for street dogs/Cows and other stray animals who will have no means of feeding themselves since all the Restaurants/Dhabas/Food Carts are closed now due to coronavirus lockdown.
Most of the stray animals survive on leftover food provided by Hotel/Dhaba staff. These animals will starve to death in case of a prolonged lockdown. You can handover these breads to your society/ Apartment staff to be kept outside for animals. Spread the message to all the people in your circle.
Let’s all give it a try, and share this message so more and more people can do the good deed of feeding streer animals in these trying times.
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Mrs. Maneka Gandhi addresses the Media to bust myths.
While addressing the press, Maneka Gandhi said, “It has brought in the notice that the government department and several insurance agencies are creating a false panic in the coronavirus through issuing false advisories.”
She said, “These agencies are taking out the advisories on the Coronavirus, which are not confirmed by the health department by saying that nobody should go to live animals.”
“This is completely false and misleading… As the health department of India has said that the animal does not have coronavirus and cannot transmit the virus,” she said.
Adding to the statement, Maneka said, “I would advise the Ministry of Electronics, Insurance companies, and the ministry of railways not to run fake ads on this.”
The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), a statutory body under the Government of India, has written to the chief secretaries of all State governments and Union Territories to ensure the well-being of pet animals amid the Corona virus threat.
In a circular, AWBI Chairman Mr. O. P Chaudhary said that, “It was brought to the notice of the Board that the animal owners are depriving their pets of proper food, water or shelter due to the increasing threat of the virus.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has clarified that dogs and cats are not involved in spreading infection in the current episode of coronavirus infection. “The Board has already issued an advisory to the State government sand UTs to see that the stray animals are taken care of by the local bodies as it their responsibility,” Chaudhary said.
Hence, the AWBI chief has requested the governments to create awareness about animal welfare and advise them against abandoning their pets.
Even fimstars, like Arjun Kapoor, Twinkle Khanna, Kriti Sanon, Mini Mathur and many more kind hearts, are urging their fans and followers on their Instagram feeds to continue feeding street animals, more so now, when eateries, their primary source of scavenging for food, are shut.
In coronavirus crisis, lessons for us, writes President Ram Nath Kovind – in The Hindustan Times, dated March 20, 2020
“Respect Nature
*Humankind’s craving to control nature and exploit all its resources for profit can be wiped out in a stroke by an organism we cannot even see with the naked eye.*
*Let us remind ourselves that our ancestors saw nature as our mother, and asked us to respect it. At some point in history, we forgot ancient wisdom. When pandemics and abnormal weather phenomena are becoming the norm, it is time to pause and wonder where we lost the way, and how we can still make a comeback.*
*Inter-dependency is also something we tend to overlook in normal times. In my speeches, I have often referred to the Sanskrit dictum, “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”, which means the whole world is but a family. Today, it turns out to be truer than ever before. We realise how deeply each one of us is connected with everybody else. We are as safe as we take care of safety of others, not only of human beings but also of plants and animals.*
While we at JAAGRUTI strongly endorse ‘responsible pet ownership’ and do encourage pet owners to pick the poop up after their dog has done it and help keep the surroundings clean and do it ourselves as well, what these SDMC these office bearers should understand that in a country in-famous for open defecation, is that such a one-sided dictat has to be thought through before being ‘imposed’ lest it gets misused by the Municipality staff and RWA (Resident Welfare Association) office bearers to ‘harass’ pet owners and many street dog caretakers. In any case, with pet abandonment on a rise in big cities, such ill-thought out words coming out someone in as responsible a public position like a Mayor of the Corporation, will only instigate more people to abandon their pets.
Instead through awareness messages, SDMC should encourage environment-friendly messages on the relevance of picking up a pet dog’s poop, not using polythene bags, planting trees, relevance of Street Dog Animal Birth Control and Anti-Rabies Vaccination drives etc. What we as a Country and as Indians need is some sensitivity and compassion and Empathy drilled into our minds to encourage responsible citizenship rather than ill-thought of dictats that only offend some and appease some.
In Rishi’s own words, “The following legal notice was sent to the concerned officials. Also the MANY MANY letters that animal lovers wrote to SDMC Mayor had their effect. As of now SDMC cannot implement this law, in the absence of a proper legal procedure. Plus they have not replied to our legal notice and have not defended their stand. Thanks to all the genuine animal lovers who participated in this campaign. If SDMC still goes ahead with this without a legal procedure, then contempt proceedings will be initiated. If anyone comes to know that they are discreetly going ahead then kindly inform us.”
TAKE ACTION:South Delhi people can still keep writing letters to the SDMC Mayor whose address is in the Notice-remember to send your letters registered Via India Post. Keep the Receipt of the Post safe with you.
It is a very self-explanatory notice that touches upon a lot of issues and thus it is important every street dog caretaker as well as Pet owner reads it.
Years that we spend in school are amongst those times when our minds are most ‘impressionable’ i.e. receptive to new facts, new learnings every day. These are also the times when we are much more innocent at heart and can be sensitized into becoming a truly compassionate and kind-hearted individual who thinks beyond himself/herself.
In the Year 2014, CBSE i.e. Central Board of Secondary Education (India) had sent an advisory to all its 18,000 affiliated schools across India strongly urging them to implement a policy that bans students and staff members from wearing leather shoes in favour of animal- and Earth-friendly canvas shoes. CBSE proposed this as an “ethical” and “compassionate” way to protect the environment and animals from harm.
For not many kids and adults, or even self-proclaimed ‘vegetarians or vegans’ alike, understand, even in today’s time that leather is nothing but skin of a terrified animal, that was cruelly, painfully inhumanely slaughtered in front of their kin (often dismembered/de-skinned when it is still conscious and breathing) , and they are subjected to this brutality for their meat that you eat and/or the shoes or belts that you are wearing or the bag or wallet you are carrying or showing off!
“[B]uying leather directly contributes to encouraging the growth of factory farms and slaughterhouses …“, says the CBSE advisory. “Leather … shares responsibility for all the environmental destruction caused by the meat industry as well as the pollution cause by the toxins in tanning.”
Alternative to Leather Shoes in case you are wondering: CANVAS SHOES
The link to the Advisory on CBSE website can be accessed by clicking here, and the screenshots of the Advisory can be read by clicking on Images below (it’s a 2 page circular)
We understand as per information available on the Web that the Indian States of “Himachal Pradesh and Punjab have already moved to ban leather shoes in schools and in Goa, most schools already use canvas shoes”.
Take Action: If your school is amongst one of them that still forces you to wear Leather Shoes, then we request you to take a print out of this advisory and discuss this with the Head of your Schools, for Sir Paul McCartney once rightly said, “”If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian”. Watch the Movie by clicking here.
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P.S: If you have an inspiring story or anecdote of yours to share with others to spread the wave of kindness around and more sensitivity and understanding on the need to voluntarily oppose the use of Leather goods, then please type it down in the comments section below.
Let’s spread ‘JAAGRUTI’. Let us all Inform.Share.Inspire
We are quoting below verbatim from the Facebook post put by, Advocate Ms.Anjali Sharma, so that those who feed street dogs in Delhi and elsewhere can use this information BELOW to counter the misinformation that has spread following recent news reports in Delhi on this subject.
So, please read below, relax and download the Complete order issued by the Delhi High Court below and gear up to counter all the unruly “RWA” members or neighbours who have been fed some fodder by our misreporting Media outlets in the City.
After you have finished reading what we have quoted below, please also read the below links once again.
SO HAS THE DELHI HIGH COURT BANNED STREET DOG FEEDING THROUGH A RECENT ORDER?
OF COURSE NOT. Please read the ACTUAL ORDER which I’m sharing below, & not the trash that some Hindi tabloids have published. The order passed is case specific – involving a case where 2 parties are residing in a common property. One resident objected to the other resident feeding street dogs. He wanted the dogs removed from the area, & wanted their feeding banned. THE COURT HAS NOT DONE THAT. The Court simply said – don’t chain street dogs in the common drive-way of the property in which both parties are residing, don’t feed them there, don’t cause nuisance for the other resident. THATS ALL. This order is in line with the earlier orders passed by the Delhi High Court in 2009 – 2010. Even in those cases, in which I had appeared for the Animal Welfare Board of India, the High Court had emphasised that feeding must be done carefully & in a responsible manner.
– Above text is as quoted by Ms.Anjali Sharma ADVOCATE in her Facebook post on 31st July 2017.
We are quoting below in Hindi, the words of Saurav Gupta, an Animal Welfare activist on this subject so as to calm down the nerves of all of you who communicate in Hindi.
दोस्तों एक भ्रांति और डर आज कुछ पशुप्रेमियों में है जो कुछ कुत्तों को खाना डालते हैं दोस्तों मैं उन्हें आश्वस्त करना चाहता हूँ की ये उच्च न्यायालय का आदेश केवल एक केस में आया है, दो पार्टियों के झगड़े में एक civil-Suit की सुनवाई के दौरान विशेष तौर पर इस एक केस में ये आदेश पारित किया गया है, ये कोई P.I.L या Writ Petition नहीं है जो पूरे दिल्ली में लागू हो ये बस एक केस में एक पार्टी के ख़िलाफ़ आदेश है. कुछ हिंदी अख़बार वाले इस केस में बिना Court Order पढ़े ख़बर लिख रहे हैं और कुत्तों को खाना डालने वाले हमारे पशुप्रेमी उन ख़बरों को पढ़ कर बिना बात के डर रहे हैं.
दोस्तों मैं सप्रीम कोर्ट के एक वरिष्ठ अधिवक्ता के साथ हूँ जिनसे मैंने इस ऑर्डर को डिस्कस कर रहा हूँ उनका कहना है कि हमें इस केस में सप्रीम कोर्ट जाने की या परेशान होने की बिलकुल जर्रूरत नहीं है कोर्ट ने कहा है कि driveway में किसी कुत्ते को ना बांधा जाए और स्ट्रीट डॉग को फ़ीड करते समय पब्लिक की सावधानी व साफ़ सफ़ाई का ध्यान रखा जाए,जिसके लिए मालवीय नगर के S.h.o ko भी उचित कार्यवाही के लिए निर्देशित किया गया है।
कोर्ट ने इस ऑर्डर में कहीं नहीं लिखा की स्ट्रीट dogs को खाना ना डाला जाए, कोर्ट ने 2009 से 2011 तक चले उस हाईकोर्ट के केस के आदेशों को ही जारी रखा है जिसमें हाई कोर्ट ने साफ़ तौर पर दिल्ली पुलिस को निर्देशित किया था की स्ट्रीटdogs को फ़ीडिंग करने वालेपशुप्रेमियो की सुरक्षा सुनिश्चित की जाए तथा एम॰सी॰डी॰(MCD) को निर्देशित किया था कि स्ट्रीट dogs के फ़ीडिंग point तथा फ़ीडिंग का समय निर्धारित किया जाय। उसी आदेशों को इस आदेश में जारी रखा गया है।। बस इतनी सी बात को बढ़ा चढ़ा कर अख़बारों में छापा जा रहा है।
दोस्तों ये ऑर्डर दिल्ली में किसी भी अन्य केस में मान्य नहीं होगा, इसलिए आप किसी भी पशुप्रेमी को परेशान होने की ज़रूरत नहीं है। जब तक हम लोग बैठे हैं तब तक आपको इस तरह के आदेशों में चिंता करने की बिलकुल ज़रूरत नहीं है.
Ever wondered why we started JAAGRUTI, it was to help people care, co-exist or learn to care better for the animals that live on the streets, most commonly, the Indian Street Dog
These street/community dogs are much more than mere ‘dogs’..hear us speak more in the first-half of this Radio Interview I had with students from School of Journalism students at University of Queensland, Australia, who came to India on a Study Tour few weeks back.
The second half of this Radio Interview talks about the alarming issue of Pet abandonment!
This Holi, play it safe. Do ensure however, that in either your love towards the street or pet animals you care for OR in your post-bhaang madness you don’t put the colourful, toxic, harmful, chemical laced powdered or liquid Holi colours onto the animals or birds.
You can wash the colours off, these animals and birds cannot do so, no matter how hard they try to…
They will lick them and that could harm them besides causing them skin allergies or infections.
Please read the tips published in the Article penned in today’s Mumbai based Mid Day Newspaper on the subject and share them with as many people as you can to make it a “happy” holi for you as well as all animals and birds around us.
The Supreme Court of India in a landmark and historic judgement passed in the morning of 7th May 2014 has favoured constitutional status for rights of animals like citizens and banned the use (and abuse) of Bulls and Bullocks in Jallikattu, Bullock Cart Racing and all in other ‘sports and entertainment’ based events and/or festivities.
In a major step towards protecting animals from human cruelty, the Supreme Court on Wednesday 7th May 2014, banned the popular post-harvest Jallikattu (taming the bull) or bullfights in Tamil Nadu and bullock-cart racing in Maharashtra, Punjab and other states, saying they violated provisions of the 50-year-old Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
Significantly, the court favoured constitutional status for rights of animals like citizens. It said, “Parliament, it is expected, would elevate rights of animals to that of constitutional rights, as done by many of the countries around the world, so as to protect their dignity and honour.”
A bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and P C Ghose struck down as illegal the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act, 2009, and said, “Bulls cannot be used as performing animals, either for the Jallikattu events or bullock-cart races in the state of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and elsewhere in the country.”
Before banning Jallikattu and cart-racing, the bench extensively narrated behavioural patterns of the animal. “Bulls adopt flight or fight response when they are frightened or threatened and this instinctual response to a perceived threat is what is being exploited in Jallikattu or bullock-cart races,” it said.
“During Jallikattu, many animals are observed to engage in a flight response as they try to run away from the arena when they experience fear or pain, but cannot do this since the area is completely enclosed. Jallikattu demonstrates a link between actions of humans and the fear, distress and pain experienced by bulls,” it said.
“Studies indicate that rough and abusive handling of bulls compromise welfare and for increasing fear in bulls, often, they are pushed, hit, prodded, abused, causing mental as well as physical harm,” said Justice Radhakrishnan, who authored the judgment for the bench.
Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) through senior advocate Raj Panjwani, said even if Jallikattu was conducted as per the Tamil Nadu legislation, it would still violate provisions of PCA Act as the event involved causing pain and suffering to bulls, which was prohibited under Section 11(1)(a) of the central law.
AWBI said Jallikattu and bullock-cart races had no historical, cultural and religious significance and told the court that even if they had, it should not be permitted as it violated the PCA Act.
While declaring that the rights of bulls against cruelty was inviolable, the bench gave a general direction to the governments and AWBI “to take appropriate steps to see that the persons-in-charge or care of animals take reasonable measures to ensure the well-being of animals”.
This could put all pet owners, dairy farm owners and animal keepers on notice against causing cruelty to them. However, the court did not deal with a related issue – whether bullock-carts, which are rural India’s sole transportation medium both for men and material, were included in this general direction.
The court also gave the following directions:
AWBI and governments are directed to take steps to prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering on animals, since their rights have been statutorily protected under Section 3 and 11 of the PCA Act.
AWBI to ensure that provisions of Section 11(1) of the PCA Act is scrupulously followed, meaning thereby that the person-in-charge or care of animals shall not incite any animal to fight against a human being or another animal
If the court’s directions are not complied with scrupulously, it would be the duty of the government and AWBI to bring to book the violator.
Credits: Above News Report has been taken from Times of India and is penned by TOI Correspondent Dhananjay Mahapatra
For those readers of ‘Jaagruti’, who don’t understand what ‘Jallikattu’ is and why the Supreme Court Order on this sport to be banned should be welcomed, please watch this video
The Hindu published the following article on the laws pet owners have to keep animals in their houses
With apartment complexes becoming the norm, it becomes important for pet owners to understand their rights and responsibilities, for the welfare of their pets and their neighbours. Residents sometimes find a letter taped to the notice board (on behalf of the Apartment Association) that says that pets are banned and that owners must either vacate or abandon their pets.
“This is tantamount to harassment, and utterly unlawful,”says Anjali Sharma, Advocate, practising at the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court of India, who is an Executive Committee Member of, and Legal Advisor to the Animal Welfare Board of India. “Apartment owners’ associations and residents’ welfare associations cannot ‘legislate’. They cannot take it upon themselves to issue ‘edicts’ and restrict rights available to citizens. There is no law enacted by Parliament or any State Legislature that ‘bans’ companion animals. At best, municipalities and local authorities can regulate, or insist on registration or licensing of pets. These high handed circulars and letters suddenly taped to notice boards are therefore illegal. By pressurizing people to abandon their pets in this manner, they actually compel them to violate the law, since Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, declares the same as being an offence.”
These rights, however, do come with duties. Pet-owners must earn the goodwill of neighbours by keeping their dogs on leash while in common areas and cleaning up after them if they soil the place. Sharma tells pet owners that being considerate is a must, and a basic courtesy. “Be reasonable”, is her simple, yet powerful advice to pet owners. “Exercise care. Ensure that their vaccinations are always up to date. And always walk your dog with a leash”. She signs off with the advice that being a responsible pet parent is important to ensure harmony in community living.
High-decibel noise during festivals like Diwali can be very traumatic for animals. Children think its fun to throw crackers at them and watch the poor animals suffer. Parents should prevent kids from doing this.
Here are 10 tips that pet owners, animal lovers and concerned citizens can practise, to lessen the trauma for pets and street animals. (Read points 1 to 3, if not all ten to help make a difference to the planet and street animals this Diwali). We don’t burn crackers and never will, to know why, please click and read here..
1. Pledge: An end to bursting firecrackers. What sounds loud to the human ear becomes four times louder to a dog and even more to a cat, so, you can imagine how loud the sound of a Diwali firecracker is to them. Even birds abandon their nests due to fear.
2. Tag: Pet owners and street dog carers should collar and tag the dogs with their names and contact details. If they get lost, it would be easier for the finder to trace their owner/caretaker.
3. Temporary refuge and tags for street dogs:
Street animals bear a huge brunt, as they are more susceptible to burn injuries due to the bombs and rockets. If it is difficult for street animal carers to give refuge to the street dogs that are petrified during Diwali, it would be good to have a temporary tag with your telephone number put on it. Street dogs cover long distances out of their territory and run helter-skelter or go into hiding. People, who notice a new dog in their area, can then call the street animal-carer because of the tag.
4. Don’t Walk: Pet owners who know that their pet is petrified of crackers should even go to the extent of not walking them outside the house during this period.
5. Give them company: Don’t leave them alone at home during Diwali. Having someone around, who they know, will lessen if not eliminate the
trauma.
6. Distract: Animal behaviourists advise that pet owners should distract their pets by playing with them. Loud music that is soothing might help drown out the firecracker noise.
7. Keep Away: Don’t take or allow your pets to wander near the site where firecrackers are being burst or even near used fireworks/remnants as they retain dangerous chemicals and may be poisonous if ingested by the pets.
8. Medicate: There are Homeopathic and Bach flower remedies available to reduce the trauma faced by animals during Diwali. You can ask your homeopath/veterinarian for details about the remedy/dosage. Don’t self-medicate.
9. Report: Any firecracker-inflicted cruelty to animals or any lost pets wearing tags to the SPCA/animal NGOs in your city.
10. Keep: Emergency telephone numbers of your veterinarian and animal welfare organisations handy.
(Thank you: This post is courtesy Mid Day and the images used have been shared by PAWS Thane.)
To all those who feed and take care of their neighbourhood street dogs in India, we have one request. Don’t feel weak. The laws are on your side and also in favour of the street dogs you care for.
In this post, we are sharing with you one comprehensive document that compiles all the laws, news-clippings and court orders/rulings, pertaining to street dogs
These are updated laws, rules, orders pertaining to DOGS, their feeding and other rights. Most dog lovers don’t bother to read them and end up getting harassed while the law is strong and clear. Please keep a copy ready and if possible submit one copy in your local police station and the RWA, so unfortunate encounters can be averted beforehand.
A point wise synopsis is also written in the beginning of this document.
We thank Citizens for Animal Rights for their effort in compiling this document and sharing the same with us. By posting it here, we are sharing it further and hope you all will share it widely too and feel empowered.
Remember: Your responsibility however doesn’t end with just feeding them, please also ensure that these dogs you care for are sterilized and vaccinated…since you are friendly with them, can touch them, it is much easier for you to collaborate with the NGO run Animal Hospital (that runs the local Municipality supported ‘Animal Birth Control’ Programme for street dogs) near your home to help undertake the sterilization of these dogs, it is just a one time exercise and will prevent you the agony of seeing pups dying (of illnesses and car accidents) in front of your eyes ever so frequently.
AWBI website screenshot-information to dogfeeders, colony caretakers
Animal Welfare Board of India has decided to issue Identity Cards to Street Dog Feeders/Colony Care Takers of Animals who are taking care of animals in their locality.
Please download the form and send the duly filled in form along with the following:
– Two passport size photographs.
– Self -attested true copy of the Ration Card/ Voter ID/ Driving License/ Passport/ PAN Card
to
ANIMAL WELFARE BOARD OF INDIA
(Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India)
Post Box No. 8672, 13/1, Third Seaward Road, Valmiki Nagar,Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai – 600 041
People who care for street dogs will soon be getting government-issued identity cards. The new ID cards are expected to do away with harassment faced by many such persons from the general public, when they try to feed canines on the road.
In a move that animal activists termed “unprecedented,” the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) has decided last week that anyone who voluntarily cares for strays — dog feeders and colony caretakers who tend to animals in their locality.
It Board has put up a one-page registration form (can be downloaded free of cost) on its website awbi.org, for those who want to get these ID cards.
The applicant needs to fill in personal information such as name, address and experience. Once the application is submitted, the ID card would be processed and mailed to the applicant, board member and legal advisor Anjali Sharma said.
“The card would have the person’s name and an attestation that he/she is doing a right and lawful deed and the Animal Welfare Board supports it. This lends credibility to the person,” Sharma said.
The AWBI is a legal advisory body that was formed under the Animal Prevention Act of 1960 to protect the animals.
Sharma explained that the goal of the card, which does not provide any exclusive rights, was solely the welfare of animals and caretakers.
“Most people don’t realize that sterilization and vaccination of stray dogs would be possible only through feeding and befriending dogs,” Sharma said.
In December 2011, the Delhi High Court had passed an order voicing its approval for designated “dog feeding spots” for stray canines in the city. It passed the order on a petition which sought to protect dogs from “intimidating” residents, so they could be fed without any hassle.
Rishi Dev, founder of Citizens for Animal Rights who has written a book on “Urban disputes over animals”, said this was the first time that the government was supporting such an initiative.
Sharma hoped that many would come forward to apply for the cards. “They are performing a duty,” she said. “And it’s a legitimate exercise.”
A few weeks back, someone happened to share with us the following article over an e-mail, the reason we are sharing it here is because we also get asked such questions repeatedly, by the people whom we interact professionally or personally, the most common of them being Why do you work for animals, when there are so many suffering humans around?
Also when we attend to animal-issues specific calls on the Jaagruti helpline, some callers often try to argue with us on the subject saying, ‘human lives are more precious than animals, Madam!’
This article, kind courtesy of OpEd News by Dr. Charles Patterson, author of Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust makes for an inspiring read for people like us, and also tries to address those who question people like us who dare and care to be different in their own quiet ways to make a difference to the animals around them and the humans who care for them.
“Against the Current”
How often have you heard complaints that animal activists are misguided and have misplaced priorities? The implication is that people who care about animals are disrespectful of or even hostile to human values, the oppression of animals being the oldest and most strongly defended human prerogative. Critics ask, how can the interests of animals in any way be as important as human problems like war, poverty, disease, hunger, AIDS, racism, genocide?
Those who claim that the lives of animals are of little or no importance reflect the deep-seated speciesism of our society. They defend the status quo of human supremacy as strongly as the supporters of slavery and white supremacy used to claim that the lives and well-being of slaves were of little or no importance.
Another deep-seated conviction of our society is that when it comes to animals, might makes right. The late AIDS and animal activist, Steven Simmons, described the attitude: “Animals are the innocent casualties of the world view that asserts that some lives are more valuable than others, that the powerful are entitled to exploit the powerless, and that the weak must be sacrificed for the greater good.”
This is, of course, fascism pure and simple. Indeed, it was Mr. Fascism himself, Adolph Hitler, who stated the matter directly: “He, who does not possess power, loses the right to life.” How ironic that Hitler’s view is now flourishing in the United States where millions of cows, pigs, sheep, chickens and other innocent animals are killed every day because they are powerless to defend themselves against the might of the master species.
The great divide between humans and the rest of the earth’s inhabitants began about 11,000 years ago in the Middle East with the so-called “domestication” of animals. The enslavement of oxen, sheep, goats and other animals quickly led to human slavery and the treatment of human slaves like animals. The enslavement of animals increased significantly the level of cruelty, oppression, and conflict in human history.
The vilification of other people as animals followed. Europeans called Native Americans beasts, wolves, and snakes, and Africans transported to the Americas to be sold into slavery were treated like domesticated animals. During World War II Americans described the Japanese as yellow monkeys, dogs, rats, and vermin to be exterminated.
The vilification of people as animals made it that much easier to kill them because most humans have been brain washed from an early age to have little regard for the lives of animals.
In the memoirs of Holocaust survivors, the constant refrain is “they treated us like animals.” Victims of the Nazis were transported to extermination camps in cattle cars and were killed in assembly-line fashion, much like animals are killed today in American slaughterhouses.
The grim but undeniable truth is that our civilization is built on the exploitation and slaughter of animals, and it is from this core oppression that all other atrocities flow. The abuse of animals and the destruction of the earth are the crux of what’s wrong with our society.
Those who advocate for animals and fight for their liberation, radicals in the best sense of the word, are attacking the roots of human oppression in the most direct and effective way. Thank goodness there are people willing to go right to the heart of the matter with their dedicated activism. Each and every one of them is a hero and will be judged as such from the hindsight of history.
I’m reminded of the observation that Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, made more than a century ago. “It’s a matter of taking the side of the weak against the strong,” she said, “something the best people have always done.”
Don’t let anyone tell you that the life-and-death struggle for animals liberation against the fascist underpinnings of our society is anything other than a noble enterprise of the utmost urgency. Nothing is more important.
And don’t worry too much about complaints and criticism.
You will be going against the current of what society thinks, but so be it.
To quote the German poet Goethe, “The world only goes forward because of those who oppose it.”
About the author – Dr. Charles Patterson:
Dr. Charles Patterson is a social historian, Holocaust educator, editor, therapist, and author. His first book, Anti-Semitism: The Road to the Holocaust and Beyond, was called “important” by Publisher’s Weekly. The National Council for the Social Studies in Washington, D.C. presented Patterson with its Carter G. Woodson Book Award for his biography of Marian Anderson at a special luncheon at its annual convention in St. Louis, Missouri in 1989. His most recent book is Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust (now in 15 languages). For more information on his writings and activities, see his website.
In the recent past, the Helpline at Jaagruti has received many calls from a lot of street dog lovers/pet owners in Gurgaon on the subject of their respective Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) barring them from keeping pets or feeding street dogs or fining them etc., and we have directed them to take a stance against their respective RWAs taking inspiration from the content posted on this article of ours.
Taking notice of many such animal lovers rising up in unison, the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon has taken an informed proactive stance on the matter and dispatched a stern letter to all such RWA office bearers on the adamance, arrogance and above all IGNORANCE being shown by their respective RWA office bearers on this subject, by coming out with warnings and society bye-laws that are in strict contravention to all the national laws.
We appreciate the position taken by Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon on this subject.
To all of these concerned compassionate people worried about the street animals and the pets they love, feed and take care off, the recent news in the Times of India comes as a welcome relief. Please read on.
Can’t remove Pets, Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon to RWAs
By Aditya Dev, TNN, 6th Nov 2012
GURGAON: Even as the management bodies of residential societies are making their own rules for keeping pets, the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) has written to various residents’ welfare associations warning them not to formulate rules and regulations regarding pets and that any such move is in conflict with the law. Such a move may lead to dissolution of the RWA and prosecution of its office bearers, says the letter.
The managing committee Kanchunjunga Cooperative Group Housing Society in Sector 56 had last year imposed a ban on its residents keeping pets. The Close North (Nirvana Country) management also recently banned flat owners from using elevators to take out pets and instructed them to use service elevators instead.
The corporation sent letters to RWAs this February following incidents of cruelty against animals by RWAs, their office bearers and residents were reported. It also came to light that a few RWAs attempted to prevent pet ownership through stipulations in terms of their rental or ownership agreement, threatening pet owners with electricity and water cut offs.
If any rule laid down by anybody is in conflict with the law of the urban local body, state body or central body it is automatically superseded and rendered null and void. The letter says that an RWA threatening discontinuation of basic facilities is illegal.
It is illegal to remove animals from the area through security guards employed by RWAs. Nor can they intimidate residents who may be feeding those animals. Under stray dog management rules 2001, it’s illegal for an individual, RWA or estate management to remove or relocate dogs. The dogs have to be sterilized and vaccinated and returned to the same area. Vaccinated and sterilized dogs cannot be removed by the municipality too.
Under Section 506 of the IPC, it’s a crime to threaten, abuse or harass neighbours who feed animals.
I am writing this post to share with you a very personal story that always springs back to our (me and my brother Vivek’s, we both co-founded Jaagruti) memories every Diwali or rather in the days nearing it, as we start hearing the noise of bursting firecrackers around us, like in the time that I am penning this down.
The year was 1997, I was in Class 11, studying Sciences at D.A.V Public School, Pushpanjali Enclave, Delhi. I was 15 years old at that time, and every Diwali, my mother would pay an uncle of mine (who had his shop in Sadar Bazaar area of New Delhi) to get a box, or often boxes full of an assortment of firecrackers for us, which we enjoyed ourselves with.
But, that year, there was something unusual and uncharacteristic that our school did pre-Diwali, something I had not seen or learnt about in my 7 years of being in that school.
Our school participated in an ‘Anti-Fire Cracker’ campaign. At first I thought, that this campaign was the school’s way of teaching us not to burn fire crackers as burning them lets to our air being polluted and us contracting a host of respiratory diseases. But I was mistaken.
Under this campaign, we were distributed these little red stickers which had the following text written in Hindi.
“Pataakhe nahi jalaayenge, baal mazdoori hataayenge”
(which in English when translated would mean “We will not burn fire crackers and help get rid of child labour”).
Child Labour and Fire Crackers?? I was confused. What was this being talked about…I listened with intent and that was when I first understood that children as old or many years younger to me are employed by Fire Cracker factories across India to make fire crackers, the fire crackers that I had joyfully burnt in all Diwali festivals prior to that year.
While, we the fortunate ones, used our soft and nimble hands and fingers to write, paint and play, in many a villages in India, children like me were labouring to churn out fireworks working for more than 10-15 hours a day, contracting unknown health ailments in the process of making these tiring efforts to feed themselves and their families.
Kids like her make fire crackers to light up your Diwali. That we burn crackers made by the nimble hands and fingers of young children – is not something that you should feel happy or celebrate about. This is an assorted collection of images taken from various news websites to convey the start and dim reality of firecracker production across to you all (Image Copyright: http://www.ilo.org)
A guilt overtook my conscience that day.
We pledged not to burn fire crackers any more, that Diwali onwards.
The pledge of ours was further strengthened when my fellow classmates enacted a play themed on this subject of ‘Child labour and Fire Crackers’ at the first ever Delhi School Eco-Mela (Eco-fair), held in the lawns of Delhi Public School, Mathura road.
Friends joined in and we convinced our family to not force us to burn fire crackers either.
It has been 18 years since those days and we have been able to stick to the promise we made to ourselves and the pledge we undertook and not burnt a fire cracker ever since.
In 1997, there was no internet we had access to, and neither were there these host of news channels, but today there are many and despite ‘legislations banning the use of children for labour’, many a million kids continue to be exploited and forced to work in and for such fire cracker units even today.
Spare a minute to read one such detailed news article, a 2014 dated news story and watch through the news clips below and think a little before you pick up the next fire cracker to burn this Diwali.
Over the past many months, Jaagruti’s helpline has been inundated with calls and queries from people across many major Indian cities, like Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore and other metros where RWAs or Residential Welfare Associations that are formed in various societies have come up with ‘no pet clauses’ and are forcing residents therein to abandon their pets! This post is to apprise you all that ‘RWAs cannot come with such clauses which are both unconstitutional and unlawful.
Please click on the link below to download the notice that was sent to a society in Gurgaon sometime back by a team of well-respected lawyers. If you are facing a similar issue, then take guidance from the text mentioned therein and with the help of a competent advocate/law firm/your very own lawyer friends – get a similar notice drafted and get it sent across to the Office Bearers in your Housing Society. If they don’t get the point on reading your notice, drag them to the Consumer Courts. Remember that all those who have taken this step have won the case and so have their pets and dogs!
Also, read the below pasted Times of India article dated 24th May 2012 and spread it around!
Housing societies can’t prohibit pets, say legal eagles
By Journalist named Swati Deshpande
MUMBAI: Pet owners need not worry. Senior advocates say that housing societies cannot introduce by-laws to prohibit residents from keeping pets in their flats.The Maharashtra Cooperative Housing Societies Act does not prohibit members from keeping pets and no society can pass by-laws to ban pets or families with pets from society premises.
Mulraj Shah, a lawyer, says a cooperative housing society may-by majority vote- make a by-law against pet ownership, but that is only on the valid grounds of continuous nuisance created by such pets. Even such a resolution may not be binding on occupants as it would have to be tested for legality in court, said a constitutional law expert practising at Bombay high court.
In the past, courts have ruled in favour of pet owners. A housing society in Navi Mumbai was fined for having restrained a family pet from using the lift. The Thane consumer court in 2008 imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 and held that the society’s decision to prevent pets from using the lift without any valid reason amounted to “deficiency in service”. A family residing in a housing society is a “consumer” under the law.
In another important ruling in December 2010, a consumer forum in Mumbai Central ordered a housing society in Mahim to stop charging a family an additional Rs 500 for each of its pet dogs, which it said was illegal and directed that the amounts already collected be returned. Societies have a right to make rules for the benefit of its members but the law has to be reasonable and not impinge an individual’s fundamental freedoms and right to life, said lawyers.
MUMBAI: The Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has banned the use of live animals in dissection and other experiments in educational and research institutions. But scientists conducting new molecular research will be exempted from the ban.
Based on the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (1960), the MoEF has issued guidelines to the University Grants Commission, ministry of health and family welfare, Pharmacy Council of India and the Medical Council of India to discontinue dissection and experiments with live animals in universities, colleges, research institutes, hospitals, laboratories and instead use alternatives like computer simulation.
The MoEF says that the central government is duty-bound to use alternatives to avoid unnecessary suffering or pain to animals.
It states that effective alternatives in the form of CDs, computer simulations and mannequin models are available; they are not only effective as absolute replacements for animals in teaching anatomy or physiology but are also superior learning tools in teaching of pharmacy or life sciences.
The guidelines were framed based on the duties of the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments and Animals (CPCSEA), which has been constituted under the provisions of Section 15 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (1960).
The committee comprises seven nominees – three nominees appointed by CPCSEA and the rem-aining four from educa-tional institutes.
“The animal experiments should be stopped in all institutes except for the purpose of new molecular research. Sometimes, in laboratories, a lot of work is repeated and animals become unnecessary victims. Only scientists researching on a new molecular theory can experiment on animals. In medical and pharmacy colleges, there is unwanted cruelty towards animals which can be avoided. These guidelines mention imprisonment for five years and monetary penalty,” said Mangal Jain, a nominee of the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC), which is appointed by CPCSEA.
Hoshang Bilimoria, also a nominee appointed by the CPCSEA, said the guidelines were a welcome change.
“CPCSEA should give the nominees the power to inspect animals housed in educational institutes, experimentation centres or technical laboratories without prior intimation to the institutes. Cross-checks should also be maintained through other members,” said Bilimoria.
The below article written by Eunice deSouza in Pune Mirroris worth reading and sharing with as many ‘humans’ as you know.
For this post says so much of what we at ‘Jaagruti’ always wanted to put in words. As she rightly pens, ‘People need lessons in empathy, the imagination to put themselves in place of others or animals’…to spare a moment and feel the way the animals would with all that we humans mete out to them.
People need to realise the
benefit from contact with animals
and the natural world
I happened to be standing at a local bus stop one day when children were returning from school. I suddenly noticed a small group of young boys had collected and were staring at something on the wall behind me.
They were picking up stones. I look around, and there was a chameleon on the wall which the children were determined to kill. I shooed them away, but they kept coming back. Would “blood-lust” be too strong a term to describe the way they behaved?
Children as young as two pick up stones to throw at inoffensive dogs having a nap, while their bovine mothers stand there saying nothing. Of course, if the dog were to give the child a nip in return, all hell would be let loose.
Then there was the dog whose eyes were bleeding. We were to take him to hospital, but he was in a panic and rushed here and there. The young men who were trying to catch him finally succeeded. But in the meantime, a crowd had gathered, laughing and cheering.
You wouldn’t think all this could happen in a country where we are so ready to say our feelings have been hurt! Is this because, in our educational system and elsewhere, we don’t think seriously in terms of educating emotions?
In his autobiography, John Stuart Mill talks about the rigorous system his father put him through. If I’m not mistaken, he says that from the age of three or so, he was made to study Greek, Latin, History, and a great deal more.
At some point in his life, he felt so dead that he was near a nervous breakdown. It was then that he found relief and salvation in reading Wordsworth, whose work put him in touch with feelings that were both experienced and explored.
He is a poet who was as relevant then as he is now: “The world is too much with us; late and soon,/Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours;/We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!”
Valuing Science, Engineering, Medicine, Technology is fine. But we are more than scientists, engineers, doctors or computer specialists. Empathy, the imagination to put ourselves in the place of others, doesn’t always come naturally. (It does to my dog.
When I came home with a bandaged eye, he looked at it for a while and then licked my hand.) Nor can we expect to feel empathy all the time for everyone and everything. I, for one, would have happily machine-gunned that lot laughing and cheering while looking at the blind dog.
Sometimes, when I reach a point when I feel I can’t stand any more of this, something reassuring happens. One of half-a-dozen or so of small businessmen who look after animals, and are around the corner from me, asked me to look at a dog the other day.
The dog had a head wound infested with maggots. He was not a local dog. Wounded dogs often run from place to place because they are so distressed. Often people shoo them away. I knew there was really no hope for the dog. When I said this, the shop owner said, “Let’s give him a chance.” So we called the ambulance.
Obviously, people like him don’t need lessons in empathy. They know that we benefit from contact with animals and the natural world as much as animals/ birds benefit from our caring. But perhaps, till the great revolution in empathy arrives, we can make a small start: persuade ourselves to put out a bowl of water for thirsty animals and birds in this awful weather.
Delhi International Airport Limited’s Paper Recycling Initiative with ‘Jaagruti’ gets featured in the National Press on 2nd April, 2012
To read the Online version of this news story, please click here
Excerpt from this story is quoted below:
The Indira Gandhi International Airport here has initiated measures like using recycled papers at its premises in a bid to become a ‘green airport’. After putting in place some of the green initiatives like rainwater, use of natural lights and efforts to reduce emissions, the airport operator, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), has now decided to use recycled papers in its offices. For this, DIAL has entered into an agreement with an NGO ‘Jaagruti’, which will recycle the waste paper generated in its offices and get the notepads or A4 sheet made from the recycled paper.
“The collected waste paper would be systematically graded and transported to the recycling mill. There it would be processed to make different quality of recycled paper by using Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) bleaching technology,” a DIAL spokesperson said.
This would save 17 trees, 26,281 litres of water, 264 kg of air pollution, 1,752 litres of oil, 4077 KW hours of energy, 82.62 cubic feet of landfill space, he claimed. As a part of the initiative, DIAL shared one tonne of paper waste for recycling to Jaagruti. “DIAL is committed to conducting its business in an environment-friendly and sustainable manner at IGI airport by minimising the impact of our activities on the environment and community. Environment Management is an integral part of our business strategy towards achieving credibility and business sustainability,” DIAL CEO I Prabhakar Rao said.
If you or the organisation you work with want to associate with ‘Jaagruti’ under our Paper Recycling Initiative to recycle your waste paper, please contactus by filling the form below or calling us on +91-9818 144 244 or writing to us on contact@jaagruti.org
Today’s Mumbai Mirror reports this heartening news, as reported by their correspondent Yogesh Sadhwani:
Court clears duo arrested, humiliated for feeding dogs
Sanjeev Dighe (pictured) and Yatin Mhatre were paraded around, ostensibly to show other residents what happened to people who fed strays (Courtesy Mumbai Mirror_2nd April 2012)
Two animal lovers from Thane, who were arrested and humiliated two years ago after a stray dog they used to feed allegedly bit a resident, have finally been acquitted, with a magistrate court ruling that feeding strays was not a crime.
The order provides welcome relief for animal lovers in the city, many of whom are pulled up by their housing societies for taking care of strays. Only recently, well-known director Partho Ghosh had a quarrel with his society management when he was fined Rs 1000 in his maintenance bill for feeding two stray dogs. His family, incidentally, had been taking care of them since they were pups.
This order is only the first victory for Sanjeev Dighe and Yatin Mhatre, who are fighting a separate case in High Court against the State and the police for handcuffing them and parading them around their society. In this, they are being represented by Mahesh Jethmalani and have the backing of, among others, Maneka Gandhi.
For Dighe, a commercial artist, and Mhatre – both residents of Lok Puram complex in Thane – the nightmare started on September 20, 2009. The duo had been feeding strays in their locality for several years, something that had led to many altercations with society members. Dighe says the residents believed this would lead to an increase in the stray dog population in the area.
That night, Dighe was getting ready to go out and feed the strays around 10.45 pm when a posse of cops arrived in a private vehicle and asked him to accompany them to Vartak Nagar Police Station. Mhatre accompanied him there, and a few hours later, the duo were booked under Section 289 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with animals in a particular person’s care attacking someone.
The next morning, both were handcuffed and taken to their society, where they were paraded around, ostensibly to show other residents what happened to people who fed strays. They were then taken to a holiday court, which released them on bail.
In a recent order, Jaishree Poonawala, judicial magistrate first class, remarked that “feeding stray dogs is not a crime”, adding that strays were not the same as pets and certainly not the sole responsibility of those who feed them.
“After our arrest, Maneka Gandhi personally got involved and helped us file the petition in HC through Mahesh Jethmalani,” said Dighe.
This order itself has come as a huge relief to Mhatre and Dighe. “Finally justice has prevailed. Several people like me are often victimised by residents who do not like others feeding strays. We hope this order will help others like us,” said Dighe.
Ajay Marathe, a noted animal rights activist, pointed out that incidents of animal lovers being victimised were common in Mumbai. “Those who feed dogs in their area are treated badly. Most residents are against such feeding and come up with random rules to stop them,” said Marathe.
RK Joshi, convener of Committee to Monitor Animal Welfare Laws in Maharashtra, has recently written to the BMC commissioner highlighting the issue of societies trying to get rid of stray dogs.
He has pointed out that years after Bombay High Court laid down the guidelines for dealing with stray dogs – the HC has put an emphasis on animal birth control and sterilisation – people continued to harass dogs and animal lovers.
“There is growing tendency in housing societies not to permit stray dogs on the society premises or even in the vicinity. There have been instances when dogs are brutally assaulted by the society members or the watchmen,” the letter states, adding that instances of animal lovers being assaulted were common.
The letter urges the commissioner, who is also the chairman of the Monitoring Committee, to urgently look at these issues and ensure that animal lovers and dogs were not harassed.
~~
Ms. Anjali Sharma, Advocate and Legal Advisor to the Animal Welfare Board of India, says that what is extremely significant is this part: “In a recent order, Jaishree Poonawala, judicial magistrate first class, remarked that “feeding stray dogs is not a crime”, adding that strays were not the same as pets and certainly not the sole responsibility of those who feed them.”
This is, as Ms. Sharma explains, because these men had been arrested under Section 289 of the Indian Penal Code – ‘negligent conduct with respect to an animal’, after a stray they were feeding bit a resident of the locality. Section 289 applies to pet dogs, but there has been an increasing attempt on the part of many, including police, R.W.A.s, etc. to bring feeding of strays, and any aggression the strays may show if provoked, within the ambit of this Section.
Earlier this year, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) had issued a circular asking different bodies, individuals to ban tail docking and ear clipping by vets for cosmetic purposes.
The Veterinary Council of India (VCI) has now officially notified the same in their bye laws.
Letter issued by Veterinary Council of India banning tail docking throughout India
So in case you find any Veterinary Doctor/Vet, anywhere in India practicing this cruel method, kind inform the Veterinary Council of India and AWBI so that the same may be stopped.
This is applicable all over India and it is upto the pet owners and animal lovers to make sure that vets don’t do this any further.
Dr. Asgar Samoon, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, had issued orders in March 2011 to kill all street dogs of Kashmir.
A qualified veterinarian, he has admitted to the Animal Welfare Board of India, to requesting the ‘public’ to identify rabid dogs !
He obviously hasn’t let his veterinary knowledge come in his way. Carnage is reported to be occurring in Kashmir everywhere. Dogs are being poisoned and killed brutally in the name of rabies which is nowhere to be found or identified. Mass graves are being dug and dogs being dumped into that. Any neighbour who has a grudge against another with a pet has now the licence to kill that pet dog.
Animal activists have demanded suspension of the Divisional Commissioner and appealed to the Veterinary Council of India to revoke his licence as he is not fit to be a vet. If you support this, please write to:
VETERINARY COUNCIL OF INDIA
A statutory body of Government of India established
under the Indian Veterinary Council Act 1984.
A-Wing, 2nd Floor, August Kranti Bhawan
Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi – 110066
Phone: 011-26184149, 26184354 Fax: 011-26182434
Email vciinfo@vhub.nic.in
AWBI has also send notice to Dr. Samoon which is attached here.
AWBI Notice (Page 1)
AWBI Notice (Page 2)
AWBI Notice (Page 3)
AWBI Notice (Page 4)
Below are presented a series of articles that explan why Kashmir needs its street dogs…in a state which has been marred by violence, bloodshed and terrorism all these years, this state provoked bloodshed of innocent animals will only bring in more misery to the state. Read on..
Do you consider street dogs to be a barking, snarling, stinking menace? Do you wish they would all just get hauled off somewhere and be made to disappear? Perhaps you’re even one of the many people who support the poisoning of dogs. If so, then you are doing yourself and your family a distinct disservice. This is why:
People still die every year in India from rabies, the majority of those due to bites from infected dogs. Death from rabies is completely preventable; it’s a disease that has been eradicated in many parts of the world. Ironically, the best defense against rabies is not the absence of dogs, but their presence – the presence of vaccinated dogs, that is. Dogs that have been vaccinated against rabies actually serve to protect the human inhabitants of their neighborhoods from the disease.
How? Simple. Dogs are territorial creatures. They do not allow new dogs to migrate into their areas. If, in addition to anti-rabies vaccination, the dogs have been sterilized, they will not reproduce, and the dog population in your area will decrease naturally over time. The average life expectancy of a dog in urban India is only 3.4 years.
The killing of dogs does not work as a population control policy. It has never worked anywhere in the world that it has been undertaken, even when the numbers of dogs killed are in the tens of thousands. This is because dogs are so fertile that they simply repopulate the existing habitat in the subsequent breeding season.
Furthermore, in cities like Srinagar, where public sanitation is still a work in progress and there is ample garbage lying around, dogs perform an essential service, that of waste processing. Garbage is habitat. If there are no dogs in a place with lots of uncollected waste, nature will fill the vacuum with some other scavenger, inevitably one that is more problematic in its relationship to humans. Take what happened in Surat in 1994. The municipal authority made the decision to kill thousands of dogs. Cause led to effect: the rat population, all of a sudden blessed with a massive increase in available food (garbage), and thousands fewer predators (dogs), exploded. Bubonic plague eventually arrived on the scene, and hundreds of people were infected. Fifty-seven people died.
Are dogs ever a menace? Yes, and those that engage in bonafide, unprovoked, biting attacks on humans need to be removed from the population. This needs to be done by qualified animal welfare workers. However, the two most significant factors that result in dog bites – migration and mating – are actually exacerbated by killing or removing dogs, and failing miserably at the sterilization project.
Let me reiterate, if Kashmiris are serious about addressing the “dog menace” in their cities, killing dogs categorically will not work. This has been proven time and again the world over. The only solution that has been scientifically proven to eradicate rabies and decrease the street dog population has been large-scale sterilization and anti-rabies vaccination. Further, it is essential to the success of any intervention that the dogs be put back in their original locations following sterilization and anti-rabies vaccination.
Whether you love dogs or hate them, it is in your best interests to let your neighborhood dogs live in peace exactly where they are. You just need to ensure your municipal authority does its duty by sterilizing and vaccinating those dogs. Things will not get better until 75 per cent of the street dog population of Srinagar has been sterilized, vaccinated against rabies and left in peace, and until the municipal authority implements proper waste management reform.
(The author Lisa Warden is founder and director of DOGSTOP, a non-profit advisory group dedicated to rabies eradication and street dog population management in India. She also serves as advisor to ABC India, a pan-Indian organization devoted to the control of street dog populations throughout the country via large-scale sterilization and anti-rabies vaccination.)
The slaughter of street dogs in the Kashmir Valley calls for a full inquiry. The hapless animals served as watchdogs for the Army against infiltrators crossing the LoC and alerted security forces whenever danger was afoot.
The reported mass killing of stray dogs in Srinagar merits a serious probe. On September 22, 2009, a report in The Times of India by Ajay Sura had stated that stray dogs had become watchdogs for the Army against infiltrators crossing the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir. The report quoted Lt-Col NK Airy, spokesperson for the Army’s Tenth Division, as saying that these dogs recognised troops and local civilians and started barking whenever there was any movement of strangers. They were quick to train, easy to maintain, did not take a huge amount to procure and could not be recognised by the infiltrators as Army dogs.
Many Army officers have testified to the invaluable role of such dogs. One of them is Mr Habib Rehman, who began life in the Army and retired as the head of a well-known hotel chain. In his touching book, A Home for Gori, about a dog who adopted his family and became a deeply-loved member, he narrates how his love for dogs was awakened by his acquaintance with Bullet, which he made as a Second-Lieutenant posted in what is now Arunachal Pradesh. Every Army picket from the LoC in the north-west to Arunachal Pradesh in the north-east, had a dog like Bullet, a mongrel of Bhutia origin of the kind found all along the Himalayan ranges, as an additional member, rendering signal service in alerting it to an enemy’s approach and any other threats. A deep bond invariably develops between such canines and Army personnel.
In an article entitled The dog that did India proud in The Pioneer of March 24, 2007, Major-General Ashok Mehta (Retd) wrote fondly about Krupa, a Bakerwal puppy, who was picked up in 1963 and lovingly reared by a unit of the Gorkha Rifles serving along the LoC, then called the Ceasefire Line. Krupa did yeoman service not only with it but also the Sikh and Garhwal regiments that followed
Law enforcing authorities everywhere have acknowledged the important role played by stray dogs. As Director-General of Police, Andhra Pradesh, Mr Swaranjit Sen had advised police stations to adopt stray dogs for being alerted against approaching Maoists. Not surprisingly, Maoists in West Bengal had asked villagers to kill all village dogs. Even earlier, terrorists coming across the Line of Control had asked villagers close to it to kill their dogs; so had terrorists in Punjab.
The point in mentioning all this is the recent report in several newspapers of Sajjad Afghani, an important leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad, being killed along with this bodyguard, Omar Bilal, by the Jammu & Kashmir Police in an encounter on March 10. The reports quoted Mr RM Sahai, Inspector-General of Police, Kashmir, as saying that they were trying to set up a base in Srinagar “to carry out big strikes in the future on security force installations”. Was the killing of stray dogs meant to facilitate the strikes? The matter needs to be investigated because of the State Government’s shocking delay in entering into a partnership with the Animal Welfare Board of India in implementing the canine Animal Birth Control programme, the only effective means of controlling stray dog populations.
Terrorists have reason to oppose the programme which involves the neutering and vaccination (against rabies) of stray dogs and their return to where they had been picked up from. Implemented area-wise, it is calculated to taper off a city or State’s stray dog population as the neutered and vaccinated dogs live out their life-spans. This means that they will continue to remain in their areas for some years and continue to alert security forces to the approach of terrorists who, one hopes, would be routed by the time the dogs live out their biological life-spans.
On the other hand, as the Guidelines for Dog Population Management, jointly released by the World Health Organisation and the World Society for the Protection of Animals in 1990, killing never succeeds in providing a solution. What it can do, however, is a temporary reduction of stray dog populations in specific areas and thus help terrorist strikes. Is this the reason why some in Jammu & Kashmir oppose the implementation of the ABC programme and favour killing? If so, who are they? One needs to find out.
As several authorities cite that stray dogs warn of approaching terrorists, there is every possibility that terrorists are orchestrating not only a mass hysteria against stray dogs in Kashmir but also the demand for their killing
A report in Greater Kashmir of April 21, 2011, states, “The police top brass (on) Wednesday dispelled the notion given by some media agencies that the elimination of stray dogs would facilitate a rise in militancy”. The report did not mention the name of the agencies but carried quotes from my column in The Pioneer of 17 March on the mass killing of stray dogs in Srinagar, which clearly indicated that the reference was to the latter. The report further quoted a Deputy Inspector General of Jammu & Kashmir Police as saying that there was no relationship between stray dog populations and militancy, which were altogether different issues. It quoted the DIG, who described “dog menace” as a big issue”, as saying that it was for bodies like the Srinagar Municipal Corporation to “get rid of the problem.” The police was ready to help them in whatever way they wanted.
I will begin with reference to my column. The part of it which referred to terrorism in Kashmir, mentioned among other things, media accounts of the death of a JeM militant and his driver in an encounter with the police on March 10, and added, “The reports quoted Mr RM Sahai, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, as saying that they were trying to set up a base in Srinagar ‘to carry out big strikes in the future on security force installations.’ Was the killing of stray dogs meant to facilitate the strikes?” Clearly, I was referring to efforts to set up bases to carry out big strikes and not, repeat not, increasing militancy. The two are entirely different things.
A terrorist strike is a single act. It is a part of militancy, which is a complex and wider phenomenon. At one level, militancy is the state of mind which is a blend of alienation, anger and aggression, prone to explode in violence. Since violence is an expression of militancy, the latter at the social context connotes a situation created by violence and the aggression associated with militancy. An increase in militancy means a rise in the incidence of militancy-related violence and the number of militants, as well as the spread and intensification of the aggressive mindset associated with militancy.
A single terrorist strike — or several strikes — however severe, need not indicate increasing militancy if more strikes do not follow. It is easier to organise a single or a couple of terrorist strikes than sustaining an increase in the level of militancy which requires the establishment of an infrastructure for procuring funds, arms, ammunition, explosives and the provision of electronic communication facilities through emails, phones and so on. It also requires propaganda for the militants’ cause, recruitment, training and indoctrination of terrorists and the organisation of shelters, false travel and identification documents, and storage of arms, explosives and so on. Nine-eleven in the United States and 7/11 (attacks on London’ underground subway system) in 2005 sent shockwaves throughout the world but did not lead to rising level of militancy in America and Britain.
Surprise is critical to the success of terrorist strikes. It can be neutralised by an efficient intelligence set-up which collects advance information and pre-empts terror strikes and destroys terrorists’ infrastructure. Equally, a strike can be neutralised if an alert is sounded as terrorists approach their target, enabling the security forces to repulse them. As several authorities cited in my column aver, stray dogs sound precisely such an alert. There is, therefore, every possibility that terrorists are orchestrating not only a mass hysteria against stray dogs in Kashmir but also the demand for their killing.
It is possible that the reporter, who did not understand what I had written, had also failed to understand what the DIG had said. If, however, the latter did say what he reportedly has, then he has betrayed a very narrow and conventional approach to counter-terrorism which ignores the complex and mutli-dimensional nature of the challenge. Referring to terrorism in India, Maj-Gen (Retd) Afsir Karim writes in his contribution entitled “Terrorism: the Indian Experience”, in Confronting Terrorism edited by Mr Maroof Raza, “The challenges of internal destabilisation, subversion, creation of administrative and economic chaos, and engineering divisions among diverse socio-political and ethnic groups cannot be met by conventional responses.” No further comments.
Research shows that cruelty to animals often transmogrifies into criminal misdeeds and adds to a city’s list of crimes. The new Commissioner of Delhi Police would do well to crack down on those who treat animals without compassion.
The new Commissioner of Delhi Police, Mr BK Gupta, doubtless has a host of problems on his plate, including coping with terrorism and keeping the crime rate down when sociological, cultural and economic factors combine with the national capital’s peculiar location to push it upward. Nevertheless, an area which requires urgent attention is cruelty to animals.
Though the Delhi Police has been somewhat sensitised in the matter over the last few years, much still remains to be done. It continues to show a tendency not to take complaints of cruelty to animals seriously. In a recent instance in Mukherjee Nagar, north Delhi, an FIR against people accused of brutally beating a stray dog to death was reportedly registered only after intervention by those who matter.
Navbharat Times_28 February 2011
Hindustan Times_28 February 2011
The tendency towards ‘burking’ (doctoring of crime figures through non-registration of FIRs or recording offences as less severe), which policemen display everywhere, is more evident in the case of animals.
The need for a change in the police’s approach to complaints of cruelty to animals is urgent because animals have right to live safely and happily and human beings, the most advanced and evolved of all living species, have a responsibility to ensure that they do so. It is also important because instances of people going scot free after violations of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960, increases the tendency toward taking laws in general lightly, which is increasingly in evidence today. Equally significant, cruelty toward animals is indicative of aggression or latent or active criminality in a person and identification of such an individual and keeping him or her under surveillance is important for any police force.
Violent criminals tend to be cruel to both humans and animals. In their paper, ‘From Animal Cruelty to Serial Murder: Applying the Graduation Hypothesis’ (The International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology), Jeremy Wright and Christopher Hensley write that since the late-1970s, the FBI has considered animal cruelty as a possible indicator of future serial murder.
“The FBI documented the connection between cruelty to animals and serial murder following a study of 35 imprisoned serial murderers. The convicted murders were asked questions regarding their childhood cruelty toward animals. More than half of the serial murderers admitted to hurting or torturing animals as children or adolescents (Humane Society of the United States, 2001).”
They further point out that in 1987, animal cruelty was added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III (R) as a symptom of conduct disorder and was retained in the 1994 DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association 1987, 1994). According to DSM-IIIR and DSM-IV description of conduct disorders, it commonly involves physical violence and harm to humans and animals.
In another paper entitled ‘Childhood Cruelty to Animals and Subsequent Cruelty to Humans’ (The International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology), Linda Merz-Perez, Kathleen M Heide, and Ira J Silverman write that cruelty to animals has long served as “a red flag in law enforcement circles with respect to extremely violent offenders” and state that “the expansive literature with respect to serial killers has often cited cruelty to animals as a precursor to the violence later targeted against human victims (Lockwood & Church, 1998)”.
They conclude that the study’s overall results support previous research efforts indicating “a relationship between cruelty to animals committed during childhood and later violence perpetrated against humans.”
Noting that the matter is complex, the authors say that cruelty to animals in children can provide insights into violent behaviour that may or may not translate later into violence against human beings and that cruelty to animals often reveal insightful analogies to violence against human beings. They cite the example of a “violent offender, a repeat sex offender” who had been “convicted of a crime against nature for sodomising a reformatory pig” and another, “convicted of sexual batter on a person 65 years or older”, described how he would throw stones at stray animals to “beat and hurt them as my parents hurt me”.
Prompt and effective action regarding offences affecting animals should, therefore, be considered a critical and integral part of policing. Mr BK Gupta would make a signal contribution to enhancing citizens’ security in Delhi if he can impress this on his force.
On a visit to an animal shelter a few weeks back, we met Priya, a female great Dane who was found abandoned on the road side by an animal ambulance. She was suffering from a tumour- a seemingly malignant one. Looking at her condition, it was quite evident that she was chucked out by a Dog breeder when she was no longer ‘a machine’ of use to him in his ‘puppy farm/factory’, i.e. ‘factories run by greedy humans in which female pedigreed dogs are repeatedly mated and bred so that they could give birth to puppies that can be sold at handsome rates’ and fill in the coffers of these ‘dog breeders’!
Priya, a Female Great Dane abandoned by a Dog breeder to die on the streets- Her eyes say it all! Photo Copyright – ‘Jaagruti’
So, when dogs like Priya are no longer able to produce babies or turn sick beyond cure, these people who had over the years exploited her to give birth to pups repeatedly find her a burden and cose thereby to dump her on the roadside!
For a peep into the horrendous puppy mill trade, please look at the video below.
So, Next time you wish to adopt a dog, adopt for an Indian dog on the street or adopt one from a nearby shelter. Please do not buy a puppy ever because demands create supplies!
Remember ADOPT, Dont BUY!
Dog breeding in India is an unregulated business in alomost every city, a business that brings in huge profits to those who do it, be it big breeders carying this out in their farms, dog trainers who carry it out on their roofs atop their shanty quarters in areas like Dwarka Mod, Palam and across many such habitations in Delhi or even those who carry it out in their houses next doors to yours by repeatedly getting their pet dogs to mate and breed.
That is why news items like the ones below come as a breath of hope!
Income Tax Department issues directive to keep tabs on all breeders who sell newborn puppies for huge profit (Source: Mid Day, 23rd March 2011)
The Rs 500-crore pet dog business has come under the scanner of the Income Tax department.
The I-T department headquarters, New Delhi, has issued fresh directives to all its regional offices to keep tabs on all dog breeders who sell newborn puppies for huge profits.
All pet shops and known dog breeders are now under the surveillance of sleuths.
A senior I-T officer said, “Most canines of good lineage are sold at exorbitant prices and without any receipts. Some of the deals even run into crores.”
According to the I-T directive (copy available with MiD DAY), it has been noticed in recent years that pet shops have spread rampantly across the major cities.
These shops are technically licensed to sell animal food and accessories, but they also deal in canines and exotic birds to make a quick buck.
The order stated that it is suspected that a majority of these transactions are outside the tax net, so appropriate action should be taken against them.
Senior I-T officials, including Chief Commissioner P P Shrivastava, however, are tight-lipped about the directive and how they plan to crack down on the tax evaders.
According to I-T sources, the demand for exotic dogs increased after a cellular company used a pug in its advertisements.
According to sources, a 45-day-old pug is priced at more than Rs 40,000 in the open market.
Pet dealers at Crawford Market told MiD DAY that a Cocker Spaniel puppy is priced around Rs 7,000.
“Pet dealers are not sensitive to the health of the animals as they are more concerned about making money. Breeding is done regularly. This should be banned,” said Dr J C Khanna, member, Animal Welfare Board of India.
500 breeders
According to a modest estimate, there are more than 500 commercial dog breeders in Mumbai, Thane and Vasai. There are an estimated 7,000 such breeders across the country.
Dog breeding is a flourishing business in New Delhi, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Chennai as well. The turnover is estimated to be around Rs 500 crore.
The volume of the business can be gauged from the fact that even a fake certificate to prove the breed of canine fetches between Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000 on the streets of Mumbai.
But, all dog breeders are not tax evaders. Mayur Shinde, owner of Shinde Kennel, Pune, said, “Dog breeding and selling is my full-time business. I give genuine receipts and also pay income tax regularly.”
Procedure to buy a puppy
Before buying a puppy, it is necessary to get a licence from the respective municipality. BMC charges only
Rs 100 as fees and Rs 200 for vaccine per year. The seller should be registered with the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI).
एक शख्स ने पेपर में छपने के लिए शिकायत भेजी कि हमारे मोहल्ले में कई आवारा कुत्ते हैं। जब देखो भौंकते हुए पीछे पड़ जाते हैं, सड़क पर आराम से चलने भी नहीं देते। मौका मिले तो काट भी लेते हैं। उन्होंने इस बात पर अफसोस भी जताया कि हमारे कानून ऐसे हैं कि आवारा कुत्तों को मारा नहीं जा सकता।
एमसीडी (दिल्ली नगर निगम) वाले मरे मन से उन्हें पकड़ते हैं लेकिन जल्द ही छोड़ना पड़ता है। बाहर निकलकर वह अपनी तादाद फिर बढ़ा लेते हैं। इनकी समस्या इतनी बेकाबू हो गई है कि इंसानों का घर से बाहर निकलना भी मुश्किल हो गया है।
बहुत ही जेनुइन प्रॉब्लम है। कुछ वैसी ही जैसी हमारे दफ्तर में काम करने वाली, हमारे मोहल्लों में रहने वाली और हमारे कॉलेजों में पढ़ने वाली लड़कियां, औरतें और बुजुर्ग महिलाएं रोज झेलती हैं।
फर्क बस इतना है कि आवारा कुत्तों की जगह हमारे समाज के मर्द ले लेते हैं। जो जब देखो फब्तियां कसते हुए पीछे पड़ जाते हैं, सड़क पर तसल्ली से चलने भी नहीं देते। मौका मिले तो रेप करने या मर्डर करने तक से नहीं चूकते। अफसोस ऐसे लोगों के खिलाफ हमारे पास मौत की सजा का कानून नहीं है।
जो मजबूरी कुत्तों को पकड़ने में एमसीडी की है, कुछ वैसी ही मजबूरी दिल्ली पुलिस की भी है। मरे मन से पकड़ तो लेते हैं लेकिन जल्द छोड़ना पड़ता है। समस्या इतनी बेकाबू हो गई है कि लड़कियों और औरतों का इस दिल्ली में घर से निकलना मुश्किल हो रहा है।
बहरहाल, कुत्तों से परेशान मर्दों का सुझाव है कि इसका एक ही इलाज है, सभी आवारा कुत्तों को मार दिया जाए। न रहेंगे कुत्ते न रहेगी समस्या। भले ही एकाध कुत्ते ही इतने खतरनाक हों जो काटने को आते हों, लेकिन वे मानते हैं कि सभी को मार देने से यह समस्या खत्म हो जाएगी।
उनकी इस सोच के आधार पर मर्दों से परेशान औरतें क्या सोचती हैं, वह बताने की जरूरत है क्या….
In August, this year when we at ‘Jaagruti’ received a call from the Gulati family in Faridabad alerting us to the fact that their colony RWA was disallowing them to take their dog ‘Pixie’ in the building lift, it prompted us to do some research on such cases in India, following which we had come out with this article explaining how people could act in such cases.
Yesterday, however brought good news to many a residents fighting this battle for their dogs with their colony RWAs with the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum at Mumbai giving a judgement in favour of the D’Souza family and saying that, “Dogs are part of family, and they can use lifts for free”
Please read the article below in Times of India dated 30th November 2010
(Times of India_30th November 2010)
The below story Courtesy: Anand Holla and Mumbai Mirror gives more details on this ruling of the court.
Dogs are family, can use lifts for free, rules court
This judgment by a Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum at Mumbai will help make life much easier for pet owners in multi-storeyed apartment complexes facing harassment from their RWAs regarding use of lifts by pets.
Mahim society asked to stop charging residents for letting pets use building elevators. Consumer forum says if milkmen can use it, so can dogs
The status of dogs in housing societies have been elevated. In a judgment that will set a precedent for housing societies on how to treat pets, the Central Mumbai Consumer Redressal Forum has rapped a Mahim society for charging one of its member Rs 500 for each of his two dogs using the elevator.
The D’Souzas had been paying Rs 500 a month so their dog Barney could use the lift
Noting that pets are members of the modern, urban family, the forum ruled there is no reason why pets can’t use elevators when outsiders, including service providers such as milkmen and vendors, have access to the facility without any charges.
The family in question — the D’Souzas — resides on the 10th floor of Our Lady Of Velankanni And Perpetual Succour society. The D’Souzas, 58-year-old Allwyn and Eleanor, 52, were shocked by the resolution passed during the society’s general body on August 10, 2008, charging Rs 500 per month for each pet using the lifts. The move hit the couple hard as they would use the elevator to take their pet dogs Barney, a labrador, and Dash, a mongrel, for a daily walk.
When the family protested, the society management justified the decision by saying the pets cause “nuisance due to the stench and threat, causing inconvenience to the members” and that “extra electricity (was) consumed due to unnecessary trips by the lift because of the dogs,” among other factors.
The D’Souzas were left to fend for themselves as the other family in their building that had a pet stayed on the third floor and took to stairs after the diktat. Challenging the society’s decision, Allwyn D’Souza moved the consumer forum while continuing to pay Rs 1,000 every month “under protest”, along with maintenance bills.
D’Souza’s lawyers Udav Wavikar and Rashmi Manne contended before the forum that pets are pampered and loved as much as any other family member, and hence, should be considered part of the family. Invoking religion and mythology, the lawyers said a dog is considered an incarnation of a deity in Maharashtrian culture.
The lawyers further argued that forcing dogs up and down 10 floors amounts to sheer cruelty. To bolster his case, Allwyn collected signatures of society residents to attest that they had no complaints against his dogs. The society, however, said the dogs dirtied lifts by either urinating in them or soiling them, and there was the danger of them biting other residents. The society also argued that dogs are not members of the D’Souza family, and the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act doesn’t include them in the bracket of family members. It claimed the forum had no jurisdiction to hear the complaint.
However, the bench of Nalin Majithia and Bhavna Pisaal observed last week, “We don’t find the society’s view correct. The D’Souzas pay all normal charges and to charge them an extra Rs 500 towards each dog is illegal, and is an instance of unfair trade practice. In Indian culture, dogs are common pets and usually treated as lovingly as other members of the family.”
The forum noted that no resident had ever taken any objection to D’Souzas’ pets. “In a populous city like Mumbai, there is always a shortage of space and multi-storeyed buildings are fast filling up the landscape. Several outsiders such as milkmen, newspaper and vegetable vendors, laundrymen, sweepers, etc, use the building lifts on a daily basis. In such a scenario, the society’s decision to levy charges on residents’ pets for lifts usage is inappropriate,” the forum held.
Ordering the society to return the entire amount it has collected from the D’Souzas along with nine per cent interest and Rs 5,500 towards mental and physical torture and legal costs, the forum held, “The society has indulged in unfair trade practices and it is incorrect on their part to charge the D’Souzas.”
From October 2008 till September 2010, D’Souza paid “dog fees” to the society. Allwyn said, “Our dogs were kept absolutely clean and healthy. We would take them out only twice a day and they never misbehaved with anybody, nor dirtied the lift or the society premises. Some members of the society passed this order only to harass us.” Happy with the order, he said, “This will come as a relief to many residents who are similarly harassed over their pets.”
Lawyer Wavikar said, “If pets dirty the premises, their owners should be made to clean up the place. However, charging residents for keeping pets is completely unjust. With the city constantly experiencing vertical growth, this landmark judgment will go a long way in settling the issue on pets and their rights to use building facilities.”
The society’s lawyer, Anand Patwardhan, termed the forum’s order as ‘perverse’ saying the case should have been decided by a co-operative court. “The society is fully justified in charging additional money as provided in the by-laws of the Co-operative Society Act. Consumer forums shouldn’t trespass the jurisdiction of other courts – in this case a co-operative court.”
While Dash died last year, Barney can now use the lift without burning a hole in his owner’s pocket.
Animal Birth Control: Its as easy as ABC (Image Courtesy PETA)
Animal Birth Control/ABC Programm involves sterilizing street dogs, vaccinating them against rabies and releasing them back into the areas where they were picked up from.
The article below is kind courtesy of The Pioneer Newspaper, penned by noted senior journalist Mr. Hiranmay Karlekar who is also the author of a book titled ‘Savage Humans and Stray Dogs’, the article sheds light on the ‘ABC’ of Delhi’s Animal Birth Control/ABC Programme, comes in the wake of the Commonwealth Games recently organised in Delhi in which many street canines (sterilized as well as non-sterilized) were temporarily (for the period of these games) relocated to Animal shelters across Delhi and Noida from many games venues, stadia, hotels, all of whom have now been released back into the areas where they were picked up from (and those canines that were not sterilized were also sterilized in the process and vaccinated against Rabies at the shelters/hospitals they were housed at prior to being released back to their homes). There is a whole scientific basis and reasoning behind doing so and that is what Mr. Karlekar enlightens us all on below.If you still have doubts, drop in a comment underneath or mail us at contact@jaagruti.org
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The Pioneer EDITS | Saturday, October 23, 2010, By Hiranmay Karlekar
It’s a fallacy to believe that killing street dogs will bring down their numbers. But sterilising them helps in reducing and stabilising their population
According to a report, the Mayor of Delhi has said in an interview to a news channel that the national capital’s stray dogs, which had been removed from their habitats for the duration of the Commonwealth Games, should be killed or kept where they had been taken. He, however, has also reportedly said on television that it was inhuman to kill dogs. I have neither heard either statement nor talked to him. I will, therefore, not go into what he did or did not say. Nor will I criticise him on that account. Instead, I would focus on the issues in question.
Animal Birth Control (Dog) Rules, notified in December 2001 under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (1960), prohibits the killing of stray dogs except in special cases, as when they are rabid or terminally ill. In these too, prescribed procedures have to be followed. Besides, the Rules provide that stray dogs can only be removed from their habitats for neutering and immunisation against rabies. Both done, they have to be returned to places from which they had been taken.
The Rules prescribe the only scientific — and also humane — way of controlling stray dog populations. Killing or removal has not helped anywhere. Dr K Vogel, Chief Veterinary, Public Health, Division of Communicable Diseases, World Health Organisation, and Mr John Hoyt, then President, World Society for the Protection of Animals, made this clear in their joint preface to the Guidelines for Dog Population Management, released by the WHO and WSPA in May 1990. They stated, “All too often, authorities confronted by problems caused by these (stray) dogs have turned to mass destruction in the hope of finding a quick solution, only to find that the destruction had to continue year after year, with no end in sight.”
In its Eighth Report (WHO Technical Report Series 824), WHO’s Expert Committee on Rabies, which met in Geneva from September 24 to 30, stated, “There is no evidence that the removal of dogs has ever had a significant impact on dog population densities and the spread of rabies. The population turnover of dogs may be so high that even the highest recorded removal rates (about 15 per cent of the dog population) are easily compensated by survival rates.” This has been conclusively established in Delhi. In his “Dogs and Dog Control in Developing Countries”, published in The State of Animals 2005, Dr JF Reese writes, “In Delhi, a concerted effort (pre-Animal Birth Control, or ABC) at dog removal killed a third of the straying dogs with no reduction in dog population.”
It has been the same experience everywhere. In his paper, “ABC responsible for decline in human rabies cases”, Dr Chinny Krishna, co-founder and chairman of the Blue Cross Society of India, cites the instance of Madras Corporation’s catch-and-kill programme that began in 1860. He quotes Mr Theodore Bhaskaran, a retired Post Master-General, as stating in an article, “In the 1970s the number of stray dogs destroyed by the corporation was so high that the Central Leather Institute, Madras, designed products —such as neckties and wallets — from dog skins.” Dr Krishna has pointed out elsewhere that the number of dogs killed by the corporation had gone up to 30,000 per year by 1995. Yet the city’s stray dog population and the incidence of rabies continued to increase.
Why does killing or removal not help? According to the Guidelines for Dog Population Management, each habitat has “a specific carrying capacity for each species”, which “essentially depends on the availability, quality and distribution of the resources (shelter, food, water) for the species concerned. The density of population for higher vertebrates (including dogs) is almost always near the carrying capacity of the environment. Any reduction in the population density through additional mortality is rapidly compensated by better reproduction and survival.”
The argument that such a situation will not arise if all stray dogs in a city or country are killed at one go, holds little water. Nowhere has such a venture succeeded. Besides, dogs are territorial. Dogs from one area do not allow those from other areas to enter their areas. Dogs from other areas will occupy any area in which all stray dogs have been massacred. This territorial character of dogs lies at the heart of the ABC programme. With sterilised and vaccinated dogs keeping un-sterilised and un-vaccinated dogs away from their areas, those implementing the programme can concentrate on progressing area by area until a whole city is covered. Otherwise, they will have to keep returning to areas where they had already been with the stray dog population continuing to grow elsewhere.
Significantly, WHO’s Expert Consultation on Rabies, held in Geneva from October 5 to 8, 2004, had stated (WHO: Technical Report Series 824), “Since the 1960s, ABC programmes coupled with rabies vaccination have been advocated as a method to control urban street male and female dog populations and ultimately human rabies in Asia The rationale is to reduce the dog population turnover as well as the number of dogs susceptible to rabies in Asia and limit aspects of male dog behaviour (such as dispersal and fighting) that facilitate the spread of rabies.”
Delhi has had a reasonably successful ABC programme since 2003. Between 40 and 50 per cent of the dogs removed from the Commonwealth Games sites to the care of NGOs were found neutered. At this rate the target of 70 per cent, required to stabilise and then gradually bring down stray dog populations, should be reached in the next few years. Meanwhile, one needs to congratulate the Government and Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the New Delhi Municipal Council and NGOs like Friendicoes, Cure & Care, Sonadi, PAWS and Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre and SPCA NOIDA for the manner in which they temporarily relocated and looked after around 700 dogs. The glitches that occurred were perhaps inevitable in an exercise of the magnitude undertaken. While Mr Rakesh Mehta, Chief Secretary of Delhi, and Mr KS Mehra, Commissioner of MCD, cut through all bureaucratic red tape to promptly take the big decisions, Dr RBS Tyagi and Dr Alok Agarwal of MCD and Dr Dinesh Yadav of NDMC worked tirelessly, almost round-the-clock. Animal lovers throughout India need to warmly applaud all of them.
After the news of the report submitted by Commonwealth Games Federation President and CEO was made public by the electronic media early this week, it was apparently qouted and shown in the photographs submitted by the committee that, “there were pug marks of street dogs on the mattresses in the apartments of the games villages that are due to host the athletes as well as their faeces littered in the Games village”.
Since people in foriegn countries are not used to co-existing with dogs the way we Indians are, the CWG commitee had expressed their concern regarding the presence of street dogs in the Games village and asked for their removal.
But as per the Indian Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960, Delhi High Court orders and orders of the Supreme Court, the street dogs from any area can be removed only for sterilization and vaccination purposes and then they have to be released back into the same area from where they were picked up.
Thus, due to the timely intervention of Major General (Retd) Dr. R.M Kharb, Chairperson, Animal Welfare Board of India and Mr. Hiranmay Karlekar, Member, Animal Welfare Board of India and the pro-active humane outlook adopted by the Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Mr. K.S Mehra, IAS and the Chief Secretary, Government of Delhi Government, Mr. Rakesh Mehta, IAS- the street dogs living in and around the venues earmarked for the Commonwealth Games, 2010- have got a reprieve and in the process India has set an example in front of the other countries of the world with regard to humane treatment of street animals and has also in the process respected its own laws and India’s constitution.
Now the task of picking them up and looking after them till the period of the Games has been entrusted into the hands of SPCA Noida, Cure n Care, Sonadi Animal Care Hospital Friendicoes SECA, an NGO based out of South Delhi, who will be housing them at their South Delhi, Ghazipur and Gurgaon centres where each dog will be given a token with details of the area from where it was picked up.
Volunteers and food are invited by all these NGOs to help in tagging and feeding of the dogs coming in every day and also for helping release them back into their respective territories after the games get over. However, please remember to contact these respective shelters prior to going in there (The contact numbers of all these shelters can be accessed here).
In the interim period, if these dogs will are sterilized and vaccinated by the NGO, then that would be an added bonus for these dogs and the city.
Click on the thumbnails below to read the communication issued by Animal Welfare Board of India’s Chairperson to the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD):
Below is the news in today’s Times of India with regard to this initiative and here is the link to today’s online news on this subject.
Image Courtesy for the photos on this post: CNN IBN and Hindustan Times dated 16th June 2010
For video link to a story that illustrates how official neglect and government’s apathy has destroyed this river body and killed many an animals, birds and fishes in Sultanpur National Park, please click here.
The Sultanpur National Park, situated in Indian state of Haryana may be India’s smallest National Park but it’s a haven for migratory birds in Haryana.
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Set up by late Indian Prime Minister – Indira Gandhi in 1971 Sultanpur National Park is today dying a slow death.
There is no water in the wetland and dying fish and carcasses dot the sanctuary.
Sultanpur Lake: Then and Now..
Can only a trial by Media save it?
More news reports on this subject can be accessed at the links below:
Photograph by Tapan Mukherjee, courtesy Aajkaal, a Bengali daily (Dated 25th May 1996)
Photograph above: Three street dogs protecting a new-born baby abandoned in Kolkata on the evening of 23rd May, 1996. Below is an excerpt of a news report filed by Pinaki Mujumdar on the 25th May, 1996 edition of a Bengali daily, named ‘Aajkaal’ which carried the above hear-rendering photograph by Tapan Mukherjee.
This story was carried on the front page of this newspaper and did end up demonstrating the responsible ‘humane’ action of these three street dogs towards a human baby.
This is one of the best examples of sensitive journalism that was accompanied by sharp news sense.
A bright new born baby girl by the side of the dustbin. Sitting around her are three street mongrels. The same unchanging picture throughout the night. This unbelievable and inconceivable incident is not a scene from a screenplay. Nor is it the background to a story causing a sensation throughout the world. It is real-as unalloyedly real as light and air, life and death.This incident stretched at Hartokibagan Lane under Burtolla Police Station from the night of 23rd May, 1996 to 24th May, 1996 morning. Not just that, the three dogs followed like responsible guardians when some people of the locality rescued the new born baby girl and took her to the Burtolla Police Station. They had, unnoticed by all arrived at the door of the Officer-in-charge at Burtolla Police Station I.K Hossain as people were busy watching the baby, who had been put on the officer’s table, move her hands and feet. This scene did not elude the eyes of the policemen and the curious people present at the police station.
This report states that it was only around 2 pm on 24th May, 1996 , when the baby was put in a car to be taken to a f home for foundlings did these three street dogs walk back to their old neighbourhood, walkng slowly….
(Courtesy: Savage Humans and Stray Dogs, a book by Hiranmay Karlekar, Sage Publications 2008)
Abhinav Bindra won the Olympic Gold Medal in 10 meter air rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In his guest column in today’s HT City, the ace shooter writes about his bonding with dogs.
Courtesy: HT City (Hindustan Times) dated 15th May 2010
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