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.
The Interim order of the Supreme Court of India passed on the 18th Nov 2015 while hearing ‘all street dog related matters’ emphatically directs that the laws made viz. Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001 have to be implemented and that there shall not be any indiscriminate killing of dogs. The Supreme Court Order observed that “There can be no trace of doubt that there has to be compassion for dogs and that they should not be killed in an indiscriminate manner…”
The Order states- “There can be no trace of doubt that there has to be compassion for dogs and they should not be killed in an indiscriminate manner, but indubitably the lives of the human beings are to be saved and one should not suffer due to dog bite because of administrative lapse.”
It further reiterates that, “Rule 6 of the Animal Birth Control Rules 2001 enacted under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960, provides for obligations of the local authority. Rule 7 deals with capturing/sterilisation/ immunisation/release. Rule 8 deals with identification and recording and Rule 9 provides for euthanasia of street dogs. Rule 10 deals with furious or dumb rabid dogs.” and goes on to add that, ” As we find, the local authorities have a sacrosanct duty to provide sufficient number of dog pounds, including animal kennels/shelters, which may be managed by the animal welfare organizations, that apart, it is also incumbent upon the local authorities to provide requisite number of dog vans with ramps for the capture and transportation of street dogs; one driver and two trained dog catchers for each dog van; an ambulance-cum-clinical van as mobile centre for sterlisation and immunisation; incinerators for disposal of carcasses and periodic repair of shelter or pound. Rule 7 has its own significance. The procedure has to be followed before any steps are taken. Rules 9 and 10 take care of the dogs which are desirable to be euthanised.”
To explain to our readers Rule 9 – it means that only mortally wounded or terminally ill dogs i.e.when and only when a dog is unfit for survival/has no chance of recovery/healing which is medically proven by a Government certified Veterinary Doctor and it’s survival causes more pain for it is when u can think of euthanising.
….and then the order hammers home the point, that for now that the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2001, (for short, ‘the 2001 Rules’) shall prevail over the provisions contained in any local Act/Municipality Act by stating that, “for the present it is suffice to say that all the State municipal corporations, municipal committees, district boards and local bodies shall be guided by the Act and the Rules and it is the duty and obligation of the Animal Welfare Board to see that they are followed with all seriousness. It is also the duty of all the municipal corporations to provide infrastructure as mandated in the statute and the rules. Once that is done, we are disposed to think for the present that a balance between compassion to dogs and the lives of human being, which is appositely called a glorious gift of nature, may harmoniously co-exist.”.
And towards the end of this Interim Order passed by the Honourable Supreme Court of India, instructions are laid out for the Local bodies to follow, “The local authorities shall file affidavits including what kind of infrastructures they have provided, as required under the law. Needless to emphasize, no innovative method or subterfuge should be adopted not to carry out the responsibility under the 1960 Act or the 2001 Rules. Any kind of laxity while carrying out statutory obligations, is not countenanced in law.”
“A copy of the order passed today be sent to the Chief Secretary of each of the States and the competent authority of Union Territories, so that they can follow the same in letter and spirit. We would also request all the High Courts not to pass any order relating to the 1960 Act and the 2001 Rules pertaining to dogs. Needless to say, all concerned as mentioned herein-above, shall carry out this order and file their respective affidavits as directed“…are the concluding lines of this order as the matter gets listed for Final Hearing and Disposal on 9th March 2016.
The Press Release issued by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Government of India on the above stated order, is shared below.
As shared by Ms. Anjali Sharma, Board Member and Legal Advisor to the Animal Welfare Board of India, Ministry of Environment , Forest and Climate Change, Government of India.
And this is what the 5th August 2015 Delhi High Court order reads like:
As per this order, Ms. Sharma explains, ” (i) what is necessary is that the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules be implemented in letter and spirit ; & (ii) The primary responsibility of implementing the Rules is of the municipalities. (Meaning thereby that they have to fund it adequately, provide the infrastructure, etc.). Not only has the Delhi High Court Order asked the 3 municipal corporations of Delhi, & the N.D.M.C., to file status reports giving sterilization numbers, but specifically asked whether the STRAY DOGS HAVE BEEN RETURNED BACK TO THE LOCALITIES after sterilization.”
As per letter No. DSPCA/(I) Admin/2015/22/665 dated 5th March 2015, issued by Mr. Kaushal Kishore, Administarive Officer, DSPCA (Delhi Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) shared in this blog post, people in Delhi should please make a note of this that whenever you see a violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 or its rules in Delhi, you can report the same on the helpline number of DSPCA is +91-11-23972805.
You are requested to call them only when you are SURE that an offense has taken place.
Please do not call them for reporting sick or injured animals where there is no need for prosecution. Instead approach the nearest animal hospital or better, still take the animal to the hospital or a veterinarian’s clinic yourself for getting them the required medical treatment.
If you do not live in Delhi, you are advised to go to your DM/DC (District Magistrate/District Collector), and show them this order and work with them to make the SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) active in your city.
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.
We wanted to share that on the occasion of World Rabies Day on 28th September 2013, we at JAAGRUTI can facilitate to get street dogs in your respective areas/locality* in Delhi vaccinated against Rabies for free.
*The only pre-requisite is that you should send us an e-mail or a scanned letter taking a guarantee** of getting atleast 10 street dogs vaccinated to contact@jaagruti.org (stating ‘Free ARV’ in the subject line).
** When we say guarantee, then that means that you should be able to confidently locate and hold the street dog and pet them till the time the paravet injects the vaccine into the dog, without any hoohaa or drama about it!
Also, please note that ARV shots cannot be given to pups under 90 days of age.
Also mention the following in this request e-mail you write to us:
1. Your name:
2. Your Address:
3. Number of Street dogs you would like Anti-Rabies Vaccinations (ARV) done for and their area:
4. Your contact number and e-mail ID
If you love your street dogs enough to bring them all the way to the camp ON YOUR OWN to get them vaccinated by doctors on site, then the main FREE ANTI RABIES VACCINATION camp is being organised on 28th September 2013, Saturday at:
Address: Baba Khimman Singh Park, Opposite KD Block, Ashok Vihar-Phase 1, Delhi (Near Big Transformer)
Timings of the Camp:8AM to 3PM
You can even get your Pet Dogs, whose ARV shots are due or you have forgotten (as unfortunately most callous ignorant lazy pet owners may do..) to this camp.
Everyday, we receive many queries and calls over the Jaagruti helpline complaining about how their Residential Society’s Welfare Associations (commonly abbreviated as RWA’s) putting up notices ‘banning pets’, coming out with ‘no pets allowed’ clauses in their society bye-laws, ‘asking people to abandon their pets’, ‘mistreating street dogs’ etc. The article below by Rishi Dev of Citizens for Animal Rights, is a must-read for all those facing such a situation. This article explains as well as empowers you with information to fight your own respective battles in this regard for your sake and for your pet child..who has no one other than you in this world to fight for him/her or their rights.
Guest Post* by Rishi Dev, Citizens for Animal Rights
In 2010, the Central Mumbai Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum gave a strong directive to a group housing society who was charging a pet owner resident monthly fees for using lifts. The court clearly said – “Dogs are part of a family hence they have the right to use the lift just as any other member, and we cannot decide who is a family member and who isn’t, each family decides for itself.”
Before this in 2008 a similar order came from a lower court that clarified that pets are part of family and cannot be restricted from living or using the residential complexes.
In 2012, the Gurgaon Municipal Corporation was the first of their kind to issue strict notices to all CGHS and RWAs in Gurgaon, warning them not to formulate rules and regulations against pets and that any such move is in conflict with the law. The notices clearly stated – “Such a move may lead to dissolution of the RWA and prosecution of its office bearers, says the letter. 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 neighbors who feed animals.”
So what is origin of these laws protecting dogs and cats from humans who treat them unequal?
The system of law in Indian is a tiered system, based on Arthashastra from 400 B.C. & Manusmriti from 100 A.D. wherein the central philosophy was tolerance & pluralism. This is the reason the constitution declares India to be a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic, assuring its citizens justice, equality, and liberty.
The hierarchical system of Indian constitution thus forbids the lower hierarchies to overrule or override the higher orders, laws, directions or acts. This means that if Supreme Court says ‘yes’ to something, the ‘no’ by the high courts’ gets automatically nullified. This hierarchy comes down to the lowest local urban body or court. In India most courts have already ruled in favor of the animals in all respects. Hence any organization, individual or body ruling or following actions against such orders are automatically breaking the law and in contempt of the constitution and the honorable courts.
There are laws and constitutional provisions directly allowing people to take care of animals, whether inside or outside their places of work or living. The laws clearly protect people and their animals from all kinds of discrimination. The Indian constitution states them very clearly via various sections. Article 48-A – “The State shall endeavor to protect & improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country.” Article 51-A deals with the fundamental duties of the citizen. Article 51-A(g) states – ” It shall be duty of every citizen of India to protect & improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures.” Article 19 deals with the fundamental rights of the citizen. So “Right to Protect the Environment ” comes within Article 19. After the Stockholm Declaration in 1972 the Indian Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 inserted for the first time specific provisions to protect & improve the environment. I.P.C. Section 428 and 429 provides severe punishment to people resorting to dislocation, abduction and acts of cruelty towards community animals or pets. Ministry of Public Grievances notification and a similar notification by Animal Welfare Board of India dated March 2008, provide immunity to animal feeders and restrict government employees or bodies such as Resident Welfare Associations from harassing people who try to feed or help animals. Article 25, 26, 27, 28 provides religious freedom to all citizens and preserves the principle of secularism in India. According to the constitution, all religions are equal before the State. Citizens are free to preach, practice and propagate any religion of their choice in their own way. Keeping or feeding animals is a part of the same right. The other acts which protect animals are The Environment (Protection) Act – 1986 & Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.
Hence, anyone taking care, keeping pets or street animals has natural immunity in the law. There are many orders pertaining to street animals by many courts. But in the recent times many RWAs have shown their autocracy over residents keeping pets. Keeping the same in mind the Animal Welfare Board of India and many municipal corporations have time and again written to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) and their RWAs to refrain from these undemocratic actions.
An RWA is a private, representative body which has no legal sanctity. It is just a group of people who have come together and formed a club. Their resolutions and bye laws are not legal mandates and especially if they violate the fundamental rights of a citizen or even more goes against an existing court order. Such RWAs can be legally prosecuted and if need be can face fines or imprisonment or both. Such precedence has been set before. If any resident faces such harassment from RWAs, must immediately approach the local magistrate and file a complaint of harassment and violation of their fundamental rights. The complaint must also be sent to ROS asking them to dissolve the RWA with immediate effect. AWBI must also be approached for taking appropriate legal action against such RWA members.
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.”
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
In August 2011, we at ‘Jaagruti’ began our humble initiative to recycle institutional waste paper in a non-monetary (i.e ‘free’) recycling service which borders on an in-kind exchange programme, where institutions and organisations get back 100% recycled paper (or products) back to use in their work/study space, depending on the quantum and quality of waste paper given by them to ‘Jaagruti’ for recycling.
8 months since we started, it gives us all at ‘Jaagruti’ immense satisfaction at the number of institutional tie ups we have been able to establish under our ‘Waste Paper Recycling Initiative’. In the process, we have also helped make individuals from across various academic institutions, corporates and organisations aware on the benefits of following the principle of ‘Reduce. Reuse and Recycle‘, and helped save many tonnes of waste paper getting recycled again to make fresh paper, without cutting any trees! (As otherwise, producing 1 tonnes of paper would require 17 full green trees to be cut)
To understand how paper is recycled and the need for doing so, please see the short film below:
As part of the ‘Paper Recycling Initiative’ undertaken with ‘Jaagruti’ by Netaji Subash Institute of Technology (popularly known as ‘NSIT’), a prestigious Engineering College under University of Delhi, the sheets of recycled paper were given back to the institute were further deftly stitched into notebooks and registers by ragpickers at Matiala in Dwarka area of Delhi. The same products, made by ragpickers were put on sale at the College’s Annual Festival to raise help raise resources for them. The SIFE Chapter(Students in Free Enterprise Chapter) of NSIT also entered this Project of theirs, christened ‘Project Pratham‘ into the Dell Social Innovation Challenge (see screenshots below)
If your organisation/company is interested in getting yor waste paper recycled, we at ‘Jaagruti’ can help you, please contact us on +91-9818144244 or mail us at contact@jaagruti.org or post a query below:
23 September 2011: We found Hasmukh sitting next to an electricity metre box in the service lane on the road a kilometre off our place. On our next round that evening, he was still sitting at that spot, panting. On checking with the chowkidaar (security guard) there, our worst fears came true. Hasmukh couldn’t stand up on his hind legs and thus couldn’t walk. Hasmukh was not a street dog of this area, and as we learnt he used to stay across the road and since the chowkidaar and ragpickers found him dragging himself on the middle of the main road, they kept him this side.
If you are wondering why we named him Hasmukh (which means ‘Smiling face’ in English), thats because that was the first name that popped up in our head as we saw him with his lower canine sticking out from one end of his lower jaw :)
We were not interested in packing Hasmukh off to an animal shelter, which is for us always the last preferred option. We lifted him in and brought him to a safe and secluded neighbourhood park, which was clean and not being used by either humans or other street dogs. We made him a nice cosy bed of grass there and fed him that night and decided that we will do our best to get him standing on his feet using the best possible medication underneath open the open sky than make Hasmukh feel depressed amidst hundreds of other sick animals lodged at a shelter.
Hasmukh: Day 1 in the park we kept him in
24 September 2011: Morning time, we went to feed Hasmukh and found big ants stuck around his genitals, a fearful sight and painful because Hasmukh had no sensation of all of them sticking around there, we removed the insects and applied medicines over him to keep the insects away. Amidst all of this, the positive aspect was that Hasmukh was eating well and by the afternoon meal, we knew he loved milk, cheese and pedigree while he had trouble digesting rotis because of his deformed jawline.
We requested the vet to come over that evening and check on him as we didn’t want to put Hasmukh through the trouble of being driven in that condition…it was pitch dark when the vet came and when he did the pin prick test on his hind legs, Hasmukh could not feel any sensation at all!
A couple of painkillers and a multivitamin injection were administered to Hasmukh and we decided to get the course repeated every two days and observe and feed him in the meantime.
27 September 2011: After the previous injections, Hasmukh had become more active, he was sitting in attentive doggy poses the whole day and even growled a female dog that came too close to him away…we were happy by the progress he was making. On 27th night, we repeated the dose of injections.
Hasmukh began sitting attentively whole day long
28 September 2011: At a Street Dog Anti-Rabies camp, we discussed Hasmukh case with another trusted vet of ours and gained in optimism when we learnt that a paralysed dog can be brought to feet by giving him a course of homeopathic medicines for a month, which can also be aided by an allopathic medicine named Methycobal (to be given morning and evening). Excited and optimistic, we got the medicines that very night.
29 September 2011: The fickleness of life came to the fore. We went to feed Hasmukh that noon and saw a sight that scared the wits out of us. He had a big gaping wound with pus…on the pelvic region of the right hind leg just next to the tail and there were flies hovering around that portion, fearful that maggots would infest him, we got him to our home and took him to our trusted vet (Who had prescribed the homeopathic dose the previous day). It was in that visit to the vet, that all our optimism gathered through the previous day came to nought, the vet examined his back portion and told us that as per his analysis, he had a spine fracture and it was due to that spinal fracture, that Hasmukh’s hind legs had been rendered immobile, though we did believe that from day 1 till now, he had started feeling few sensations back…The vet gave his verdict, Hasmukh should be put to sleep if the spine fracture gets confirmed, his life would be full of misery otherwise.
Shocked! We asked our vet two questions…what was that big gaping wound that had come up on his hind leg? “Its a bedsole”, the vet answered…”it will not get healed”, he said and rather such bedsoles will gradually form on different portions of the legs in times to come as bedsoles happen when the body is immobile”.
Hasmukh's bedsole
Our next question, can a spinal fracture be healed? And our vet answered, “No, not even in humans…though there are surgeries these days for humans, but the chances of surviving the surgeries are remote and the risks too many as even one nerve getting hurt during the operation, can paralyse the whole body”.
Our hopes crashed that night and we got Hasmukh home back with us, and gave us a cushiony mattress, food and lots of love over the next two days. We wanted him to live the best days of his life.
Hasmukh comes home
…on 1 October 2011, the whole evening, Hasmukh for the first time, made us hear his voice, he was talking or crying in pain, we would never know…but he wanted us to sit next to him and only then would he be quiet else he would start those voices again.
2 October 2011: We had planned to get Hasmukh’s Spinal Cord X rays done and we did. Only to see the terrible condition in which his spine had been fractured. See below, the overlapping fractured bones and the 1 inch gap between the fractured overlapping portions.
Hasmukh's Spinal Cord X-ray: The Final Verdict!
Hasmukh stood no chance of recovery and his bedsole was only increasing in girth. To relieve him off his pain and suffering, with a stone on our hearts, we decided to let him go. All animals go to heaven is what we believe and so would Hasmukh, we knew.
A lingering question pained us no end…How did Hasmukh fracture his spine so badly? Clearly because a senseless driver in hurry had not bothered to look underneath his car where Hasmukh might have been resting on that fateful day, the car romped over him.
Rest in peace dear Hasmukh.
Rest in Peace dear Hasmukh
The ten days that you spent with us gave us a lesson for life. Your patience was admirable, your spirit indomitable and needless to say, your smile was lovely and thats why we named you ‘Hasmukh’.
And to all of you reading this, just remember to pass this word on, that the next time you turn your car’s ignition on to embark on a road journey, please spare a moment to peep underneath your car to check if an animal like Hasmukh is resting underneath your car, next to the tyre or flat on the ground under the shade of the car.
Try to shoo that resting animal away by blowing a horn or making some other strange noise to scare him away, atleast that will ensure that the beginning of your road journey is not the end of someone’s journey of life.
Shoo the dog away if he is sleeping underneath your car, lest you drive over him and crush its bones (Courtesy: http://www.bkkpetfoto.com)
Author: This story has been contributed by Rishi Dev (Citizens for Animal Rights)
Four cooperative group housing societies in sector 10, Dwarka are facing a new kind of menace from two street dogs, Dolly and Chotu. Both of these dogs have lived outside these four apartments for almost 8 years now, making them the only two dogs in a human population of 2000. Initially there were only a handful of people feeding these dogs and taking regular care of them. But then something happened which changed many a perceptions.
Dwarka still being gripped and plagued with daylight petty crimes like chain snatching, eve teasing, carjacking and so on, is one of the easiest places for any thief to run and hide. Two years back, on one of such evenings when two ladies were taking a walk outside one of these society gates, two thieves on a bike came from nowhere and snatched the chain from one of these ladies and drove away. Within a split second both these dogs, who were sitting outside the gate of the society ran after this bike. Dolly being faster than Chotu approached the bike from the front, almost running in front of the bike slowing and confusing the driver, albeit risking her own life, while Chotu being the tough one ran behind the bike, intimidating the pillion rider, who was transferring the fear on to the rider like a domino effect.
After almost 800 meters of chase, the bikers lost control and fell down. They left the chain, the bike and ran away before people could catch them. Surprisingly both these dogs didn’t bite them or chase them further. They stood there for almost a minute till the residents reached the spot and claimed the bike and the chain. It was later discovered that the bike was also a stolen one.
Since that day onwards everyone in the colony started loving these dogs. They now fight over who feeds, or over feeds these two dogs, because everyone wants to claim their ownership on them. The residents recollect that in the last 8 years there has not been a single case of theft, robbery, crime around these blocks, not excluding zero dog bites. Beyond these four apartments there have been many such cases of crime, but every time there were attempts to infringe into these four apartments in the night, these dogs have barked the hell out of the night guards who are often found sound asleep. The supervisor of the guard agency called “Rakshak”, has instructed all his guards to keep these dogs around while they choose to sleep inevitably. He swears by their dedication all the time. The rickshaw pullers and the other informal shops in and around this area pamper Dolly and Chotu and often treat them equal to their children. They are always ready to face any impending danger which may befall upon these two creatures. For the thieves these two dogs may be proving to be a real menace, but these canines care the least as they are busy playing other roles which are almost invisible to the residents.
Dolly and Chotu are often seen chasing rats, snakes, monitor lizards and so on. Dwarka region registers one snake bite a day in Delhi. Dogs are predators for burrowed animals and such dangerous reptiles and are known to have been a keystone species by many ecologists in maintaining the epizootic balance of the region. Dolly does not produce litter as she and Chotu have been sterilized and inoculated for rabies by the MCD. This makes them less aggressive towards general humans unless anyone is a threat to the residents, these dogs now consider as their own pack leaders. So it has been a common practice for years now, to feed Dolly and Chotu in turns, so they recognize their own residents and protect each one of them from any potential threat including other dogs which are often driven away by Chotu even before they enter this colony.
Chotu is also a favorite of the children who pat, sit, and cuddle this big, dark brown, scary looking dog in the way they like. And while he enjoys his daily tummy rubbing treats, he pays them back with love and protection by accompanying many to their bus stops and metro stations in the morning. Many are seen talking to these dogs in their own language which is easily understood by these canines as if they were Homo sapiens themselves. Many strangers often find Chotu and Dolly barking endlessly at night or running after vehicles and complain of the same to the residents. But the residents shrug it away by telling each one, this chronicle of Dolly and Chotu without missing any detail and on every single opportunity made available to them. They now associate the running of dogs with that incident, clearly.
While the barking and chasing at night by Dolly & Chotu continues and may be a nuisance for strangers and thieves, but the residents enjoy such chases with a sense of belonging and ownership. And so it seems why the courts across the world have thus not been able to define the true meaning of the word “nuisance” for genuine reasons. Someone has rightly said, “neighbour’s envy may be owner’s pride”, so while we may endlessly continue to find correct answers to complex questions like, “How to end the dog menace?” or “What is really a dog menace?”, these canines nonchalantly would do what they have to do, in their own stride and thriving to be man’s best friend.
‘Magic’ is another of our rescued dog stories, for the story of his rescue and recovery is nothing but ‘magical’.
Last year when the Commonwealth Games 2010 ended, it was time to release the street dogs back into the games venue areas where they were picked up from and kept in at shelters for the period of the games.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s SSCBC (Society for Stray Canine Birth Control) decided then that to ensure transparency, the release of all dogs back into their respective areas will be photographed and video-graphed as evidence to comfort all that ‘no dog was dislocated from its original territories’ in conformation with the Animal Birth Control Rules 2001 (drafted under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960).
On one such Dog-release exercises happening in South Delhi, I had volunteered to be part of the Release Team and photograph/videograph the release of the dogs as per the details we had of their respective areas at the time of picking them up.
As we were releasing some dogs in the area of R.K Puram, a middle-aged lady came up to me and pointed to a dog that had taken shelter in a shop of his rag-dealer husband. She told me ‘Take him, he has lost his eye’. I asked what happened and went close by, only to see something that I had not imagined. The left side of this male dog’s face was completely chewn apart by maggots and so was his left eye and we all could literally peep into his jaw, see his tongue and it was to say the least, a painful sight.
I requested the MCD Dog Catchers who were accompanying me in the Release vehicle to help catch that dog, but this was not a rescue for the faint-hearted and they couldn’t catch him and he ran far far away.
MCD’s dog catcher tries to catch the maggot infested dog ‘Magic’ but he resists the catching attempt and runs away -Image Copyright: Jaagruti
Next day morning, we at ‘Jaagruti’ decided to make another trip to that area as that lady had shared with me that the maggot-infested dog stays in and around their shop only.
After a few minutes of searching for him, we were able to locate this dog, but now came the big challenge of how to win this dog’s confidence and pick him up to keep him in our car…we had done this before, but this time around we needed some help and help did come to us in the form of the rag-dealer husband of that lady, who was friendly with that dog and helped pick him up and place him in our car. We had used the tried and tested trick of covering his eyes with a cloth and tying a leash around his neck…but then mayhem was to follow as this dog kept running up and down in our car and was scratching his face with the windowpanes, visibly in pain with the maggots tearing into his flesh, oozing blood all over.
We then called upon the ambulance from the Animal Hospital we at ‘Jaagruti’ support through monetary and in-kind contributions and requested them to help us with this rescue case. To our good fortune, their ambulance was nearby…and then we were successfully able to transfer this dog from our car into the ambulance and off he was sent to the hospital.
‘Magic’ after being put in the Animal Ambulance- Image Copyright: ‘Jaagruti’
In the case of any other animal hospital in any part of Delhi or the world, such a severe case of maggot infested dog would have perhaps been euthanized or as they say’ peacefully put to sleep’ and we at ‘Jaagruti’ were prepared to hear that from our trusted vet too, but that wasn’t to be as the docs decided to give it a shot and then began the ‘magical’ treatment of this dog, whom we chose to name ‘Magic’…perhaps because his recovery was magical news for us and also because the name of the dreaded maggots who made this dog’s life hell started that way as well!
As ‘Magic’ underwent treatment, on day 1 his maggots and wound were cleared, on day 2 he was put on drips because with all the maggot clearing medicines going into his mouth, he had stopped eating food through his mouth…the glucose drips continued till day 4 and then came the good news, that Magic had started taking his food himself..
‘Magic’ on the road to recovery at the Animal Hospital – Image Copyright: ‘Jaagruti’
Another month of treatment and recovery followed and on Day 40, he was released back into his area where he was welcomed back by the area residents, all astonished and pleased that he had recovered and so were we!
‘Magic’ in the ambulance post recovery and before being released back into his area -Day 40 (Image Copyright: ‘Jaagruti’)
For all animal cases that we get to attend directly to at ‘Jaagruti’, we just prefer to give them a name rather than referring to them as an anonymous dog or any other creature. But that name is just for us so that on platforms like this blog, we can share that animal’s story with you. We make it a point not to call that animal being treated out with that name, lest the animal gets used to it and then has no one to call it out when he goes back to his/her life on the street after spending his days of recovery either with us or at a boarding or at an animal hospital shelter.
Now, to who is Desty?
Desty is the name we gave to a street dog who landed out of nowhere at our doorsteps a few months back, we were alerted to his presence by the barking and screaming of the other dogs that live on our street. Desty was a new dog, we hadn’t seen him anywhere near the stretch of our colony or the colonies adjacent to ours!
And visibly as we could make out, Desty was unwell. He resisted the barking of our area’s street dogs and made himself comfortable next to our doorstep, we thought he won’t make it and won’t eat, but then when we placed a bowl of milk next to him so that we could examine him, he gulped it in seconds as if he was thirsty for ages…we gave him another bowl and he gulped it again. He was clearly in no mood to go anywhere and he just stayed put over there for the next two days and we kept feeding him. He had no visible signs of injury, but then we noticed something, he was showing signs of twitching and was coughing, symptoms characteristic of early stages of Canine Distemper.
'Desty' as we saw him on Day 1- Image Copyright: 'Jaagruti '
Since we were feeding him, he trusted us enough to lift him and put him in the car to take him to our vet for examination or perhaps when we now look back, we think this was what Desty had come to our doorsteps for!
As the vet examined him, our fears were proved true, Desty was indeed showing signs of Canine Distemper, but the good news was that this was perhaps the initial stage and as per our trusted vet’s advice, we shifted him to the isolation ward of the animal hospital we support and there, under the supervision of our trusted vet, began Desty’s ‘homeopathic’ treatment, a specially designed course designed by human homeopathic doctor by the name of Dr. Shukla who works out of Noida, comprising of homeopathic medicines like Distemperium and Agaricus mixed in strict-secret proportions by him and given every few hours.
Within a span of 10 days, Desty was fit and fine again and we decided to leave him on the street at the very car parking spot where we had first noticed him prior to him coming on his own to our house doorsteps!
We had opted to release him back on the street in the early hours of the morning, so that he could safely chart his way back to whichever area he belonged to and sure enough he did.
'Desty' before being released back on the street-Post-treatment (Day 12) - Image Copyright: 'Jaagruti '
We kept thinking about Desty as we couldn’t locate him again after that morning, perhaps this dog was just destined to come to our doorsteps on his own to get himself treated of Distemper, a life threatening disease with no cure if not detected and cured in the early stages of infection. And that is why we chose to name him ‘Desty’.
We were in for another surprise a month down the line, we noticed Desty next to our home yet again, this time hale and hearty and even showing his teeth to the dogs that inhabit our street. We came out, noticed him and remembered him and then he looked at us and sprinted away…we guess he had only come to tell us that he was fine and happy now and to put us at ease.
It is these little inexplicable and often ‘divine’ moments of satisfaction and joy of seeing an animal you helped treat back on its feet again that uplifts our sagging spirits to keep on in our efforts to help those who can’t help themselves.
Life is a puzzle which gets deciphered when we look back and connect the dots. When I was in school, I had yearned for people to come over and talk to us about animals and environment but no one did, I tried to do it myself-telling my fellow classmates about not using polybags to dump kitchen waste as it kills a cow and clogs our drains, but no one listened….probably I didn’t communicate the right way or perhaps that was because our teachers didn’t reinforce what I said or probably because no one had the time to think about ‘going green’ as that buzzword wasn’t around at that time, neither was ‘Environment’ a career option as my School counsellor was clueless when I went and asked her about it.
Nevertheless growing up, I had always harboured deep within me a dream and a desire to go back to my school and speak to students and teachers therein on subjects pertaining to animals and environment because this is all I had always wanted to do and this is one of the reasons ‘Jaagruti’ was born…
And who says, dreams don’t come true, they do take time but I believe they do come true…and sometime back I had the opportunity to go back to my school and address the students in there not once but twice on subjects close to my heart, once on ‘Waste Management’ and the second time around I had the opportunity to address an Eco-Club seminar which was attended to by eco-club teachers from about 15 more schools and a group of Eco-club students from Classes 9-12. The focus of this interaction with teachers and students was to apprise them of the little things they can share with their colleagues/students/classmates on what all we as ‘individuals’ can do in our daily lives to help street animals and care for the environment.
One of the many things I had touched upon in this interaction was how many birds-eagles/kites, crows, mynahs and pigeons often become victims of kite strings-the glass manjhas/threads used by people to fly their kites high into the sky.
Though the kite flying games end, these kite strings often end up tearing through many a birds wings, either while they navigate through the open skies or when later on when these birds perch on the tree branches-their tiny claws/legs and wings remain susceptible to be trapped in the strings left wound around tree branches forever…
Someone in the audience that day in my former school was listening carefully to what I was saying and that was Ms. Rajbir Kaur, a teacher from a neighbouring school who was faced with a similar situation a few weeks later and that is when she called us over on the ‘Jaagruti’ helpline.
As Ms. Kaur’s family was attending to guests, the little kids in the family spotted a pigeon hung upside down from the branch of a Eucalyptus tree, the kids tried and tried along with their father of ways to get the pigeon down, but the tree was so far away from any houses’ balcony and the branches were too high, that it was not within reachable distance from the common ladders and poles we all have in our homes and they were now feeling helpless.
Ms. Kaur called us over, and after listening to the story thus far, we just gave her one calm advice to follow-to call the Delhi Fire Service on 101 and request them to send over their Fire Brigade as their long ladder will help. The Delhi Fire Service staff has time and again helped people help birds stuck in such situations and needless to say when Ms. Singh called 101, they were prompt in sending their Fire Brigade over….just that there was one thing she missed telling them…which is what height the pigeon was stuck on and thus the Fire Brigade that came didn’t have a ladder that long to reach the pigeon. And it was then that we all had to sincerely request the Delhi Fire Service staff to call for the Fire Brigade with a longer ladder and they agreed after initial hesitation. Their hesitation was that since this was a festival day and there could be fire emergencies in the city, how could they be here saving a bird…we assured them that if there is any such emergency; we will let them go and may be God will be kind enough to spare Delhi of any fire disasters and then they agreed :)
The Delhi Fire Service then called upon their most prized possession ‘The Bronto Skylift’, a new entrant into their fleet of Fire Brigades and then began the story of a heroic rescue of nothing but a pigeon who was hanging upside down and still uptil then making everyone wonder whether it was even alive!
But then, as soon as the Bronto Skylift’s ladder reached near that branch, the Pigeon started fluttering its wings in hope and excitement as if to convey that it was well alive and kicking!
The Delhi Fire Service staff got a heroic applause as they brought the pigeon safely down and then taking it to Ms. Kaur’s residence even helped cut the kite string which was wound around its wing, in such a neat manner that there was no injury caused to the pigeon, now named ‘Hero’ by Ms. Kaur’s husband-Mr. Singh. Since it is not advisable to release birds like Pigeons at night time, Mr. Singh’s family gave ‘Hero’ a nice place to rest, grains and water to feed on and even put on their water cooler (while switching the fan off) so that ‘Hero’ has a restful sleep.
Next morning, we went and took the pigeon for further examination to Abhinav at Fauna Police and then the next day since the pigeon was all good and healthy, Mr. Singh got him back on his way back from work and released it onto his balcony.
And then, the anticlimax happened, ‘Hero’ actually ended up being a ‘Heroine’, which is that Pigeon wasn’t a male but rather a female pigeon who then chose to use an abandoned nest atop an almirah placed in Mr. Singh’s balcony to lay her eggs :)
The story of Heroine’s rescue and release has been delightfully documented in the video shared by Mr. Singh with us below. Have a look!
Mr. Singh had this to say, “By saving this bird’s life, the Delhi Fire Service has shown that they respect and value all life (humans and animals) and that is what all of us need to learn and imbibe”.
Then onwards Mr. Singh’s family has also taken the initiative of getting all of their colony’s street dogs vaccinated against Rabies, which were uptil then only being fed by the area residents, but they took on additional responsibility and expense to make sure that these dogs are now vaccinated as well.
It is said that doing one good deed prompts you to do the next one and thus, the spirit of compassion continues to flow!
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….
Credits: This article has been posted here thanks to the information circulated by Charu Shah through the Facebook Group ‘Awareness on Kite Flying’, Neha Patel (from Baroda, Gujarat), Nilesh Bhanage (from PAWS Mumbai), Fauna Police (at Delhi) , Wildlife Rescue (at Delhi)
Every year, the festival of Makar Sankranti (falling this year on 14th January 2011) is celebrated with a lot of joy and cheer, but hardly few people know that this joy causes death to many innocent birds.
People use manja/kite string made of glass, so that the kites they fly don’t get cut easily and fly higher, but what they don’t realise is that the same threads responsible for killing a lot of birds every year while crippling others for life.
This glass manja (glass powder treated string or also called Chinese string/manja)gets entangled in the trees and cause death not only on that particular day, but for months after that.
The legs or wings of the birds that sit on those trees, have nests therein or fly past its branches get entangled in this manja, and stay there, sometimes hanging upside down for days …on end, bleeding, and dying a slow miserable death.The most common bird to fall prey to kite flying in the city of Delhi is ironically a raptor bird, known as Kite (to learn more about this, read this article till the end).
Apart from regular birds like sparrows, pigeons, crows, some exotic birds, who have migrated from far off places across the world, also get entangled in the web of glass manjas and loose their lives.
Not to mention here that many humans also get their throats and fingers slit because of these manjas hanging lose all over the place.
So if possible, please celebrate the festival spreading cheer and not death!
(Design Courtesy: Fauna POLICE)
Attached below are come contact numbers for bird rescue in Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Baroda (Gujarat).
All these numbers have been verified by Ahimsa in malad and by Charu Shah, so please forward this piece of information to all your contacts, and please try to save a life this year!
Please note that some of these people listed below may not have an ambulance service to come and take the injured bird, but YOU CAN (and should) definitely take an injured bird you spot to either of these people and request them to administer it medical treatment and take care of the bird until it is fit to fly again.
Why do so many Raptors get injured in Delhi because of kite strings?
Poster Courtesy: PAWS
Delhi is one of the largest producers of meat, as a result of which large amount of meat scrap gets dumped across various corners of the city in illegal slaughterhouses spread across the city. The extinction of Vultures acted as a boon for Black kites (Milvus migrans) and gradually, there was a rapid rise seen in the population of Black Kites.
In India, people love to fly paper kites with the help of sharp glass coated strings/Glass Manja. This string acts like a ‘naked sword’ in sky and generally cuts everything which comes in its way whether it’s a bird or any human being. There have been many cases in which this ‘Manja’ has killed many human beings with fatal wounds on their throat.
We request you to kindly consider giving up kite flying or if you still love flying kites, fly them using a coton string, referred to as ‘saddi’ in Hindi .
For the glass string that gets tied on poles, tree branches also acts as an inevitable injury and death trap for birds of all species as they get entangled in them.
Once caught in these glass manjas, these birds are find it extremely difficult to break free and in the effort that they make to free themselves from these mesh of strings, they end up damaging their wings and other body parts, like damaging their toes.
If ever you spot an injured bird of prey like Kites, Eagles or any other non-vegetarian birds, please dial the following Helpline Numbers in Delhi – 9810029698, 9810129698,
For all other kind of birds, like Crows, Pigeons, Owls etc.,contact : 9810639698, 986855222, 9212111116
This is one of the goats that would be sacrificed during this Bakr-EId. This photo was clicked while walking through the narrow bylanes of Chawri Bazaar in Old Delhi (Photo credit: Jaagruti)
Before you begin reading this, please allow us a moment to introduce Meera Ahmad (the contributor of the below post) to all of you.
Meera is a Ph.D student at University of Delhi and lives with her mother, brother Kabir and her canine companions in Nizamuddin. Meera is secular by birth, born to a Hindu mother and a Muslim father, her home is lovingly referred to as ‘Chintu Ghar’, the first time I visited her, I thought Chintu was the name of their first pet, but infact as Meera’s mother amusingly shared Chintu was their stuffed toy ‘Elephant’ whom they cuddled and cared for and were even willing to risk their lives for! (yes! yes! that is what Meera’s brother Kabir tried to do, when he jumped from the auto-rikshaw thinking that Chintu was in the bag that had fallen from her mother’s lap on the road). Perhaps it was Chintu, the elephant toy that made them realise that before they realised that their heart was filled with love for animals. Meera and her family look after and feed the many street dogs in Nizamuddin and at Lajpat Nagar as well, besides taking the responsibility of getting them sterilized and vaccinated at nearby animal hospitals.
When she saw a man taking his sick goat to an animal hospital yesterday, she was prompted to reflect over her thoughts on Bakr-Eid. Read on…
Bakr-Eid: what happens to the goat?
By Meera Ahmad
Yesterday, a man from my colony in Nizamuddin West took a sick goat to the nearby Friendicoes Animal Hospital
He said to the doctor: ” Please treat my goat so that it becomes well quickly. I have to cut it day after tomorrow.”
Animal sacrifice is the biggest farce and misplaced superstitious belief in the name of religion.
Today (17th November, 2010) is the first day of three days of Bakr-Eid or Eid al-Adha or Eid-e-Qurban. For Muslims it is a day to celebrate how Prophet Ibraham willingly almost sacrificed his own son Isma’il as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened and gave him a ram to sacrifice instead. To commemorate it Muslim families blindly sacrifice many animals (goat, cow, sheep, camel) on this day often after days of feeding and caring for them extremely well. The act of sacrifice carried out in Muslim homes is extremely cruel as the goats are killed slowly in front of each other by the very people who fed and nurtured them and whom they came to trust deeply. Children too are encouraged to cut them on these days from a very young age so that they become conditioned to it.
In my colony a few weeks before the festival it is common to see children roaming about with healthy and well nurtured goats and grazing them in the parks and bylanes. After the sacrifice I have spoken to them and they comfortably and eagerly narrate gory details of how they carried out halal (religiously permissible form of sacrifice in which the animal’s throat is slit to slowly bleed it death so that it is drained of all the blood before being skinned and cut) of the goats.
So deeply engrained becomes the notion of halal in them that they even practice it on toys and stuffed animals. In an extreme case I remember hearing that a child slit the throat of his pet rabbit. When his mother came running on hearing the wails of the poor animal and asked the child why he did it he said proudly that he had done halal. My neighbor’s young daughter who studies in class 2 was last year wailing uncontrollably outside her house on Bakr-Eid for she wanted to cajole her father to let her keep the baby goat that he had brought for sacrifice and not let it be killed. When her father asked her the reason for it she said she wanted to play with it and make it her pet. However, her tantrums didn’t have any effect. A few ays back when I saw her roaming in the park with a goat on leash I could not resist asking her what she would do with it. She said that she would do it halal. Her father had convinced her that the goats that are done halal on these days are fortunate as they go straight to God (Allah).
That the animals are alive and moving for quite sometime after their throats are cut and while they are being skinned was pointed out to me by children who have witnessed and participated in the sacrifice.The goats that are to be cut on the following days are kept in the same place where their fellows were cut, skinned and hung in front of their eyes. They kick and cry loudly for days and nights before the sacrifice, but once the killing begins they go eeringly quiet. It is as if the face of imminent death makes them mum. A look at their faces and in their eyes chills the soul. I have always felt it is a look of resignation, dullness and deep gloom.
“The mullah finishes the prayer. Ameen. He picks up the kichen knife with the long blade. The custom is to not let the sheep see the kinife. Ali feeds the animal a cube of sugar – another custom, to make eath sweeter. The sheep kicks, but not much. The mullah grabs it under its jaw and places the blade on its neck. Just a second before he slices the throat in one expert motion, I see the sheep’s eyes. It is alook that will haunt my dreams for weeks. I don’t know why I watchj this yearly ritual in ou backyard; my nightmares persist long after the blood stains on the grass have faded. But I always watch. I watch because of that look of acceptance in the animal’s eyes. Absurdly, I imagine tha animal understands. I imagine the animal sees that its imminent demise is for a higher purpose. This is the look……..” -Khaled Hosseni, The Kiterunner.
Nature provides food to goats, cows, sheep so they can live well. Humans provide food to them so they can kill and cut them. Nature provides food to goats, cows, sheep so they can live well. Humans provide food to them so they can kill and cut them. If we really love our earth and want it to be a comfortable place for future generations, we all need to start reflecting on our daily decisions. How we live. What we eat. What we buy. How and where it is made. How we travel. Everything we habitually do has an impact and also sets an example. One of the most important among these is our relationship with the animals of this planet that should be of compassion and protection. This change may not always be easy or comfortable, but it is certainly better than doing nothing and lamenting later. Let us start by raising our voice against animal sacrifice and slaughter.
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.
For a background or part 1 of this story on Commonwealth Games (Delhi, 2010) and street dogs, kindly click here and then read on below
On 5th October, 2010, the Animal Welfare Board of India wrote to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to apprise them of the fact that the Continued (temporary) removal of stray dogs by the municipal agencies from Commonwealth Games venues is turning out to be ‘COUNTER PRODUCTIVE’.
To understand how random displacement of street dogs can turn counter-productive, please read the letter from AWBI mentioned above by clicking on the image below:
Following this letter, a website ‘www.cwgdogs.in‘ has been launched to help find your missing/caught street Dogs during the Commonwealth Games ‘dog catching’ spree.
If you are one of those missing your friendly neighbourhood canine on the street – please identify them from the photographs posted on this website, contact these shelters and get them back to their homes for that is where they belong.
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.
Have you ever wondered what happens to the tonnes of paper used/discarded in the government offices in Delhi Government (Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, India) everyday? Here lies the answer-all of it is recycled in a first-of-its-kind initiative undertaken by any state government in India at a ‘Paper Recycling Plant’ that has been set up within the Delhi Secretariat Office Complex itself. Read on for a virtual visit to this ‘green’ initiative:
Paper Recycling Plant at Delhi Secretariat
This ‘Paper Recycling Machine’ was set up on World Environment Day (5th June) 2005 in as part of the Delhi Government’s Bhagidari scheme.
“With just three full-time staff , this unit helps recycle (per day) about 50 kgs of paper on an average and produces 200-250 sheets of recycled paper”, informs Dr. B.C Sabata, Senior Scientific Officer in the Department of Environment, Delhi Government.
Most file covers, invitation cards and even felicitation certificates used in the Delhi Secretariat are made of recycled paper.
This is how the unit works:
1. It all begins with efficient ‘Segregation’ of waste thus, each office under the Delhi Government has a separate bin placed therein which is to be used only to discard waste paper (without staples and non-laminated). This is then sent to the recycling unit.
Waste paper collected from government offices and sent to/collected at the Delhi Secretariat recycling plant
However, newspapers and glossy sheets are not sent over to this plant and recycled separately at other recycling units.
2. Waste paper is soaked in water placed in buckets for a couple of hours and then transferred to a ‘Hydrapulper’ in which the soaked paper is converted into fine pulp.
Pulp being made inside the ‘Hydrapulper’
3. The technicians at the plant now pour this pulp on the wire mesh placed in the ‘Univat’. The quantity of pulp pored on the mesh is directly related to the thickness of paper one wants, so it will be more if they want to make paper for the purpose of printing a certificate and less if one wants to make file folders out of it.
3. Then the sheet is transferred gently between sheets of muslin cloth
Step 3: Recycling of Paper
4. About 50 alternating sheets of wet paper pulp sheet and muslin cloth are placed in a ‘Screw Press’ and the water is drenched out completely.
5. The sheets are sun dried and it takes a couple of hours of good sunlight to dry them completely.
6. The sheets are pressed in a ‘Calendering Machine’.
Pressed (left) and non-pressed sheet (right) of recycled paper
7. The pressed sheets are sent to the plant in Ghitorni where they are cut and printed as per the requirements of the various offices in the Delhi Government to make things like the ones shown below.
A certificate made of recycled paper
What next?
Keeping in line with the Delhi Government’s intent to host the first ever ‘green’ Commonwealth Games (that are due to begin from October 3rd, 2010), the Environment Department has also identified over 80-100 schools having paper recycling units to recycle waste paper that would be generated from different venues of the event.
Do you want to recycle your waste paper? We at ‘Jaagruti’ can help you!
Segregate every tiny little scrap of paper waste in your home and office and not just newspapers and magazines as most of us generally do.
If your organisation/company is interested in getting your waste paper recycled, please contact JAAGRUTI™ Waste Paper Recycling Services on +91-98101 91625 or mail us at paper@we-recycle.org or post a query below:
How can you segregate every bit of waste paper?
Keep a separate carton aside in your home to dump the tiniest, little piece of scrap paper or cardboard lying in your home- like
– envelopes of letters that reach you in the mail,
– medicine/ointment cartons,
– brown/normal paper bags that we generally get when we buy stuff from the stationary vendor or local chemist shop
– Pamphlets that come in hordes inserted in your daily newspaper
– Movie Tickets, Parking tickets, Bus tickets
and anything else that you can think off !
How does recycling paper help the planet?
Indian consumption of paper is five kilograms per capita, with an expected growth rate of 6-7% per annum over the next five years. By using paper carelessly, we contribute to the depleting forest cover, drastic climate change and water pollution. For every ton of paper, the paper industry guzzles up 2.8 tons of dry timber and 24,000 gallons of water, besides electricity and other resources. Pulp and paper industry is a major contributor in terms of air and water pollution. Recycling of paper not only saves trees and minimises pollution, but also reduces the waste problem by utilizing waste material like used paper, cotton rags and unwanted biomass.
* Recycling Paper helps in-
– Waste Reduction: Paper accounts for a significant amount of municipal waste so recycling paper means less waste and disposal problem
– Energy conservation: 60-70% energy savings over virgin paper production
– Resource conservation:Recycled paper uses 55% less water and helps preserve our forests
– Pollution reduction: Recycled paper reduces water pollution by 35%, reduces air pollution by 74%, and eliminates many toxic pollutants
Pet Dogs: Should they be allowed on lifts or not? (Photo credit: theotokos.co.za)
On the afternoon of 10th August 2010, the Jaagruti helpline received a call from Mrs. Usha Gulati in Faridabad who informed that the residents welfare association of the colony in which they stay had objected to them taking their Pet dog Pixie up and down the building lift from their 5th floor flat. Ms. Gulati and her family was willing to take Pixie down (for his walks) using the stairs but given his age (Pixie is 10+ years old) and the fact that they live on the 5th Floor, the Gulati family was not willing to cow down to the demands and orders of the RWA in any way and were even willing to take this matter to court should the RWA remain adamant in its stance on this subject.
Most of the times the arguments that RWA office bearers give to pet owners while objecting them to using the building lift with their pets- ‘the pets odour is harmful for human health’, ‘pets are dirty’, ‘pets make the lift dirty’, ‘pets can pounce or growl or attack other people in the lift’ and the list goes on as per the whims and fancies of the RWA representatives.
Ms. Gulati mentioned to us that she has a copy of a news clipping that came out in Times of India newspaper in December 2008 in which a Mumbai resident had approached a consumer court for his pet dog Shimu. Further to this Ms Gulati wanted to know from us if there was any previous judgment in this regard that they could use to help Pixie. Below is presented a step-by-step guide on how to tackle such a problem which, as we learnt is a common problem faced by many people living with their pets in buildings with lifts face across many cities in India. The key to coming out victors in such a situation is to have cent percent commitment towards your pet and to be willing to stand up for your pet’s rights, for pets are family!
Through the power of the internet, we enquired upon this ‘Pets being denied lift access’ subject from people across the animal welfare fraternity across India, the following facts came to light and we are sharing this information in our effort to inspire all those who face similar problems to act accordingly when faced with such situations. As for what transpired in the story of Pixie, read this till the end:
The only preceeding judgement in such a case was when Mr. Ajay Marathe, a resident of Mumbai’s Vashi Colony approached the Consumer Court (on 26th September, 2008) when his colony’s association passed a resolution disallowing them to use the building lift with their pet dog ‘Shimu’, who was then 11 years old who was suffering from osteo-arthritis (pain in the bones and joints)
The following trail of news stories on Shimu’s case illustrate the trail of events on this subject as well.
No entry for pets in lifts, Vashi housing society tells residents
Indian Express
N Ganesh Fri Sep 12 2008
Mumbai, September 11 : Says odour may be harmful to health; SPCA takes up issue
Life for 11-year-old Peter-Pan alias Shimu, a Labrador Retriever, has become tougher than ever. Shimu stays with his owners, Ajay and Nandini Marathe, on the fifth floor of New Sarvodaya Co-operative Housing Society, at Sector 4 in Vashi. Shimu has been diagnosed with osteoarthritis, an ailment in which the patient suffers from severe joint pain. However, Shimu will now have to use the staircase instead of the lift, as a resolution passed by the general body of the society bars pets from using the building elevator.
On August 3, 2008, the general body resolved to prevent use of lifts by residents accompanied by their pets. According to a notice issued to Marathe and the general body resolution, the society fears that the odour of the pets which is left behind in the lifts, can be hazardous to the life and health of the building residents. In the month of May 2008, the society sought numerous documents certifying the fitness levels of the dog. Marathe, who has a licence for the dog, produced a certificate issued by the Bombay Veterinary College that dog is licenced, vaccinated, healthy and does not suffer from any infectious or contagious disease. The Bombay Veterinary College certificate also adds that since the dog is aged and suffering from osteoarthritis, it should be allowed to use the lift, as climbing the stairs would be a painful task.
Marathe tried to find a way out by using air fresheners after the use of lift by the pet dog. However, the society officer tersely told Marathe that use of air fresheners was not recommended.
After a complaint of Marathe, the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has taken up the issue. S B Kadam, assistant secretary, SPCA said, “SPCA inspectors have paid a visit to the society and asked the office bearers to be practical and permit use of lift for the pet dog concerned. We will be hearing from them soon.”
Marathe said, “I paid the watchman from the neighouring building to carry the dog up and down the building thrice a day so that he could answer nature’s call. This arrangement worked fine for a few days, however he stopped coming after being warned by society office bearers.”
Meanwhile, Marathe has temporarily shifted Shimu to his in-laws place at Pen in Raigad district. Chairman of the housing society Arvind Palwankar said, “It is a very old sick dog with a bad odour. We only prevented Marathe from using the lift. Moreover, Marathe is a nuisance as he relentlessly complains against the society to the authorities about all things trivial.”
What the law says
Advocate Rahul Thakur who is associated with In Defense of Animals (IDA) said that the society resolution violates section 11 (3) of Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act 1960. It is also against article 51 A (g) of the Indian Constitution according to which it is the duty of every citizen to have compassion for animals, living creatures and improve the natural environment. Thakur said, “The society resolution is illegal as it is unconstitutional.”
Please note the underlined portion in the last paragraph of the above story.
Luckily for Shimu, who is now in good heavens, the Consumer Court upheld the society’s resolution and passed the judgement in his favour and also asked the Association to pay Mr. Ajay Marathe Rs.5000/- in lieu of the damages and the expenses incurred by him on this court case.
Please read through the following news stories:
Peter Pan can use apartment lift now
Indian Express
N Ganesh Dec 17, 2008
MumbaiThis 11-year-old dog was barred from using lift by the housing society in Navi Mumbai
The consumer forum came to the rescue of a 11-year-old dog, Peter Pan alias Shimu, who was not allowed to use the apartment lift by the office bearers of a housing society in Navi Mumbai. Shimu, a pet belonging to Ajay and Nandini Marathe, residing on the fifth floor of New Sarvodaya co-operative housing society was barred from using the society lift. Shimu had been diagnosed with osteoarthritis — an ailment that causes acute pain in the joints.
In its order dated December 11, 2008 the Thane District Additional Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum ruled that the housing society’s move to prevent pets from using the apartment lift without any valid reasons amounted to deficiency in service to the members as per section 2 (1) (g) of the Consumers Protection Act.
The Marathes were asked to produce documents certifying the illness of the dog. However, despite producing the required certificates and reports, the general body of the housing society in August 2008 resolved to ban pet animals from using apartment lifts.
The housing society contended before the forum that the dog was not a consumer of the housing society and hence the forum cannot hold the society liable. The consumer court however said in its order: “The issue of ‘dog’ being or not being the consumer of the society is not valid, instead the valid issue should be whether the complainant is consumer of the housing society or not.”
Since the membership of the Marathes to the housing society was not disputed, the consumer court said: “The dog has valid license and has been certified by a veterinary doctor of having no contagious and infectious disease. It has received all its vaccines. The doctor has also recommended the use of lifts owing to its condition.”
The housing society contended that the use of lifts by pets threatened the safety of the residents. However the Consumer court held that the housing society’s decision to ban pets from using lifts was without any valid reasons and hence amounted to deficiency in service. The court has ordered the housing society to pay Rs 3000 as damages and Rs 2000 as legal expenses to the Marathes.
18th December, 2008, Published in: The Times of India
Mumbai: An 11-year-old Labrador has emerged a champion of dog rights by not only winning for himself the right to travel in the elevator of his apartment complex in a Mumbai suburb but getting his master a Rs 5,000 compensation from the apartment’s anti-pet managing committee.
The Thane District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum passed an order, defending Shimu aka Peter Pan’s right to use the left and directed the society to compensate the owner for the harassment he faced. The dog’s owner, Ajay Marathe (52), a fifth floor resident of New Sarvoday Cooperative Society at Vashi, told TOI on Wednesday: This is a very good judgement given in our favour in real time. In fact, a lot of pet owners face the same problem in Mumbai; this order can be an important reference point to help them use their society lifts.
Marathe added that the 35-kg Shimu suffered from pain in the joints and couldn’t use the stairway. The society this May passed a resolution, saying pets like cats and dogs could not be allowed in the lift as their body odour could be injurious to health and life, which I found to be ridiculous, he said.
Marathe first went to the cops, but failing to get a sympathetic response from them, he lodged a case in the Thane consumer court. The consumer court has given this judgement in less than three months. The Rs 5,000 compensation for my pet is also welcome as I had to temporarily shift Shimu to my in laws house in Pen, which caused some discomfort to him, he said.
To read the full judgement given by the Consumer Court on this case in favour of Shimu the dog, please click here
Since Shimu passed away soon after this judgement was announced, Mr. Marathe donated the Rs.5000/- compensation he received to the animal welfare charity named PAWS which used this contribution to publish brochures on the ‘Tree Protection Act’, which carried Shimu’s name on it as a mark of honour to his spirit.
Now, coming back to Pixie’s case in Fraidabad, here is what happened-
Deriving inspiration from Mr. Marathe’s stance on getting justice for Shimu, Ms. Usha Gulati’s familytook the press clipping of Shimu’s news (which had come out in TOI in December 2008) and approached the Local Police with the copy of the same and lodged a complaint against the RWA…the cops then called and came over to meet the RWA representatives and following all of this, an amicable solution was reached upon in which it was agreed that the Gulati family would be allowed to bring their pet dog Pixie down the stairs for his walk and after he has relieved himself and there is apparently nothing in his stomach to ‘dirty’ the lift with, he can take the lift upstairs to his fifth floor house along with his owner.
So, next time you face such an issue, consider using all of this information above and stand up to seek justice for your animal friends. Trust us, its all worth the effort and a way to (try to) pay back for all the love that your pet animal has showered upon you unconditionally.
However, we would like to also suggest to you that as always prevention is better than cure so please be mindful of a few other things a ‘responsible’ pet owner can follow while using the lift with their pet, to avoid inconvenience to the fellow lift users:
1. Make sure that your pet dog/cat is vaccinated to avoid any health related arguments from fellow building residents.
2. Keep your pet animal on a leash.
3. If your pet is aggressive and has a tendency to bite strangers, then it would be better to put a muzzle around the pet’s mouth while you move your pet in the lift. You can remove the muzzle once your pet is out of the lift.
4. Try using the lift when no one is in there, alternatively avoid using the lift when someone (you know) having a canine/feline-phobia (i.e someone who is well-known to be scared of dogs/cats) is already travelling in the lift.
5. Make sure that your pet doesn’t pee or defecate in there, so avoid taking young untrained pups in the lift as else you would most likely end up creating a lot more disgruntled neighbours or should we say enemies!
6. Take care of the health and hygiene of your pet dog/animal, give it a nice bath regularly so that it doesn’t emanate any sort of stinking odour in a public place like a lift, which may else be a cause of inconvenience for the fellow residents of your building.
* Credits: We deeply thank AWBI’s lawyer Anjali Sharma, PAWS founder trustee Nilesh Bhanage and Vishruti Aggarwal for sharing their experiences, the video link and the consumer court judgement with us.
We don't know his name but, he is 'deaf and dumb' and he has been manning this car park at Janpath lane for the past thirty years.
Janpath is one street market in that needs no introduction to anyone visiting Delhi, but perhaps the car park at Janpath Lane needs an introduction of some sorts.
Janpath Lane is perhaps the only lane in Central Delhi’s Connaught Place region which is not under NDMC’s (New Delhi Municipal Corporation) Parking Rates and Regimes for what we believe are reasons emanating out of a spirit of both, humanity and generosity. Because this lane, adjacent to the Janpath shopping centre on the lane opposite the famous Saravana Bhawan eatery is being manned for the past three decades by a team of five ‘deaf and dumb’ men…There are no parking tickets in here (neither manual nor computerised), no fixed parking rates either, you can give as much as your heart desires and the wallet allows.
In case there is a difficulty in communicating with a member of the public or a person who has parked their car in there, then these men are aided by a few fruit sellers sitting on the corners of the lane, who have, after all these years of sharing the same ‘place’ (or ‘street’) of work, learnt to communicate with these ‘differently-abled’ parking attendants in sign language
The man in the photograph above is the oldest member in this 5-member team of parking men. He has been here for 30 long years. He uses his hands to guide people to park their cars in and out of this lane and keeps a watchful eye on the cars he takes charge off, similarly with the rest. We learnt through the street shop vendor (selling shoes at the Janpath street market that begins next to this lane) that this old man has been able to educate his children and marry off his daughters into good homes all through the money he has earned at this car park with honesty and hard work in all these years. Try trusting him and his colleagues to take care of your car when you next head to good old Janpath for your season’s street shopping.
“Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you’re needed by someone.”- Martina Navratilova
The Janpath Lane Car Park
Scott Hamilton once said, “The only disability in life is a bad attitude.”
So, lets ‘try’ to treat all beings, humans or animals, plants or insects, abled or dis-abled with respect if not love and care, for in this vicious circle termed ‘life’ what goes around does indeed come around.
नौकरशाह जब रिटायर होता है तो अपने अनुभव को आधार बनाकर मुख्य रूप से तीन बातों पर अपना ध्यान केन्द्रित करता है. पहला, किसी गैर सरकारी एजंसी में अपनी नियुक्ति को सबसे अधिक प्राथमिकता देता है. दूसरा, अखबारों में लेख लिखता है और उन सिद्धांतों की व्याख्या करना शुरू करते हैं जिनके बारे में वे खुद ठीक से कुछ नहीं जानते और तीसरा, जहां वे रहते हैं उस कालोनी या घेरेबन्द इलाके का मुखिया होने की कोशिश करते हैं. इन घेरेबंद कालोनियों की रेसिडेन्ट वेलफेयर एसोसिएशनों के मुखिया बनते ही उनका पहला और पसंदीदा कार्य होता है कालोनियों में विचरण करनेवाले गली के कुत्तों के खिलाफ अभियान.
दिल्ली में ऐसा ही होता है. नौकरशाहों के स्वर्ग इस शहर में हाल में ही दिल्ली में ऐसे ही लोगों के एक समूह ने उनके ‘पागल, पीड़ित पड़ोसियों’ से उन्हें बचाने के लिए उच्च न्यायालय में एक अर्जी पेश की है। इन नौकरशाहों के असभ्य जाहिल और गरीब पड़ोसी गली के आवारा कुत्तों को रोटी खिलाते हैं और उससे भी बड़ा अपराध ये कि उन्हें प्यार भी करते हैं. कालोनी निवासियों के हर घर में भले ही एक डॉगी डींगे भर रहा हो लेकिन इन निवासियों को यह मंजूर नहीं है कि सड़क पर रहनेवाले लोग सड़क पर विचरनेवाले कुत्तों को प्यार करें या उनका संरक्षण करें. इन सब लोगों के लिए अब यही एक आखिरी सहारा है अपने लिए न्याय और मन की शान्ति पाने का क्योंकि बहुत समय तक इन दिल्लीवासियों को अपने पड़ोसियों का उपहास, धमकियाँ, गालियाँ और ब्लैकमेलिंग का िशकार बनना पड़ा है क्योंकि वह अपनी गली के कुत्तो की परवाह करने का रोज `अपराध´ करते हैं। सवाल यह है कि क्या अपनी गली के कुत्तो को पुचकारना या उन्हें खाना खिलाना एक `गलती´ है?
कोर्ट का निर्णय एक तरफ और सरकार द्वारा ऐसे आवारा कुत्तों की नसबंदी का प्रयास भी एक तरफ लेकिन हमारी सड़कों पर घूमने वाले आवारा कुत्तों के बारे में हमें भी ठीक से जानने की जरूरत है। देश के कई शहरों में सरकारी एजेिन्सयाँ गैर सरकारी संघटनों के साथ मिलकर पशु जन्म नियंत्रण और टीकाकरण कार्यक्रम संचालित करती हैं। लेकिन हम भूल जाते हैं कि भारत के सड़क पर रहने वाल आवारा कुत्ते बेहद ही बुद्धिमान प्रजाति है जो दुनिया की सबसे पुरानी कुत्तों की नस्लों में से एक है। यह प्रजाति एिशया और अफ्रीका में स्थापित पहली मनुश्य बस्तियों से इन्सानों के साथ खुशी-खुशी मौजूद रही हैं वास्तव मेें शहरी बस्तियों में इन कुत्तों का प्राथमिक उद्देश्य मनुश्य की रक्षा करना और बची खुची खाद्य वस्तुओं का सेवन करके सफाई रखने में है। यह ही वजह है कि आज भी गरीबों की बस्तियों में कुत्तों को ज्यादातर स्थानीय निवासी खाना खिलाते हैं।
पशु नसबंदी टीकाकरण और उन्हें पुन: अपने मूल क्षेत्र में छोड़ने का कार्यक्रम वैज्ञानिकों द्वारा इसका औचित्य सिद्ध करने में विश्व स्वास्थ्य संगठन को कई साल लगे हैं। दुनिया भर की न्यायपालिकाओं, नागरिक संगठनों ने इस कार्यक्रम को अपनाया है और इसकी सफल्ता की कहानियाँ आज की तारीख में दुनिया के कई शहरों से सुनने को मिलती है, जिनकी शुरूआत अमरीका से हुई थी। कुत्तों की नसबंदी करने की अवधारणा अमेरिका की सैन मात्तियो नामक काउन्टी के नागरिक अधिकारियों के दिमाग में तब आई जब उन्होंने देखा कि कुत्तों को मारने के उनका कार्यक्रम से उनकी आबादी में कोई गिरावट नहीं हो रही थी। इसके बाद सैन मात्तियो काउन्टी ने कुत्तों का नसबंदीकरण कराने के प्रस्ताव को स्वीकृति दी जो कि एक महान सफलता साबित हुई। आज अमेरिका और कनाड़ा के विभिन्न भागों में इसका सफलतापूर्वक संचालन किया जा रहा है।
नसबंदीकृत कुत्तों को उनके मूल निवास क्षेत्र पर बहाल करने के पीछे वैज्ञानिक सोच हैं कुत्ते प्रादेिशक जानवर हैं। वे भोजन की उपलब्धि के आधार पर अपने प्रदेश को अंकित करते है। और बाहरी कुत्तों को अपने क्षेत्र में नहीं आने दते। जब कुत्तों को अपने क्षेत्र से हटाया जाता है तो बाहर से दूसरे कुत्ते इस खाली क्षेत्र पर कब्जा कर लेंगे क्योंकि वहाँ भोजन स्त्रोत अभी भी उपलब्ध हैं जब कोई बाहर का कुत्ता किसी कुत्ते के क्षेत्र में घुसता है तो उनके बीच में लड़ाइयाँ बढ़ती है और नसबन्धिकृत ना होने के कारण यह बच्चे पैदा करते रहते हैं और उस क्षेत्र में कुत्तों की संख्या बढ़ती रहती है। इन बाहरी कुत्तों के नसबन्धिकृत और रेबीज के विरूद्ध टीकाकरण ना होने का कारण उस क्षेत्र के निवासियों के लिए खतरा बना रहता है। एक नसबंधीकृत कुत्ते को रेबीज के विरूद्ध टीकाकरण भी किया जाता है, वह प्रजनंन नहीं करते, शान्त रहते हैं, अपने क्षेत्र को सुरक्षित करते है औरी ना ही आपस में लड़ते-भौंकते है। एक नसबंधीकृत कुत्तों को उसके एक आधे-कटे कान से पहचाना जा सकता है। पशु जन्म नियंत्रण दिल्ली में पिछले कई वर्षों से संचालित है – इन वर्षों में रेबीज के किस्सों में भी कमी आई है जो कि सरकारी और गैर-सरकारी संगंठनों की एक उल्लेखनीय उपलब्धि है।
विश्व स्वास्थ्य संगठन और भारतीय पशु कल्याण बोर्ड द्वारा किए गए अध्ययनों से पता चलता है कि कुत्तों की जनसंख्या पर नियंत्रण पाने के लिए जो कार्यक्रम विकसित देशों में काम करते है वह विकासशील देशों में असफल रहे हैं क्योंकि वहाँ पर शहरी स्थितियाँ हमारे यहाँ से बहुत अलग है। भारत के शहरी पर्यावरण में ऐसी दो विशेषताएँ है जो आवारा जानवरों की आबादी में वृद्धि को प्रोत्साहित करती हैं :- मलिन बिस्त्याँ और उजागर कचरा, जो कि विकसित देशों में मौजूद नहीं है। विकसित देशों में आवारा कुत्तों का सड़क पर जीवित रहना असंभव है क्योंकि उन्हें सड़कों पर कुछ खाने को नहीं मिलता, इसलिए उन्हें पकड़ कर आश्रयघरों में ले जाया जाता है जहाँ उनकी नसबंदी करके उनका पुनर्वास करवाने का प्रयत्न किया जाता है।
कुत्तों की जनसंख्या को नियंत्रित रखने के लिए उन्हें `पकड़ने और मारने´ का कार्यक्रम अंग्रेजों ने 19वीं सदी में शुरु किया था। आजादी पाने के बाद भी भारत की नगरपालिकाओं ने इस कार्यक्रम को जारी रखा। दिल्ली नगर निगम द्वारा किए गये एक अध्ययन के अनुसार 1980-1990 के दौरान 8 लाख कुत्तों का कत्लेआम करने के बावजूद दिल्ली में कुत्तों की संख्या 1.5 लाख ही रही और उसमें तिनके भर की कमी नहीं हुई। 1993 में नगर निगम ने स्वीकार किया कि कुत्तों को `पकड़ने और मारने´ की यह योजना पूरी तरह से रेबीज और कुत्तों की जनसंख्या को नियंत्रण करने में `असफल´ नही है। इसलिए सन् 1994 में न्यायपालिका ने आदेश दिया कि कुत्तों की हत्या करनी बन्द करी जाए और उनकी `नसबंदी और टीकाकरण´ कार्यक्रम शुरू किया जाए जिससे पशु-जन्म नियंत्रण का कार्यक्रम भी कहा जाता है। मुंबई, कोलकता, चेन्नई, जयपुर और हैदराबाद की उच्च न्यायालयों के भी ऐसे आदेश जारी करने के बाद इन शहरों में भी `पशु-जन्म नियंत्रण के लिए कुत्तों की नसबन्दीकरण और टीकाकरण कार्यक्रम शुरू किए गए। इस कार्यक्रम के तुरन्त अच्छे नतीजे देखने के बाद भारत सरकार ने 2001 में देश भर में इस कार्यक्रम को शुरू करने के आदेश दिए।
एक आश्चर्यजनक सत्य यह है कि जिस बात के लिए गली के कुत्ते बदनाम है वह हरकत वे बहुत कम करते हैं. कुत्तों के काटने की जो घटनाएँ होती हैं इनमें से बहुत कम आवारा कुत्तों की वजह से होती हैं। अध्ययनों से पता चला है कि 90 प्रतिशत से भी अधिक कुत्तों के काटने की घटनाएँ पालतू कुत्तों की वजह से होती है जो कि अपने घर और क्षेत्र की सुरक्षा करते हुए आक्रमक हो जाते हैं। हर साल पालतु कुत्तों की संख्या में वृद्धि हाती है और साथ ही कुत्तों के काट-खाने की घटनाओं में भी। सिर्फ 5 प्रतिशत घटनाएँ आवारा कुत्तों की वजह से होती है जो या तो कुत्तों को कॉलोनी निवासियों द्वारा पीटे जाने या मादा कुत्तिया द्वारा उसके बच्चे को नुकसान पहुंचाए जाने के कारण इंसान पर हमला कर बैठती हैं।
गली के कुत्ते प्रकृति में शहर के कूड़े-करकट को साफ रखने का एक माध्यम है। वह शहर में चूहों और अन्य कृतंक कीटों की संख्या को नियंत्रण में रखते हैं, जिनको नियंत्रण में रखना मानव के लिए मुिश्कल है। यदि इन कुत्तों को भारत के शहरों से पूरी तरह हटा दिया जाए तो नाकि कूड़ा भारी मात्रा में जमा हो जाएगा बल्कि चूहों की संख्या भी हाथ से निकल जाएगी। आज, जब भारत के कई शहर डेंगू और चिकुनगुन्या जैसी बीमारियों से अपनी मैली नागरिक स्थितियों के कारण जूझ रहे हैं, उस समय यह गली के कुत्ते ही है जो शहरों में चूहों की आबादी को जाँच में रखते है – चूहे `ब्युबोनिक प्लेग´ जैसी घातक बीमारी के वाहक हैं। चूहों की एक जोड़ी पैदा होने के छ: सप्ताह के भीतर प्रजनन के लिए तैयार हो जाती है। इस दर पर चूहो की एक जोड़ी प्रत्येक वर्ष के अंत तक 35000 चूहों में बदल जाती है। आज की तारीख तक किसी भी नगर निगम ने चूहों का विनाश करने के लिए किसी भी योजना में एक पैसा भी आवंटित नहीं किया है। 1980 में गुजरात के सूरत शहर का भयानक प्लेग बीमारी से संक्रमित होने का एक कारण यह भी था कि स्थानीय नगरपालिका ने सूरत शहर की सड़कों पर रहने वाले कुत्तों को बेरहमी से मार डाला था।
भारत जैसे देश में सारे सड़क के कुत्तों को एकाग्रता िशविरों या डॉग-पाउण्ड में ठूस देना व्यावहारिक रूप से असंभव है। ऐसे कार्य को करने के लिए जगह, समय और संसाधन सरकार कहाँ से पैदा करेगी। जब झुग्गी बस्तियों में रहने वालों या आवासीय क्षेत्रों से वाणििज्यक प्रतिष्ठनों को बाहर निकालने के लिए तो कोई जगह है नहीं। इसलिए समझदारी तो बस इसमें है कि सड़क के कुत्तों को उनकी जगह पर रहने दिया जाए। असल में हर जिम्मेदार और मानवीय निवासी कल्याण संघ को इस कार्यक्रम का भागीदार बनना चाहिए और अपने शहर में काम करने वाली नगर पालिकाओें द्वारा संचालित पशु-जन्म नियन्त्रण कार्यक्रम के अन्तर्गत अपने क्षेत्र के आवारा कुत्तों का नसबंदीकरण और नियमित टीकाकरण कराना चाहिए। पशुओं के मामले में स्वामित्व का सवाल तो उठता ही नहीं है, जब हम आज आदिवासियों को उस वन भूमि पर रहने का अधिकार देने वाले बिल को पारित करने की बात करते है जहाँ यह आदिवासी सदियों से जी रहे है तो पशुओें के मामले में उनका जन्मसिद्ध अधिकार उसी जगह पर रहने का है जहाँ वो पैदा हुए हैं।
कुत्तों की हत्या करके रेबीज पर नियंत्रण पाने के कार्यक्रम कई विकासशील देशों में जैसे कि – पाकिस्तन, इरान, इराक, साउदी अरब, उत्तर कोरिया, अफगानिस्तान, जार्डन, सीरिया, यमन, बांगलादेश, नेपाल, यूक्रेन, उज्बेकिस्तान – हर जगह ही `नाकाम´ रहे हैं। कुत्ता आदमी का सबसे ईमानदार और वफादार दोस्त है और हम में से कई लोगों को जरा सा भी नुकसान नहीं होगा अगर हम अपने गली में रह रहे एक कुत्ते को दिन में एक बार अगर कुछ खिला या पिला दिया करें। अगर हम यह करें तो मैं दावे के साथ यह कह सकती हूँ कि आपको अपने घर के दरवाजे पर हमेशा अपनी पूंछ फड़फड़ाता एक साथी नज़र आएगा जो रोज शाम आपके थकान भरे दिन के बाद आपका दिल खोलकर स्वागत करेगा। इस बेहद स्वार्थी दुनिया में बिना शर्त प्यार और सम्मान की लालसा हम सब करते है और शायद इस लालसा की पूर्ति करने के लिए आपका बेहतरीन साथी आपकी गली का कुत्ता है।
{The above Video was made for a group by the name of ‘People for Animals’, we are sharing and embedding it here on Jaagruti because it beautifully communicates the story of the Indian Street Dog}
Bureaucrats who retire do one of three things: they lobby to be appointed to some government body so that they can retain their houses; and more often than not they stand for Residents Welfare Associations so that they can bully someone or they write article for the newspapers and the less they know , the more they expound their theories…and more often than not for most RWAs across Delhi and NCR, their favourite subject is ‘Dogs in their colonies’…this article comes at a time when a group of people in Delhi have moved to the High Court with a plea to ’save them from their rabid neighbours’. This is perhaps their last resort to seek justice and peace of mind, because for far too long, many of these Delhiites had been ridiculed and abused, threatened and blackmailed by their (‘rabid’) neighbours for a ‘crime’ of theirs; the fault being that these group of people ‘loved and cared for the street dogs, their much friendlier neighbourhood denizen’.
This article is a humble attempt to enlighten you all about our friendly neighbourhood street dog and clear the facts about the utility of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) and Vaccination Programme run by the Delhi Government (MCD and NDMC) through about 7 partner NGOs in Delhi for these canines.
India has been home to the highly intelligent Pariah dog, one of the world’s oldest canine breeds, existing in Asia and Africa since human beings first started living in settlements. They co-exist happily with humans, in fact their primary aim in urban settlements is to protect humans and to act as scavengers. It is not for no reason that each dog is fed by local residents and occupies pride of place in poor settlements.
The rationale of the animal sterilization, vaccination and re-release to its original area is a scientifically worked out programme which took years to evolve by WHO, civic authorities the judiciary, backed by success stories round the world starting from America. The concept of sterilization of dogs itself came from San Mateo in the United States, when civic authorities realized that killing dogs had not lead to any decrease in the dog-population. The County of San Mateo passed the resolution to sterilize and this was a great success. This programme is being followed successfully in various parts of America and Canada and many other developed as well as developing nations.
There is scientific thought behind restoring a sterilized dog to his original habitat. Dogs are territorial animals. They mark out their territories based on the food available and they do not let outsiders come in. When these local dogs are removed from their territory, other dogs move in to occupy them. These may not be sterilized so the problem continues for that locality. Dog fights increase as any new dog entering a territory is attacked by the dogs already in that area and non-sterilized dogs continue to mate and produce litters. Rabies continues to spread as none of the dogs in that area are vaccinated against it. The new dogs are hostile to the residents so problems of safety continue. A sterilized and vaccinated dog doesn’t breed, they guard their territory from intruders and new dogs, they become docile and don’t fight with other dogs during the mating season. You can identify a sterilized and a vaccinated dog by a triangular notch on one of its ears.
The ABC programme has been in place for many years now – and noticeably the rabies incidences have reduced, which is a remarkable achievement by the civic authorities and the NGOs.
Studies by the World Health Organization and the Animal Welfare Board of India show that dog-population control measures which work in developed countries are unsuccessful in developing countries like ours since urban conditions are very different over here. The urban environment in India has two features that encourage stray animal populations-exposed garbage and slums-neither of which exists in developed countries. Stray dogs in developed countries are unable to survive or breed on city streets since they can find nothing to eat. Hence, over there, they are captured, housed in animal shelters, neutered and re-homed.
The ‘catch and kill’ concept of controlling dog-population was started by the British in the 19th Century. It was continued on a large scale after Independence by the municipal authorities all over India with the aims of eradicating rabies and controlling street dog populations. Statistics in a study done by the MCD from 1980 to 1990 showed that even after the slaughtering of 8 lakh dogs during the 10-year period, the estimated dog population in Delhi remained 1.5 lakhs. – MCD could not reduce the population even by one. By 1993, the ‘catch and kill’ method was admitted to be a complete failure since rabies deaths had actually increased and the dog population was also perceptibly growing. Thus, in 1994, the courts ordered the dog-sterilization-cum-vaccination programme (popularly known as the “Animal Birth Control” or ABC programme) to replace the killing. Similar programmes were started in Mumbai, Kolkatta, Chennai, Jaipur, and Hyderabad after the High Courts in these cities passed similar orders. Finally, seeing the immediate success of the programme, in 2001, the Government of India has ordered this all over India with the Animal Birth Control (for Dogs) Rules being notified in 2001 under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960.
Dog-bites are very rarely due to stray dogs. Studies show that over 90% of the dog bites are from pet dogs that are aggressive when it comes to defending their territory or repelling intruders to their homes. Every year the numbers of pet-dogs increase and so do the bites. The 5 % of bites which are due to strays are from dogs that have been hurt by colony residents or bitches whose puppies were being attacked.
Dog is nature’s city scavenger. Its specific purpose is to keep garbage, city rats and other non-rodent pests that do not respond to human control in check. If it is removed then, apart from the piling up of huge quantities of garbage, the rat population will also go out of hand. With many cities in India suffering from Dengue and Chikugunya due to unhygienic civic conditions, it is dogs that are responsible for keeping the city’s rat population under check. Rats are the carriers of the deadly bubonic plague disease. One pair of rats is ready for breeding within six weeks of being born. Each pair turns into 35,000 rats by the end of each year. No municipal corporation has till date allocated a single-paisa for the destruction of rats. In 1980, one of the reasons why Surat in Gujarat was infected with plague was the decimation of the city’s street dogs by the local municipality.
It is practically impossible in a country like ours to dump all street dogs into concentration camps or dog pounds. Where is the space, time and resources to carry out this exercise when there is no space to shift commercial establishments out of residential areas or rehabilitate the slum dwellers?
It makes more sense to let the dog live where it belongs. In fact every responsible and humane RWA should contribute and become a partner in getting their dogs sterilized and vaccinated at any of the animal hospitals set up in Delhi for this purpose.
The question of ownership doesn’t arise in this case at all. We talk of passing bills that would give tribals the right to live on forest lands on which they have been living for ages. In case of animals, the place where they are born is the place to which they belong.
The killing method has failed to control rabies in developing countries -including Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, North Korea, Afghanistan, Jordan, Syria, Yemen, Bangladesh, Nepal, Ukraine, Uzbekistan. Most of these countries have now adopted the Indian method of ABC.
Dogs are a man’s best friend…and it won’t harm many of us if we were to feed the dog in our street once a day, and we can be sure that we would have a friend by our doorstep delightful to see us every time we step out or come home after a long tiring day…and in this selfish world, it is unconditional love and respect that we all crave for and our very own street dog is perhaps our best bet!
To read this article in Hindi language, please click hereयह गली के कुत्ते.
If you have some time to spare and few thoughts to spare as well, watch the Videos below, may be you will end up changing your mind and be kind the next time you see our very own Indian Dog on the street.
{The above Video was made for a group by the name of ‘People for Animals’, we are sharing and embedding it here on Jaagruti because it beautifully communicates the story of the Indian Street Dog}
And this is what the 5th August 2015 Delhi High Court order reads like:
JAAGRUTI® - 