The street dogs are a common site in every village, every
city, and certainly on every street of India. One can see a variety of them in
all hues and colours – from the young puppies to the oldies, healthy looking athletic
ones to the ugly and diseased ones, the dogs who chase all kind of vehicles to
those who sluggishly lie down alongside the road – least bothering about anybody’s
business. Depending on their mood and situation; one can find them peeing on the
tyres of the parked vehicles, jumping the boundary walls and stealthily running
away holding the prized garbage bag under their jaws, hounding and chasing
passing vehicles, vigorously wagging their tail in anticipation of the glucose biscuits
thrown by the so called dog lovers, or, playfully engaging themselves in pulling
and tearing a piece of rag or plastic bag; but, one thing is sure – they are
everywhere.
We all know that dogs have been a constant companion of
the humankind since time immemorial. It loves the company of human beings.
While they love our company and remain faithful, we keep them around us as our beloved pet for various
reasons ranging from security and surveillance they provide to their cute and cuddly
looks. Many of us keep them for ‘status symbol’ too! There may be various other
reasons too to keep them as pet. Nothing is wrong in it as far as they are kept
well and are cared for.
The problem begins when they are left on their own on the
streets, to fend for themselves- for their territory, for their daily
existence. On any given day, one can see them ferociously guarding their
territories and participating in fights on the busy streets to protect it,
scavenging the garbage for food, chasing
the unsuspecting scooty and bike riders – many times biting or injuring them
badly, at times being shooed and stoned by the people, getting killed on the road
by speeding vehicles, suffering from skin disease or other ailments and dying
of hunger and exhaustion.
It is understood that AMC nowadays doesn’t catch them,
for reasons well known to them. May be castration is also not being done, else,
innumerable puppies wouldn’t have been around. Thus, the number of street dogs
is increasing and one can see a group of four to five dogs patrolling every
road or sniffing around a housing society. The problem is compounding day by
day. This is a matter of concern, as it concerns the safety of the citizens,
especially the kids. Many accidents on road take place because of the street
dogs, many times to avoid them from coming under the wheels. Many dog bite
cases have been reported in the past, and these would increase if proper measures
are not taken immediately. Interestingly, some dog bite cases took place within
the campus of the society. Also, these dogs make the place messy by answering
their nature’s call, anywhere.
Many dog lovers feed these dogs by giving them a piece or
two of the glucose biscuits, I wonder whether it is healthy for the dogs! I think,
they must be doing more harm to the dogs by serving biscuits. Only a vet can
tell about it – whether it is good or bad to feed glucose biscuits to the dogs,
but, as far as I know- it is not good for them. I am not sure whether the dog
lovers get the feed as sponsorship from some NGO or they self sponsor it. If it
is a sponsored food, then these dog lovers must be getting much more than they
dole out to these poor dogs. And, there must be some provision for giving
treatment to the street dogs suffering from various illness. But, I haven’t
seen anyone taking such care for these animals. The Municipal Corporations and
the NGOs involved in such animal rights activities must look into it,
seriously, for the sake of human’s best friend.
I would like to attract the attention of the Municipal
Corportions, the NGOs and the dog lovers about the plight of the dogs and what
better we can do for them. I feel that there should be shelter homes for the
street dogs, where they can get good food, medical treatment, love and
affection from us. These dogs may be trained in such shelter homes and once
they are in good health and once they acquire training to lead a domesticated
life, they may be given for adoption to the interested dog lovers! The poor street dogs have toiled a lot, they
deserve a better treatment now. It would also ease the lives of the residents.
