An Essay on the Poor Street Dogs!

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.