People For Animals seeks pension for 'retired' canines after rejected police dog dies in vet hospital

GUWAHATI: Peter, an 11-year-old German Shepherd of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) dog squad, died on Thursday. Peter died in a veterinary hospital of the People For Animal (PFA), an animal welfare organization of Assam. The PFA took care of the dog after he was disposed by the NF Railway in a critical condition in May.

"We took Peter from the chief security commissioners' office of the NF Railway headquarters. He was given to us in a very critical condition. Out vets tried to save him, but failed. However to our surprise, no one from the railway department enquired about Peter, who tirelessly served the security force once," PFA chairperson Sangeeta Goswami said.

Goswami added, "Peter should have been given medals and due recognition for his services, instead he was disposed like an obsolete item from the force. This is injustice to every dog serving the security forces. There should be some provision like pension or medical compensation for these brave animals."

A dog squad official of NF Railway while lamented the death of Peter pressed for the need of retirement provisions of such service holder canines. "Peter was a brave dog. He was specialized in finding explosives and narcotics. He helped the RPF to detect many narcotic and arm smugglers in 2006-07. It's sad that he had to suffer due to the negligence of the department. There must be some pension or rehabilitation scheme for police dogs after their retirement," said the dog squad trainer.

Police dogs undergo rigorous training for nine months after they turn six months old. Peter was suffering from maggot problem and also could not walk properly. He had bad teeth and could not eat properly. "We were giving him liquid food since he was with us. He was surely not taken care of properly even when he was on duty," said Goswami. The disposal letter handed over to Goswami from NF Railway said Peter had retired on April 25.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-09/guwahati/32604358_1_police-dogs-dog-squad-peter

ITBP trains dogs to bomb terror hideouts

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/dogs-to-drop-bombs-in-terrorist-hideouts/1/158281.html

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has come up with the bizarre idea of training dogs to drop bombs in terror hideouts and retrieve guns. But the plan has drawn the ire of animal rights activists, who say the animals are being put to grave risk.

The ITBP claims to have trained six labradors to drop remote-controlled IEDs in terror hideouts during operations and retrieve the dead terrorists' weapons later. The dogs can grab the bomb or an AK-47 in their teeth.

"The task of the dog is to quietly place the IED near the terror hideout when security forces cannot move closer because of heavy bullet fire from terrorists or if the visibility is low. The dog will also be used for mopping-up operations," an ITBP spokesperson said, adding that the animals would act as force multipliers and ensure the lives of the troops are not endangered.

But while the ITBP is patting itself on the back for "another feather in its cap", the chairman of the Animal Welfare Board, Major General (retd) Dr R.M. Kharb, called the idea "weird" and said it made no sense to him.

"This seems a weird idea… I have never heard of dogs being trained to drop bombs. We will need a clarification from the ITBP. We would like to know how they have been trained - for instance, have they assessed how long the dog will take to plant the bomb and for how long can the timer be set to ensure the animal's safety," Kharb said.

The Animal Welfare Board is a statutory body which works under the ministry of environment. Kharb's concern is significant as he retired from the army as the director general of Remount & Veterinary Corps and commanded two army dog units.

MP Maneka Gandhi, the head of People for Animals, also termed the ITBP's move as ridiculous. "Dogs have never been trained for such tasks anywhere in the world… why are you putting the animal's life in danger? Also, if the terrorists will die from the blast, why send dogs to retrieve their weapons? Why can't ITBP personnel themselves go?" she asked.

Uma Menon from Frendicos echoed the sentiment. She said the exercise was absolutely unsafe and feared the dogs would not come back alive in 90 per cent of the cases.

"This exposes the mentality that dogs are expendable. Suppose you release the dog in enemy territory with a bomb assuming that he will plant the device in certain minutes. But what if the animal is waylaid?" she asked.

"These dogs must have been trained with dummies and certainly not in a battlefield where the loud sounds of gunfire are most likely to put the animal off-track, as dogs are highly sensitive to noise," Menon said.

Poorva Joshipura, chief functionary of PETA India, also said the animals were at grave risk of being shot or blown up by bombs.

But the ITBP spokesperson insisted the safety of the animals would be ensured and that the IED would be detonated only after the dog had returned to the handler.

This is the first time dogs have been trained to participate in this way in counter-terror operations. No other force, including the Indian Army, has such dogs.

The ITBP uses dogs extensively in disaster management and has trained lots of them for the state police forces, basically for sniffing explosives and narcotics.

A dog trained by the ITBP was recently used by the Haryana Police to detect explosives in a car at the Ambala railway station.

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