Women beat up activist over feeding stray dogs

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Women-beat-up-activist-over-feeding-stray-dogs/articleshow/18298885.cms

NAVI MUMBAI: Animal activist Rinki Banerjee (30), on Thursday, lodged a non-cognizable complaint against a group of women, who allegedly beat her up for supporting the cause of feeding stray dogs in Sector 11 at the New Panvel police station.

On Thursday, Banerjee went to Sector 11 after resident Sandhya Parekh informed her that locals were not allowing her to feed strays. "The women, who claimed to be from a political party, surrounded me. One of the women pulled my hair and started slapping me, while others egged her on," said Banerjee. "When I started hitting the woman back, they retreated".

Parekh said: "The locals must realise that it is our constitutional right to feed animals."

The women have lodged a cross-NC against Parekh for encouraging "dog menace" in the area. Health officer of Cidco N R Parab admitted that the women were wrong in beating up the activist. "They had complained to Cidco about a few strays. We had taken two dogs to our kennel; will sterilize them and release them in the area," Parab said.

Meanwhile, the stray puppy, which was found dead in Vijay Nagari Annex Housing Society in Thane on January 26, was punched to death.

"The Thane police has to collect the post-mortem report from the Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals," said Bhawanji Chhadwa of Sadbhavna Charitable Trust.He added that the mouth of the puppy was stuffed with a cloth in order to muffle its cries of pain. I hope that the police catch the cruel culprit soon, as this harmless pup has suffered a painful death,'' added Chhadwa. TOI had first mentioned about this stray puppy earlier this week.

Firecrackers set off to kill stray in Belapur

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-02/mumbai/33548438_1_stray-dogs-aditi-lahiri-animal-rights

NAVI MUMBAI: A stray met a horrifying death inside Rajiv Gandhi stadium in CBD-Belapur. According to activists, a firecracker explosion was set off to kill the eight-month-old dog. The stray's charred remains were found in a green room at the civic-run sports stadium on Saturday.

"A local veterinarian who examined the dog's remains stated in the report that the stray died due to serious burn injuries, a broken vertebral column and ribs," said animal rights campaigner Aditi Lahiri. "Somebody had fastened firecrackers on its body and then lit them. Several matchsticks have also been found at the spot," she added.

While Lahiri and other activists like Ajay Marathe have not complained to the CBD police, they plan to meet the Navi Mumbai police commissioner to highlight growing atrocities against animals. "The dog's carcass was first noticed by some of the students who study at the civic library near the area. We are alarmed that horrible and cruel methods were used by unknown people to kill strays dogs," said Lahiri.

Earlier, Navi Mumbai activists had complained about fatal attacks on puppies and dogs and attempts to poison animals. "Since early this year, there has been an outbreak of the dangerous distemper viral disease among stray dogs. However, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation has not been able to do anything about the sick animals since there is barely any space in the dog pound, where sterilizations take place," said Lahiri.

"An RTI query revealed that Cidco had earlier given plots to the civic body in Sanpada, but this land has still not been used to take care of animals," she added

"It seems like no one is interested in animal rights in Navi Mumbai, which is why stray dogs are being blatantly killed without any fear of the law," said animal welfare officer Ganesh Nayak of NGO Animals Matter To Me.

"Around four years ago, more than 40 strays were poisoned to death in a single night in Nerul. However, the culprits were never brought to book despite a police complaint," he added.

Strays can sniff out bombs too

BANGALORE: If you happen to see a mongrel at the end of a leash sniffing for bombs next time you visit a mall, don't be taken aback. Even as the city is debating the ethics of culling stray dogs, a group of animal lovers plans to train dogs for various purposes.

The Youth Canine Welfare Association, a group of 30 college students, and Great Indian Dog Project Association, a group of working professionals, have given a proposal to the BBMP to allow them to rehabilitate dogs in its shelters.

The plan to train these dogs for bomb detection, therapy, seizure warning and guard duty. "We like to believe that stray dogs are inferior. We need to prove it's wrong. Instead of letting these dogs die, we can give them a better life where they can earn for themselves," said Pranav Dinakar, a final-year BCom student, Jain University.

"We don't need Labradors to trace bombs. We can use strays too. Stray dogs have additional advantages -- they have greater resistance. Having lived on the streets they can withstand extreme weather, hunger, pollution and tough situations," said canine behaviourist Amrut Sridhara Hiranya.

Training strays is like training other breeds, say experts. "If Labrador is for sniffing and Doberman for guarding, stray dogs have a bit of everything. The selection process would be tedious but training them would be easy," he said.

"We met with BBMP and gave this suggestion. We're yet to get a concrete answer," said Jaysal Jagadish, who runs a web-designing company. "Once dogs are trained for specific purposes, we can give them for adoption appropriately. For example, there can be malls or old age homes which can adopt them as per their needs," he added.

"Trained stray dogs can be champions for others. For instance, when people watch them on duty in a mall, they may want to adopt strays," said Amrut.
These organizations have also pitched an idea to train street dogs which chase vehicles and animals. "This can be done with the help of residents. If a resident lets us know who the pack leader is (mostly the one who starts barking first), we can train him and put him back on the streets."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Strays-can-sniff-out-bombs-too/articleshow/15243916.cms

One lakh stray dogs in Patna

PATNA: Stray dogs are a big menace in the state capital, with about one lakh of them roaming the city streets. As a result, Patnaites in almost every locality face a serious threat of dog bite these days.

Sources said the Patna Municipal Corporation(PMC) has no animal birth control programmeto sterilize the stray ones. So, there is no way to check the growing number of canines.

Sources said PMC had a post of dog shooter about 10 years back. But now, killing of canines is not allowed by courts, which have ruled in the past that stray dogs should be sterilized, not killed. Only if a dog is rabid or wounded or incurably ill, it can be killed by the authorities by following rules and guidelines.

PMC commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pal said, "PMC deploys some sanitation workers to catch the stray canines on a regular basis from every locality. They put the canines in a vehicle and abandon them in remote areas out of the city."

The PMC floated a tender about six months back to outsource the animal birth control programme, but there was no takers for it. The civic body has a sanctioned post of a veterinarian, which is lying vacant for the last few years.

"People want us to take away stray dogs from their locality, especially during summer when they keep lying on the streets. People get disturbed by their barking. Such dogs tend to attack every new person entering the locality," said Sudhir Kumar, assistant health officer, PMC. He said that with extermination being illegal, they are left with the only option of catching and leaving the stray dogs at some isolated place.

Debojyoti Ghosh, an associate of People for Animal Society, said, "This procedure is also inhumane as the abandoned dogs would not be able to mix with other canines of the new locality. They would not get proper food and might die due to starvation."

Arjun Bhengra, a retired state government employee said, "PMC should be serious in their approach as the presence of such dogs in streets has made the situation difficult for children." One Anil Choudhary said, "I had to move from pillar to post for vaccine after my son was bitten by a stray dog."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/One-lakh-stray-dogs-in-Patna/articleshow/13545932.cms

Strays keep scholars company at PAU

LUDHIANA: Every day many researchers and scholars from India and abroad frequent the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) campus that is known for its spick and span surroundings, wide roads and soothing landscape apart from the academic quotient.But, the authorities at PAU are confronting a peculiar problem of increasing stray dogs on the campus.

Whether it is vice-chancellor's office, students' welfare office, hostels or Parker house, groups of stray dogs running here and there or just basking under the sun is a common sight at the campus. The previous efforts of PAU authorities to control the number of stray dogs have proved futile and they are now contemplating various measures to keep a tab on them.

"Stray dogs have been a problem with PAU for many years. Earlier, we had transported them in trolleys to far-off places but they returned. There are many hot spots for these dogs surrounding our varsity like a busy marriage palace near one gate and a busy market outside another, so these dogs come from there,'' said a senior official of PAU administration, on the condition of anonymity.

The official added they are planning to implement some more measures to control their population. "We can rope in GADVASU (Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University), which is located inside PAU campus, to tackle this problem. A plan for mass sterilisation or setting up a dog pond might resolve the issue,'' he added.