HC gives green signal for tail docking, ear cropping of pet dogs

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/hc-gives-green-signal-for-tail-docking-ear-cropping-of-pet-dogs/article4456192.ece

Docking the tail or cropping the ears of your pet dog does not amount to mutilation and cannot be treated as cruelty to the animal, the Madras High Court has ruled.

The court also ruled that neither the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) nor the Veterinary Council of India has any authority to prohibit registered veterinarians from performing tail docking and ear cropping of certain breeds of pet dogs such as Doberman, Cocker Spaniel, Great Danes and Boxer at the request of their owners.

Allowing a writ petition filed by Kennel Club of India (KCI), Justice D. Hariparanthaman quashed a notice issued by the veterinary council on November 11, 2011, directing all registered veterinarians in the country to stop forthwith the practice of performing the two surgical procedures on pups. The notice had warned the veterinarians of stringent action if they were found to be continuing the practice.

It was issued on the basis of a letter written to the council by the AWBI Chairman who had opined that the surgical procedures cause mutilation and therefore amount to violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act 1960.

The chairman had also claimed that many countries including the United Kingdom had banned the two surgical procedures.

Assailing the notice, KCI contended that the two surgical procedures actually make the dogs look good and stay alert besides preventing ear infection and injuries on the tails.

Further, drawing an analogy, the petitioner club said that the chairman’s view was akin to declaring as illegal the act of people choosing to perform circumcision and piercing the ears and noses of their newborn children.

After recording submissions made by both sides, the judge said that tail docking and ear cropping would not amount to mutilating the pets and therefore dog lovers or owners could not be accused of such an offence.

Though the term ‘mutilation’ had not been defined under the PCA Act, the judge relied on the meanings found in various dictionaries to arrive at the conclusion.

Not wanting to go into the correctness of articles and books written about the two surgical procedures, Mr. Justice Hariparanthaman pointed out that the procedures were only regulated and not prohibited in the UK. The AWBI and the veterinary council had not disputed the fact that dogs belonging to the police department were also subjected to ear cropping and tail docking.

He stated that the notice under challenge was bad in law as the AWBI’s statutory role was restricted to advising the Centre. It was up to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to give effect to the advice by invoking its rule making power under Section 38 of the PCA Act. But no such rule had been framed with regard to the present issue.

To make things worse, the veterinary council had issued the notice on the basis of a letter written by the AWBI’s chairman alone and not the Board as such.

“In my view, the AWBI is different from chairman… Section 9 of the Act contemplates providing of advice by AWBI and not by the chairman… Hence, the advisory of the chairman cannot be treated as the decision of AWBI,” the judge added.

Imran Khan all set to open animal shelter

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-22/news-interviews/37222353_1_animal-shelter-avantika-malik-imran-khan

Imran Khan's love for rescuing strays is known. The actor is so passionate about the cause that he, along with his mother Nuzhat and wife Avantika Malik, work dedicatedly towards rescuing stray dogs and cats, trying to put them up for adoption.

Now, the actor intends to take his passion to the next level and has bought a few acres on the outskirts of Mumbai, where the rescued animals will be kept till someone is ready to adopt them — or for life if need be.

A source says, "The star has purchased close to four acres and he will convert this into an animal shelter. He has plans to hire in-house veterinary doctors and staff who will attend to the rescued animals."

When asked if this was true, Imran said, "This is a cause that resonates with me. If I didn't do this, there would be no me. I'm that passionate about it."

He refrains from speaking about the animal shelter as yet, because plans are still underway. However, even as we speak, Imran has five cats and one dog at his Pali Hill residence and all of them have either been picked up from the street or brought to him by friends and neighbours who know the animals will find care.

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.

Animals are more scared of us than we are of them, says Vidya Athreya

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-31/pune/36658319_1_animals-interactive-session-7th-kirloskar-vasundhara

PUNE: Citizens should be more sensitive to animals living in close proximity to human habitation and chasing or beating them will only force the animals to retaliate, urged wildlife biologist, Vidya Athreya on Wednesday.

Athreya who works at the Wildlife Conservation Society of India was speaking at the conference 'Jungle Lore', organised as part of the ongoing 7th Kirloskar Vasundhara international film festival.

Addressing the gathering, Athreya said that incidents like the recent case of a leopard injuring a villager in Shelarwadi, Dehu road cantonment area can be avoided with correct handling of the situation. "Animals are more scared of us than we are of them. Research says that if we don't trouble them, they will not trouble us," she said.

Lauding the tolerance of the people in rural areas for having co-existed with animals for centuries, Athreya said that chasing away animals with sticks, or crowding around them is what makes them retaliate. It's best to walk away, when an animal is sighted, she said.

The conference also had a session on eco-tourism and challenges which was addressed by Nitin Kakodkar, chief conservator of forests (education and training). Kakodkar underlined the need to involve the locals and every other stake holder in conservation and promotion of such sites.

He stressed on the need to educate local populations on the benefits of eco-tourism, including generation of employment and increasing revenue to improve their standard of living.

The day-long conference also had a session on joint forest management with a case study of Sakude village (Purandar taluka) presented by committee president, Suresh Saste. Pramod Patil who works for the conservation of the Great Indian Bustard addressed a session on the initiatives being taken for conserving the birds, while conservationist Sanjay Rahangdale spoke on floral diversity of Junnar taluka with special reference to Ceropegias.

Prachi Mehta of Wildlife Research and Conservation Society suggested simple measures for better management of animal-human conflicts, in order to protect crops from animal destruction, with a special reference to elephants have made their way from Karnataka into Maharashtra.

Jungle Lore, organized with a larger objective of involving the youth and nature lovers in environment conservation also had an interactive session on careers in the field and forest departments.

The conference concluded with the felicitation of three Indian Forest Service (IFS) guards for their contribution towards environment conservation.

Bihar grants permission to kill rampaging neelgais

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Bihar-grants-permission-to-kill-rampaging-neelgais/articleshow/18008719.cms

PATNA: Upset with the rampaging neelgai (blue bull) devastating the crop fields, just pick the licensed gun and shoot the animal down. It's now official.

In bid to ward off the increasing menace of neelgai damaging the standing crops in certain parts of Bihar, the Bihar State Wildlife Boardhas decided to give this permission to the affected farmers who have licensed arms. The matter came up at the meeting of the board, chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar.

The board, showing its concern over the growing menace and damage of hectares of crops, took this decision. Permission will be granted in those areas where the problem has become quite serious.

Under the provision, the farmers who will kill neelgai will also be compensated with the cost of the cartridges fired to kill neelgai at the rate of Rs 500 per cartridge and also Rs 1,000 for the burial of the animal, said forest and environment department secretary Deepak Kumar Singh. "This permission has been given to protect the standing crops and scare away the animals," Singh said. The recommendations of the board will be sent to the cabinet for approval.

Singh was however, not very sure if the farmers would be able to shoot down neelgai since this animal of antelope family runs very fast. He recalled that a few months back a neelgai entered the Gaya airport but despite free permission it could not be killed.

The board has also decided to enhance the compensation for death and injury to human beings due to wild animals' attack as well as for the loss of crops. The compensation for death due to attack by wild animals has been increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. The decision was taken in the light of the central government enhancing the compensation.

However, during the past few years very few incidents of such deaths have been reported.

Similarly, in the wake of serious and simple injury, damage to pucca or clay house and also the damage to standing crops by the wild animals the compensation amount will be increased as compared to the prevalent rates, as per the decision of the meeting.

The meeting also decided to constitute committees under the DMs to check the damage of the standing crop on large scale by the neelgai. The committees will have forest divisional officers, district agriculture officers, district animal husbandry officers and all the divisional officers as members. The committees will evaluate the damage of the standing crops by the wild animals particularly neelgai and look into the complaints by the affected farmers.

The wildlife board was of the opinion that the skills and services of several sub-castes like snake charmers, madari, kalandar and others which depend on their traditional profession to eke out a living should be utilized in some other areas so that their dependency on the traditional professions could be minimized.

It was directed that a survey of these social groups should be conducted in bid to utilize their services in wildlife protection and link them with alternative profession and rehabilitate them.

Glass-coated manjha proves deadly for birds

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Glass-coated-manjha-proves-deadly-for-birds/articleshow/18012162.cms

JAIPUR: Clear skies, mild weather and a holiday may be perfect for people to take to flying kites but it proved fatal for the winged creatures.

With each and every passing hour on Sunday, the casualty for birds increased despite animal rights activists working hard to minimize the death toll. During Makar Sankranti, people fly kites by the thousands. Unfortunately, they use glass-coated thread (manjha) to fly the kites and birds get entangled leading to cuts, damaged wings and nerve injuries. The animal activists are leaving no stone unturned to help the injured birds during this period.

Figures coming in from different animal right groups said nearly 80 casualties were reported. These groups have received around 200 calls seeking help for birds during the day mostly from the Walled City and other densely populated areas. Makeshift hospitals and camps are set up at Raja Park, Ramnivas Garden, Amrapali Circle and Gopalpura to treat the birds. The volunteers include veterinary doctors, students, professionals and general public.

These groups have been distributing their helpline numbers to reach out to people so that any bird casualty can be reported. Dr Vikas Sharma, veterinarian and head of Environment and Wildlife Care Society (EWCS) said, "We appeal to the people not to fly kites with glass-coated manja. And if they do, at least keep the helpline numbers handy so that our volunteers can reach out to the affected birds."

Among the injured reported on Sunday were peacocks, eagles, parrots, parakeets and many pigeons. Sahil Singhal, secretary of the People for Animals, said, "As the awareness on the helpline numbers and camps are rising, the calls are increasing and so do the casualties."

A maximum number of injured birds died due to lack of proper medical facilities. People overlook the injured birds as they do not have proper knowledge about the treatment. The groups also appealed to the callers that they should monitor the injured bird till the volunteers come as in most cases birds either become prey to dogs or disappears.

The loud music from the past two days is also causing severe problem to birds and animals. Most birds and animals, especially dogs and cats, are highly sensitive to sound. "Any loud sound becomes unbearable for them especially during morning and evening hours. Many birds lost track of their habitat due to the music," Sharma added.