Animal Lovers are Aghast as Municipal Authorities Order a Cull of the Citys
Strays
M. Radhika tracks the debate.
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Would you say the same thing if your child was killed by dogs? an agitated bystander asked animal lovers protesting Bangalores drive to exterminate its strays. This is a divided city these days, with battlelines drawn between those who approve the cull and those who find it reprehensible. The citys media is siding with those who want stray dogs killed, so much so that mere dog bites are now being reported as if they were crime stories. As the debate rages on, the questions and counter-questions fly thick and fast. Is one anti-people if one opposes killing stray animals? Is there a mob psychology behind the drive? Who is more important: kids or dogs? It all began when a pack of feral dogs killed four-year-old Manjunath near the Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) staff quarters. A month-and-a-half earlier, Sridevi, a toddler who was playing near a construction site on the outskirts of the city, was also killed by stray dogs. The city municipal body, the Bhruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), declared war and ordered that the strays be exterminated. Stray dogs are now being hauled up in the hundreds by dogcatchers that the BBMP has hired from elsewhere, including Kerala. I am appalled at the way the children were mauled to death, and I am all for killing ferocious animals, but this is madness, says Jeremy DSouza who has been feeding the dogs of his locality for the last 15 years. On March 9, he followed a dog-catching van to rescue dogs from his neighbourhood. He says he was horrified by the treatment the dogs were put through. I am no ngo man, he says. But this is inhuman to say all dogs should be eradicated because some of them killed two children. Those who oppose the cull point out that both the dog attack deaths happened in areas not covered by the citys Animal Birth Control (abc) programme, since ngos that perform abc operations to confine the dog population are not allowed to work beyond the corporation limits. The construction site where Sridevi was killed is on the outskirts of the city, and the BEML Layout area where Manjunath was killed is outside the BBMPs jurisdiction. There was also no control over garbage disposal in either place. The BEML Layout area has about 125 acres of open space behind it a handy garbage dump, not just for the meat stalls near the Layout, but also for the residents who live in nearby localities. Let us understand that Bangalore has open access to animals from everywhere. Its peripheral areas are rural in nature where dogs are wild. They kill rats, rabbits and rodents in open fields, DSouza says. When more domesticated city dogs are removed, the wild ones tend to occupy that space and behave that way too. The strays that killed Sridevi are said to have migrated from elsewhere. Some animal welfare ngos are under scanner at the moment, as it is suspected that they have misused funds meant for abc operations. Dilip Bafna, a trustee of the Animal Rights Fund, debunks these allegations. There will always be suspicion, especially when you touch public money. We are all accountable to the Income Tax authorities. Let them show proof if they have problems with us. Why kill dogs? Basavanna, an engineer, has no sympathy for these groups. They are all hypocrites the Maneka Gandhi brigade. Weve had plenty of dog bites, these ngos are not bothered, he says. His opinion is in stark contrast to that of residents from Vijayanagar and the rpc Layout areas. Cutting across religious affiliations, residents here feed strays, bathe and put collars on them, and get them vaccinated. A swamiji also visits the area regularly to feed them. Also lost in the media frenzy is the story of how dogs helped save a newborns life in the forests of Devarayanadurga in Tumkur on March 9. An unwed mother had abandoned her child in the forests, but a pack of dogs, which had followed her, stood guard over the infant all night to prevent any attack by other animals. The next morning, a passerby found the child and, as it chanced, took the baby to the same woman, who wept with joy having spent the night in guilt. URL – http://www.tehelka.com/story_main28.asp?filename=Cr240307Bangalore_vs.asp |