Mahatma Gandhi once said “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”. When I think of this with the Kerala government’s illegal and immoral slaughter of thousands of street dogs in mind, I am forced to believe we are far from being a great nation.
At the outset let me say I stand by the voiceless and the defenceless, in this case street dogs, who I have had the fortune to raise and be raised by. Since the time I can recall I have had canine partners by my side, many of them strays. In sickness, in health, through heartbreak, festivals and even death, my dogs have been my companions. They have been my friends, guides, and silent listeners.
In Kerala the so-called stray dog menace has been presented in the media to be of proportions that will create a panic anywhere. It is true that India has a problem with rabies. The World Health Organisation reports nearly 20,000 cases of rabies each year. However, the answer does not lie in culling the dogs. Just like in case of diseases like HIV/AIDS,where we don’t kill off the patient but have treatment protocols,why should the case of the canine be any different? The law of the land agrees. Article 21 of the Constitution of India states the right to personal life and liberty and nowhere does this say this is a right of humans exclusively. In fact under Article 51A there are fundamental duties of every citizen that include compassion for any living creature. Further Section 11 (1) (a) to (o) of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 lays down different forms of cruelty to animals and has listed punishment including imprisonment and fine if any animal is treated with cruelty or poisoned. Most importantly, it is illegal to kill homeless animals in India.
One wonders, then, how the Chief Minister of Kerala and his colleagues decided to take a blatant decision against all prescribed laws to issue an order that aggressive dogs should be put to sleep to control a misplaced epidemic. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act clearly states that only “incurably ill and mortally wounded dogs as diagnosed by a qualified veterinarian” be euthanized. Dogs suspected of having rabies must be captured and isolated. If rabies is confirmed, they must be allowed to die a natural death in isolation. Any animal that is not suffering from an incurable disease cannot be put down. Who has given the Kerala government the authority to cull all street dogs?
There are systems in place to take care of aggressive or rabies infested dogs.It does not include the local groups that have been assigned to carry out the task.Horrifying pictures have emerged from the cullings, with some dogs tied by their legs and dumped in the ocean, others battered to death, yet others poisoned and left on the streets. Sadly, this has zero impact on a government in brutal pursuit of one mission: “Make God’s own country safe for tourists”.
Tourism has been quoted to be a primary reason for this barbaric behaviour, with the government arbitrarily claiming that with street dogs gone, tourism will increase by 15-17%. Then why stop at dogs?Let’s kill all creatures that make us humans feel uncomfortable in any way, who threaten tourist prospects and local security. Does this also mean we get rid of the poor and homeless on the street? Would the state also poison them as it continues to poison 5,00,000 street dogs to keep its streets safe?
A natural counter stated is why don’t the animal lovers like me adopt all the strays and take them home? In majority of the cases the animal protection agencies are blamed for being incumbent and corrupt. I agree that this challenge needs redressal, but not through inhuman and illegal killings. The answer lies in channelling and utilizing funds and implementing birth control.
India has the world’s highest population and population control has been a key agenda for years. If this is a viable option for humans, why can this not be so for dogs? There are successful examples, from cities like Jaipur, which has one of the best stray dog population control programmes in India. The dogs are captured by highly trained individuals, kennelled and treated, allowed to recover in safe spaces and are then released in the exact area where they were located. Why is it that despite the uproar in India and globally, the government has chosen to ignore this and continued with this slaughter?It is essential that we as citizens create an environment where the state government is forced to retract this order. Kerala is taking a short-term approach which will provide short term results. The street dogs need to monitored, vaccinated and neutered, not be put to death to gather foreign currency.
Finally, we need to introspect to understand what kind of a world do we live in? Will we do this to our homeless? Would we do this to our elderly? Hopefully the answer will be no. Yes, we need to resolve a challenge but in a humane manner, and that does not include indiscriminate and horrifying killing of street dogs. This needs to end. Immediately.
A recent tweet by a director, Jude Anthany Joseph has sarcastically requested Maneka Gandhi to “inform the mad dogs not to hurt human beings”. I want to tell him and others like him, if only the dogs could talk, they would tell you how mad and insensitive the world of humans has become.
Till then the voiceless will have thousands like me who will be their voice.
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