KOLKATA: A group of men injured two mongrels in central Kolkata in January. Even though a few locals protested the offenders escaped punishment as no legal action was initiated against them.
Dog lover
Soumi Sengupta was barred by some residents in
Lake Town from feeding street dogs and threatened police action. She had to retreat as she was unaware that there was no legal bar on any individual from feeding street dogs.
A three-day long boot camp in the city aims to sensitise NGOs, animal activists and animal caregivers about the legal rights of animals and enforcement.
In the recent past there have been several cases in Kolkata where the law enforcers have either refused to register complaint against atrocities against dogs or have not displayed the required level of alacrity in penalising the offender. The boot-camp which will start on Friday and continue till Sunday in Joka aims at sensitising the NGOs and animal activists on how to engage with the cops in an event of cruelty against animals.
“One of the biggest hurdles in addressing cruelty towards animals is that police and the administration do not take these offences seriously. There is a severe lack of sensitisation at the lower level of the force. In many cases they are so bogged down with other cases that atrocities towards animals do not figure in their scheme of things,” said Verda Mehrotra, director of Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations. The umbrella body of animal rights’ organisations throughout the country is organising the boot camp.
Besides the legal aspect the boot-camp will also address the issue of animal birth control, shelter, rescue and first aid.
NGOs and animal rights’ organisation have identified the absence of any animal birth control, particularly among dogs, as one of the burning issues in Kolkata. Another issue is the lack of any census among street dogs. With more than 23 million dogs India has the third highest dog population in the world.
“In 2001, the government formulated the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, or the ABC rules, under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 (PCA Act). According to the ABC Rules, the population of street dogs must be controlled with sterilisation surgeries and these dogs are to be released from where they were caught. This is required to avoid the man-animal conflict in urban areas. But the
Kolkata Municipal Corporation has not undertaken any animal birth control programme which is causing disproportionate increase in the population of dogs,” said
Sourabh Roy of Animals and Us.
