UP: Soon, all housing societies to have feeding points for strays

GREATER NOIDA: All housing societies and residential sectors in GB Nagar will soon have supervised feeding points for stray dogs, the district magistrate has said.
DM Suhas LY has directed development authorities to set up such supervised feeding points in all housing societies and residential sectors across the twin cities, taking cognizance of a complaint by an animal welfare organisation regarding a surge in violence against animal feeders across GB Nagar. “This is aimed towards reducing the conflict between residents’ bodies and the animal feeders, the development authorities will soon come up with a plan on this, feeding points need supervision and what is permitted in the legal purview should not be discouraged,” the DM said.
In its letter to the DM, the Sophie Memorial Animal Relief Trust (SMART) has argued that the arbitrary feeding points declared by RWAs do not take the territory boundaries of dogs into consideration and are therefore counterproductive.
“This forceful declaration merely adds to the conflict situation besides being illegal, as the Delhi high court order regarding feeding points requires these points to be earmarked by Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) representatives along with local feeders,” said Kaveri Rana Bharadwaj, founder trustee at SMART Sanctuary.
She said that it’s the responsibility of local authorities and police to ensure that animal feeders are not stopped from promoting coexistence by some AOAs and RWAs. The order asks administration officials to take cognizance of all issues highlighted by the animal activists in the letter and take appropriate action.
Bharadwaj said that the initiative of the district administration has been welcomed by animal lovers. “The bigger task is to get this implemented by asking both the development authorities and AOAs to work together in making the residential societies a progressive place for animals,” she said.