(LK) Sri Lankan district court ruling puts Kandy AnimalBirthControlprogram in jeopardy

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Merrit,

 

for mentioning about our troubles in Animal People. Today I have to report

the death of eight dogs from the city, poisoned by the KMC. We filed a

complaint at the police-station and asked for an inquiry. The Governor of

the Central Province has also been informed and promised to intervene.

 

By the way I want to comment on Dr.Harischandra's statements:

Except for a few tied and caged dogs, no dogs have been killed by the

tsunami, they were more sensitive than the humans and all moved away from

the coast in time. The number of human rabies-cases has steadily decreased

in recent years, I remember the figure was 155 in 1999.

The No-kill-policy may be partly responsible for the slight increase we

observed last year, because the policy has not been coupled with a humane

population-control-program. The depo-provera injection prevents pregnancy

only for one season, but makes sure, that the dogs get pregnant 5 to 6

months after it was given, so the injected dogs will give birth to several

puppies before the development of Pyometra, which occures in 90% of the dogs

treated with depo provera, makes it impossible for the dog to get pregnant

again because there would be no more space for an embryo to develop in that

womb filled with cancerous growth. In the final stage of the disease the dog

cannot eat anymore because of the itense pain and then she dies if not taken

for emergency surgery (removal of the womb)... and who is there, to take a

stray for emergency surgery? If the dog happens to be pregnant at the time

when the injection is given, the puppies die inside the womb, if the dog is

lucky, an abortion will take place, otherwise she will die due to the dead

puppies inside her womb. I don't know how anyone can call this the lesser of

two evils.

-

" Merritt Clifton " <anmlpepl

" Padma " <padmaeva

Cc: " Champa Fernando " <nihalas

Thursday, August 16, 2007 6:23 AM

Sri Lankan district court ruling puts Kandy Animal

BirthControlprogram in jeopardy

 

 

> From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:

>

>

> Sri Lankan district court ruling puts Kandy Animal Birth Control program

> in jeopardy

>

> KANDY, Sri Lanka--A District Court ruling that there are too many dogs at

> large in Kandy may permit the Kandy Municipal Corporation to resume

> killing street dogs on October 5, 2007, 60 days after the ruling was

> issued.

> The killing would contravene a national no-kill policy proclaimed in June

> 2006 by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who reaffirmed it in July

> 2007--but Kandy has defied official policy to kill dogs before.

> " The Kandy Animal Birth Control program started in 2002, with municipal

> cooperation, " summarized Eva Ruppel ( " Padma " ) of the Save Our Friends

> Association. When KMC cooperation was discontinued, we went to the courts

> to prevent the killing of dogs. Despite a court-order in our favor, the

> KMC killed 360 dogs in August 2005. "

> ABC supporters stopped the killing by charging Kandy officials with

> contempt of court. The August 5 ruling dismissed the contempt charges,

> and gave the ABC program 60 days to reduce the dog population.

> " Of course we appealed, " Ruppel posted to the Asia Animal Protection

> Network. " We have to safeguard the 10,000 dogs who have been already

> sterilized and vaccinated. We have no intention of giving up the only

> sensible way to stabilize the population and to prevent rabies. Kandy had

> no human rabies cases since 2002, " Ruppel added, " and dog bite cases

> have drastically decreased. We have no reason to return the dog pound to

> the KMC and let them start killing again. "

> Ruppel attributed the recent reappearance in Kandy of large numbers of

> mother dogs with puppies to dumping, probably by dogcatchers from other

> cities--a common problem in many economically disadvantaged nations, as

> communities without effective Animal Birth Control programs try to

> relocate unwanted animals to communities that have them.

> Nationally, according to Smriti Daniel of the Kandy Times, " The

> government is relying heavily on contraceptive depo-provera injections for

> female dogs. Between 2005 and 2006, the number of injections administered

> jumped from 5,651 to 49,968. While simply injecting dogs may seem the

> lesser of two evils, the other choice being exterminating them, " Daniel

> added, " animal activists have voiced serious concerns over the use of the

> injection, believing it to be seriously detrimental to the dog's health,

> possibly responsible for malignant mammary tumors in the animals. "

> Said Champa Fernando of KACPAW, the largest animal welfare organization

> in Kandy, " At the moment we are unable to urge the government to stop its

> chemical birth control program, given the no-kill policy, the [reported]

> increase in the dog population [to about 2.5 million nationally], and the

> increase in rabies incidence in the country. "

> Director of Public Health Veterinary Services P.A.L. Haris-chandra told

> Daniel that Sri Lanka had 73 human rabies cases in 2006, up from 55 in

> 2005, when the dog population may have been temporarily reduced by the

> Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004.

>

>

>

> --

> Merritt Clifton

> Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

> P.O. Box 960

> Clinton, WA 98236

>

> Telephone: 360-579-2505

> Fax: 360-579-2575

> E-mail: anmlpepl

> Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

>

> [ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing original

> investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide, founded in 1992.

> Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the decision-makers at more than

> 10,000 animal protection organizations. We have no alignment or

> affiliation with any other entity. $24/year; for free sample, send

> address.]