Fw: Updating Federation groups 2 April 2007 regarding Bangalore and other issues.

[Guest guest]

-

Arpan Sharma

Friday, April 06, 2007 1:10 AM

Updating Federation groups 2 April 2007 regardinng Bangalore and other

issues.

 

Dear friends,

 

During the last few weeks, many people have been active in the " virtual " world

as well as on the ground - in Bangalore and other parts of the country. It has

been personally encouraging to us to see how the electronic media, as well as

phones and personal meetings, has helped to bring together people with a wide

range of talents to quell this particular nightmare in Bangalore.

 

We're hoping the whole process puts us on a faster track to learn how the

Federation can most efficiently serve needs such as those being faced right now

in Bangalore, and the myriad needs elsewhere that emerge or continue every day.

 

This communication is to bring all of you up to date with the Bangalore

situation as it currently stands, to inform you about efforts ongoing to

mitigate various other crises, and to let you know what we're doing to set into

meaningful motion the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations.

 

We are going to try and put out regular information updates with verified,

objective information. We hope you will appreciate that there are no paid staff

working on any of this, so while we will try and make information available, we

may not be in a position, just yet, to respond to all individual queries, etc.

 

 

Bangalore

 

1.. The catching and killing has either stopped or gone underground in

Bangalore. Nobody has been able to provide conclusive proof of the continued

catching of dogs and their killing though groups and volunteers are on the

lookout.

2.. As we had shared in our previous update, a Public Relations exercise is

being organised in Bangalore to build public confidence and counter the panic.

As part of this about 100,000 leaflets are going to be distributed through

newspaper vendors. This insert was paid for by a donation from Phil Wollen,

Winsome Constance Kindness Trust in Australia.

3.. We are helping to prepare an information kit for use by MLAs (and perhaps

others) in the state legislative assembly in order to improve their

understanding of dog population control and related issues.

4.. In the next one week or so, it is likely that at least three PILs will

come up for hearing in the Karnataka High Court. Animal groups are being

represented in all such cases. The AWBI too is being heard as an interested

party.

5.. The Lingayats have commenced a fast in Bangalore to protest the killing of

dogs. The Lingayat caste is one of the two dominant castes in Karnataka, spread

mostly in the Northern part of the state. The community is a Hindu sect known

for their fierce Shaivism and are staunch vegetarians.

6.. A group of animal lovers held a protest in Bangalore on 31 March 07

against the killing of dogs.

7.. The AWBI on its part is putting out a paid public service announcement (in

the form of an advertisement) in newspapers in Bangalore. Through AWBI

facilitation, the Ahmedabad Animal Help Foundation has been contracted by the

Bangalore Municipal Corporation to start sterilizing animals in the city. The

AWBI President along with a WHO representative met with the Bangalore Municipal

Commissioner and impressed upon the need for a systematic, scientific programme

for controlling street dogs. AWBI representatives have also been sent to other

towns in Karnataka to liaise with municipal authorities in order to reduce knee

jerk reactions. The AWBI has written to Chief Secretaries of all states

emphasizing the need for states to adopt ABC programmes instead of random

extermination drives.

 

 

Dog Issues in Other Towns

 

OTHER TOWNS: There have been reports of dog killing elsewhere in India. Though

it has not been possible to verify these, we would like to emphasize that

killing in several towns of India, particularly relatively smaller towns of the

country is nothing new. Municipal / district authorities do take recourse to

random killings. This is a regular affair where pressure from animal groups or

local citizens is not strong. As far as we have been able to determine, killings

in other places (if these are happening) are not a reaction to the events in

Bangalore. It does not appear that Bangalore has started any sort of a chain

reaction.

 

 

DELHI: There has also been speculation about the situation in Delhi. First, a

little background to help better understand the situation: The entire city of

Delhi is divided between two municipal authorities.

 

a.. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) handles a large part of the city

b.. The New Delhi Municipal Council is entrusted with the responsibility for a

smaller part of the city, mostly where central government offices and associated

infrastructure is located.

c.. Both bodies have an ABC policy that has participation from NGOs in Delhi

as well.

Delhi is the venue for the next edition of the Commonwealth Games scheduled for

2010. The games venue is located within the jurisdiction of the Municipal

Corporation of Delhi. The MCD is understandably attempting to get a handle on

the street dog issue. However, thus far there has been no change in the MCD's

ABC policy. Specifically, there is no policy to kill animals in preparation for

the games.

 

 

The city of Delhi is surrounded by satellite towns like NOIDA, Ghaziabad,

Gurgaon, Sahibabad, etc. These towns are located in different states, primarily

Haryana and UP. Municipal administration in these towns is unconnected with

Delhi and as such none of the satellite towns has an organised ABC programme,

though Gurgaon is now attempting to start one. It is likely that such towns deal

with street animals, particularly dogs in the same manner as most small towns in

India i.e. by and large ignoring the situation, interspersed randomly with

rounds of either killing or capture and release away from the town.

 

 

The last few weeks have underscored the need for an effective and

better-coordinated response on part of the animal protection community on the

subject of street dogs. We hope to be able to begin work on this in the near

future.

 

 

Other matters related to the Federation

 

The crisis in Bangalore and building a response to it has taken up considerable

time and effort over the past few weeks, juggled as it has to be with existing

commitments.

 

 

We are concentrating primarily on the following tasks:

 

a.. drafting the constitution of the Federation, (we will send you a working

draft as soon as it's ready)

b.. setting up a Federation website so that eventually YOUR issues and ideas,

and contact information can be easily accessed. We plan to create an easy-to-use

site that enables visitors to select by geographic region, or by issue, or by

species, as well as posting regular news features.

 

We hope to be able to keep you regulary posted with developments. Please pass

this communication on to other networks, individuals who might be concerned/

interested.

 

Arpan Sharma and Erika Abrams

 

Volunteers for the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations