NDTV: Dog menace: APSHRC issues notices

[Guest guest]

" That will not solve the problem. You cannot say if it is free of

rabies, the dog can bite. When human rights and animal rights are in

contention, human rights will have to take precedence "

- Justice B Subhashan Reddy, Chairperson, APSHRC

 

 

 

Link: http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070008387

 

Dog menace: APSHRC issues notices

 

Uma Sudhir

Wednesday, April 11, 2007 (Hyderabad)

The dog bite incidents in Hyderabad took a new controversial turn on

Wednesday with the state human rights commission issuing notices to

the government and animal rights groups saying more stringent measures

beyond sterilisation and vaccination need to be taken.

 

" That will not solve the problem. You cannot say if it is free of

rabies, the dog can bite. When human rights and animal rights are in

contention, human rights will have to take precedence, " said Justice B

Subhashan Reddy, Chairperson, APSHRC.

 

The SHRC has taken suo moto notice of recent incidents of dog bites in

Hyderabad, after which a baby died and several college girls were injured.

 

Notices have been issued to the municipal corporation, the college

authorities and also animal rights group, Bluecross, to appear before

the commission on April 30.

 

" In areas where the animal birth control and rabies programme has been

implemented, there is not a single case of dog bite. This is not a big

scare like AIDS or cancer that we need to have such a knee jerk

reaction. In India, for 100 years we have been killing dogs but that

has not solved the problem, " said Vasanthi Vadi, Animal Rights Activist.

 

Animal activists say elimination of dogs is not an effective strategy

for controlling the number of dogs and dog bites because new dogs

would simply move into the old territory.

 

The World Health Organisation has advocated that animal birth control

is the only effective way out and that's what the municipal

corporation needs to prioritise.