(IN) Article: It's a Dog's Life by Tara Deshpande

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http://www.indianexpress.com/news/its-a-dogs-life/420203/0

 

It’s a dog’s life

 

Tara Deshpande Tennebaum

Posted: Feb 07, 2009 at 2335 hrs IST

 

Dogs are gods anyway you spell it.

And if you have a pet you know exactly what I mean. And like humans, canines are

flawed. Some bark, poop inside buildings, dig mud, squabble with mates and some

are friendly, wanting to play with you and your pet dogs. The ambiguous

declaration by the Mumbai High Court eight weeks ago meant all these dogs could

be declared nuisances and put to sleep “humanely”. Fortunately, sanity prevailed

and the Supreme Court dismissed the ruling. But despite clear evidence in favour

of sterilisation, this will not put an end to the forty year battle between

animal lovers and the Muncipal Council of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). The argument

has competing components: law, morality and public health. The Indian judiciary

pronounces capital punishment only for the “worst of the worst” murderers and

traitors. Yet they deem death fair punishment for ‘nuisance’ crimes by man’s

best friend.

 

Demonstrably such rulings are a huge mistake, leading to brutal infringements in

unaccountable systems like India, Puerto Rico and Armenia, where all it took was

a corrupt official or a morphine shortage. Strangulation, electrocution,

bludgeoning — dogs were jettisoned off trucks and bridges, confined and starved

till they killed each other. It has been proven unequivocally in a MCGM circular

38755/C dated 25/3/1994 that despite mass killings during 1984-94 of 45,000 dogs

annually, the population and rabies deaths only increased. Dogs have a high,

multiple birth rate and spaying has greater success. WHO studies presented in

the writ petitions state that sterilisation programs were implemented

“unscientifically and inefficiently” by the MCGM; only four vans of which, three

did not work were supplied for dog collection in the entire city of Mumbai. Of

the 6 crores provided by the state for sterilisation in 2001-02 no

reimbursements to NGOS were made for 6 years. Additionally, only 1.77 per cent

of this allocated budget was spent by the MCGM on these programs. The MCGM

opines exterminating stray dogs will turn Mumbai into Shanghai. Yah, right. Like

China shall we also kill freedom and individual rights?

 

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Rabies is a fatal, horrible disease and a rabid or hostile dog should be put to

sleep. But killing all street dogs, even dogs deemed nuisances, will not end the

rabies menace. Pet dogs, horses, monkeys, rats, sheep, goats, cats, bats, even

humans are vectors. We need to find better ways to sterilise and track street

dogs. Micro-chipping is expensive but we can cheaply maintain computer databases

with descriptions, populations, locations and medical records. The Government

should make it mandatory for private vets with state licenses to annually neuter

and vaccinate a specified number of strays, at cost. The best dog and rabies

control program is when communities and neighbourhoods get involved. The MCGM

has a difficult job. Running Mumbai is probably the only thing harder than

living in it. So let’s help them. Get your building society or workplace to

vaccinate and adopt a stray, find contacts for the local vet or NGO and report

feral or injured strays. Sterilise your pets and don’t abandon them to the

streets when the going’s tough. Consider adopting strays as companions for

senior citizens and children. Educate yourself on how to tell if a dog is

friendly or avoiding strays without cruelty. Report anyone abusing animals; that

makes dogs aggressive.

 

The new human rabies immunisation has few side effects and better long term

protection than the older vaccine. It is however, costly, in short supply and

needs refrigeration. The government must find ways to procure the vaccine

cheaply, make it easily available and advertise pre-exposure vaccination like

they do polio or small pox, in big dog populations areas and in economically

depressed localities where direct contact with vectors is harder to avoid. Let’s

not strip Mumbai of what makes it great — its talent for tolerance. Victimising

dogs is clearly an insincere attempt to placate citizens, furious with a

complacent administration. Life in Mumbai is not easy but it shouldn’t be cheap.

Let us instead show prejudice against corruption and urban poverty, ask for

changes that will really make our lives better like improved waste disposal,

clean water and fair housing regulation. A law we uphold that is compassionate

may leave us with regret but a short sighted, inhuman law will only leave us

with shame and wasted rupees.

 

In Indian mythology dogs are dwarpals — protectors of heaven’s gates. In this

world, dogs are our fellow Mumbaikars, (friends of rich and poor alike)

enriching our city and sharing our traumas. On 26/11, they were among the first

to perish at the Taj and CST as they sensed intruders and sounded the alarm.

Surely, now they deserve better than death from a misguided MCGM. Sterilisation

will reduce their numbers more cheaply and effectively in a humane way that is

worthy of our great city and of the dwarpals, who will someday let us too, pass.

 

The writer is an actress and author