| Published on 08-03-2007 In National |
| Viewed 1361 times |
| Bangalore growls at stray dogs |
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Written by
K. S. Dakshina Murthy |
When four-year-old Manjunath ran behind the bushes in the hide-and-seek game with his friends, he probably had only one thing in mind: to disappear for the moment from the seeker's view and emerge later gleefully. The stray dogs behind him had other ideas. Here was a prey they could pounce on. And, they did.
They went for his throat, eye and any part of his body they could sink their teeth into. They let go when passers-by threw stones at them. By then, it was too late. The boy was almost dead. A few hours later, the hospital confirmed the worst – he was indeed dead.
Rarely has Bangalore seen the kind of uproar that the death caused. Manjunath was the second child in the city to be killed in this fashion in the span of a month. An eight-year-old construction worker's daughter had been similarly mauled to death in another corner of the city earlier.
If ever there was any issue that divided people this was one. For the last several weeks, since the first death, debates, discussions, arguments and vitriolic fights have been on in Bangalore amongst people on the streets, in homes, in offices, on the Internet and in the media between those who want to put down stray dogs and those who want to leave them alone.
Dogs and terrorists
The arguments vary – from those who say that humans are more important than dogs to others who advocate the "live and let live" line.
As one canine supporter barked, just because there are a few terrorists in any community you don't exterminate the whole lot. Similarly, because there are a few ferocious dogs that bite, you can't kill all of them.
To this, a dog-opponent growled that animals have a place to be in. If a tiger or leapord is let loose amongst people won't they be captured and released back into the forest or kept in a cage? So why not the dogs?
Under pressure from the state government and the uproar from large sections, the Bangalore city authorities have ordered a step-up in the nabbing of stray dogs. Reacting to dog supporters who have demanded that the animals have every right to remain where they are, an official at a meeting said every one of those should adopt at least one stray dog. This way the problem could be solved without hurting anyone. However, the response to this offer has been negligible.
This has spurred the corporation authorities to go ahead with its plans to kill "ferocious" dogs and sterilise the rest, which will then be let out into the areas they came from.
Since the latest attack on the four-year-old, hundreds of strays have been caught. The government has demanded that the corporation should target at least 1000 dogs a day.
Dog-catchers have been hired from other states and the canine hunt is on. Four NGOs who for the last several years had been tasked with sterilising stray dogs have come under fire too. Each NGO had reportedly been sanctioned Rs. 50 lakh per annum for sterilising stray dogs. Now, they are being hauled for alleged non-performance.
Under the sterilisation scheme, stray dogs were supposed to have been sterilised and returned to the areas they came from. This was to have progressively reduced the number of stray dogs over the years. In Bangalore, there are varying estimates of stray dogs – ranging from 50,000 to 100,000.
Knee-jerk response
The Bangalore corporation's knee-jerk response of capturing stray dogs and keeping criticism at bay is likely to peter out as the task of eliminating them in this manner is next to impossible. Residents point to open garbage dumps, roadside eateries and meat shops that generate packs of dogs.
As some say, single stray dog is generally not harmful. Only when the dogs get together to form packs does the situation change. As in a mob, the pack-mentality takes over. One aggressive move by a single dog against a human being has the potential to turn the entire pack against the target.
It would be worthwhile to see the stray dog issue as a symptom of a larger malfunctioning of the civic administration and the apathy of people. For instance, if unauthorised eateries and meat shops spring up by breaching the law, they do so only with the connivance of corporation officials who look the other way if their palms are greased. And, dumping garbage anywhere and everywhere, is almost a cultural issue.
As for the government which talks big, spends crores of rupees, plans state of the art hi-tech industries and at the least provocation acquires thousands of acres of land in the guise of development, is it so hard to establish large incinerators and put in place a simple garbage collection mechanism that among other things will not only ensure a cleaner environment but also painlessly reduce the proliferation of stray dogs?
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