Ben Madilynn
Many animal rights activists and feeders in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region have expressed their concerns about disappearing street dogs, and they doubt if they will ever find them again.
“Woh mujhe bahut yaad aati hai. Bahut pyaar se mujhe milti thi jab main usse khana deta tha. (I remember her a lot. She used to look at me very lovingly whenever I gave her food),” said Kharghar-based animal feeder, Umesh S.He said that a female community dog in the node had suddenly disappeared overnight, never to be seen again.
“The feeders already face harassment from animal haters who bully them by telling them not to feed inside housing societies. However, it is very painful for any dog feeder to lose their ‘babies’ mysteriously, under suspicious circumstances. Often, the feeders complain to the police and other authorities that they suspect that certain animal haters are involved in such dog disappearances; but there is no hard evidence in this regard,” said Mitesh Jain, a member of Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI).
Malad-based activist and animal welfare officer attached to the high court-appointed committee to monitor animal welfare laws in Maharashtra, Dr Nandini Kulkarni, said: “In May this year, a healthy and sterilised community dog at Mith Chowky Link Road in Malad (West) had vanished. We had reported this to the local police and also managed to get the CCTV footage of the locality. However, the dog was not found again. The only solace is that we tried our best to find him. I also advise feeders to immediately take the photographs of the missing community dog to the police station and insist on filing a complaint. If a dog is sterilised then it cannot migrate for mating purposes. Hence, foul play is possible.”
Many animal lovers have also started a Facebook page called ‘Missing Pets’ in order to submit details about the missing animals, which also include cats. The online posts filed on this page are filed on a daily basis, which indicates how many animals go missing.
Navi Mumbai-based RTI activist Anarjit Chauhan, said: “The dog haters are known to complain to the local corporators and politicians that they want to get rid of the community dogs as they feel that they pose a danger to them or their kids. However, it is illegal and cruel to move any local community dog from its home. The only solution is for the municipality to conduct sterilisations in order to control the canine population.” While the BMC animal welfare officials were unavailable for comment, a civic official from NMMC said that they always tell the dog catchers to release the newly sterilised dogs at the same location, to ensure that the street animals do not get lost in the city. Deputy municipal commissioner and vet, Dr S Pawar, who till recently was in-charge for animal welfare, had said that if citizens do complain about missing pets, then they first ask them to check with the Turbhe Animal Centre of NMMC. A Nerul-based animal activist added that there should be proper CCTV surveillance cameras at the Turbhe centre so as to have a record of how animals are kept there.
Social activist, Salim Charania, said: “Ideally speaking, the municipalities should return the local dogs to the same place from there they were picked up for their sterilisation operations. However, often, the dogs get misplaced, which is how they go missing. A few years ago I had lodged a complaint with the Thane Municipal Corporation how public money is being looted in the name of sterilisation. However, I have not been updated on the inquiry yet. I think the government must take this issue more seriously, so that dog sterilisations take place in an honest manner.”
“Woh mujhe bahut yaad aati hai. Bahut pyaar se mujhe milti thi jab main usse khana deta tha. (I remember her a lot. She used to look at me very lovingly whenever I gave her food),” said Kharghar-based animal feeder, Umesh S.He said that a female community dog in the node had suddenly disappeared overnight, never to be seen again.
“The feeders already face harassment from animal haters who bully them by telling them not to feed inside housing societies. However, it is very painful for any dog feeder to lose their ‘babies’ mysteriously, under suspicious circumstances. Often, the feeders complain to the police and other authorities that they suspect that certain animal haters are involved in such dog disappearances; but there is no hard evidence in this regard,” said Mitesh Jain, a member of Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI).
Malad-based activist and animal welfare officer attached to the high court-appointed committee to monitor animal welfare laws in Maharashtra, Dr Nandini Kulkarni, said: “In May this year, a healthy and sterilised community dog at Mith Chowky Link Road in Malad (West) had vanished. We had reported this to the local police and also managed to get the CCTV footage of the locality. However, the dog was not found again. The only solace is that we tried our best to find him. I also advise feeders to immediately take the photographs of the missing community dog to the police station and insist on filing a complaint. If a dog is sterilised then it cannot migrate for mating purposes. Hence, foul play is possible.”
Many animal lovers have also started a Facebook page called ‘Missing Pets’ in order to submit details about the missing animals, which also include cats. The online posts filed on this page are filed on a daily basis, which indicates how many animals go missing.
Navi Mumbai-based RTI activist Anarjit Chauhan, said: “The dog haters are known to complain to the local corporators and politicians that they want to get rid of the community dogs as they feel that they pose a danger to them or their kids. However, it is illegal and cruel to move any local community dog from its home. The only solution is for the municipality to conduct sterilisations in order to control the canine population.” While the BMC animal welfare officials were unavailable for comment, a civic official from NMMC said that they always tell the dog catchers to release the newly sterilised dogs at the same location, to ensure that the street animals do not get lost in the city. Deputy municipal commissioner and vet, Dr S Pawar, who till recently was in-charge for animal welfare, had said that if citizens do complain about missing pets, then they first ask them to check with the Turbhe Animal Centre of NMMC. A Nerul-based animal activist added that there should be proper CCTV surveillance cameras at the Turbhe centre so as to have a record of how animals are kept there.
Social activist, Salim Charania, said: “Ideally speaking, the municipalities should return the local dogs to the same place from there they were picked up for their sterilisation operations. However, often, the dogs get misplaced, which is how they go missing. A few years ago I had lodged a complaint with the Thane Municipal Corporation how public money is being looted in the name of sterilisation. However, I have not been updated on the inquiry yet. I think the government must take this issue more seriously, so that dog sterilisations take place in an honest manner.”
