Noted animal rights activist and environmental lawyer Norma Alvares said the Supreme Court’s directions to authorities in Delhi to pick up stray dogs and move them to shelters, and further to ensure that no dogs are taken out from shelters, “directly contradict the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, which mandate that after sterilisation, the stray dogs should be returned to the places they were picked up from”.
“With such a harsh verdict to impound all the dogs in the city and not permit the release of any, even if sterilised and vaccinated, compassion, which is the hallmark of our duties under the Constitution, has been totally sidelined,” she said.
Alvares, founder of the People For Animals–Goa (PFA Goa) NGO and founding trustee of the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO), also argued that the ABC Rules are required to be implemented.
“I do not know what the situation in Delhi was to warrant such drastic action without first considering the validity of the ABC Rules. These rules have been in force for several years. I, however, agree that children, and people in general, should feel safe on the roads and out in public. Young children should learn how to avoid conflict with strays in public places,” she said.
Alvares has been advocating for animal rights for decades and was instrumental in obtaining judicial orders that led to a ban on bullfighting in Goa and in stopping the practice of shooting stray dogs in the coastal state.
PFA Goa had filed a petition in the High Court of Bombay at Goa in 1996, contending that bullfights (dhirios) were occurring illegally in Goa in contravention to the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, following which bullfights were banned in the state by the High Court. The PFA Goa also opposed the “barbaric” practice of shooting stray dogs in Goa, which was disallowed by the High Court in 1999.
Alvares, who was awarded Padma Shri for social work in 2002, said, “There could be a need for a kind of government shelter for housing what we would term ‘difficult’ dogs…who bite constantly or attack people. But, it is an extreme step to say that every single dog should be taken off the streets from any particular place. Most strays are pretty harmless on the streets, especially once they are sterilised. The crucial thing is that the sterilisation programme is not effective enough because not enough money is being allocated…to rapidly do a large number of sterilisations and bring the situation under control.”
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“There has to be a committee to look at these issues. Sometimes, there are very old dogs who cannot manage on the streets, and they should be moved to shelters where they can be taken care of. But, these often are only temporary measures to break the sort of (pattern of) aggressiveness that some dogs display,” Alvares said.
