The stray dog problem can be effectively solved by vaccinating all dogs at camps against rabies with a long term anti-rabies vaccine and other communicable diseases and only issuing dog licences after all these vaccinations are fully completed. Trapping of stray dogs must be done humanely by using nets or sacks and not by using gauntlets colloquily called scissors or rods with metal rings attached to them or using tongs or wire meshes or by using straps or rods with ropes attached to them. Dog catchers who use these and other inhumane methods to catch stray dogs or even shooting them must be heavily fined and jailed for ten years. They must be immediately dismissed from service and prevented from re-instated. Fines must be utilized for important projects instead of being wasted. If this fails a case must be filed against the municipal commissioner at the international SPCA headquarters and the international blue cross so that he mends his inhumane tactics to trap stray dogs.
Besides controlling the stray dog population through sterlisation stray puppies must be trained to do police work like detecting criminals and sniffing out drugs and bombs and also as rescue dogs for detecting people trapped under debris/rubble during earthquakes, landslides etc. It is extremely foolish and undemocratic for the NDA government to ban the import of foreign dogs because breeding of dogs is a very important form of self-employment. The government has no right whatsoever to decide what kind of work a person would like to choose and force him to do work which he does not like. So this ban must be challenged in a court of law. If this fails then parliament must be indefinitely boycotted until this unjust and unwarranted ban is totally withdrawn.
Schools promoting recognised dog grooming courses along with dog parlours must be promoted zealously. Cruel sports like dog fighting must be totally banned.
Peter Castellino
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
