Owners panic but Kanpur Municipal Corporation unaware of decision on dog breeds

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[google-translator]

The Kanpur Municipal Corporation (KMC) is not aware of the decisions announced by mayor Pramila Pandey regarding banning rearing and breeding of Rottweiler and Pitbull dog breeds, responses to RTI queries filed by animal rights activists have revealed.

Strangely, while KMC is unaware of the decisions taken on mayor’s behest, as well as its own resolution, pet owners fearing action by authorities, have started abandoning dogs of different breeds out on streets. Till now 32 abandoned pet dogs have been rescued by NGOs and individuals.

Animal rights activist and leading veterinarian Dr SK Paul said the dogs being abandoned in large numbers amounts to cruelty to animals. “KMC has much to answer for this situation. It must explain on what grounds it is taking up cudgels against pet dogs. It has no framework of rules, no infrastructure. This is what has been told to us by KMC,” he said.

Dr Paul and his associates filed RTI asking 26 questions on this issue and KMC replied back on November 21. To each question the KMC has said no data available or it was not in its knowledge. It didn’t even have an answer to which dog breeds had been banned and what were the guidelines. HT has copies of RTI replies.

On Pandey’s initiative, KMC’s general house had passed a resolution in October, barring people from keeping these dog breeds as pets.

Pandey had termed the two dog breeds as “dangerous.”

The KMC resolution banned people from keeping these dog breeds as pets. It had also made registration of pet dogs essential and announced a fine of 5000 in case of attacks by dogs of foreign breeds.

The mayor had also announced that Rottweilers and Pitbull would not be allowed within the city, a decision she retracted later following an uproar. She also announced that pet owners would bear the entire cost of treatment in case their pet attacked someone.

People admitted that many of them panicked, not just by the fine and legal action that the mayor announced but also by KMC’s decision to issue a dedicated number, urging people to approach them if they had an issue with any pet dog.

Chief veterinarian, KMC, Dr RK Niranjan said: “we released a number 0512-2526004 and 2526005 to help people tell us about any issue with pet dogs and promised full confidentiality.”

The announcements have started having an impact.

“I have a German Shepherd, a French Mastiff, a Great Dane, a Dalmatian, two Rottweiler that I rescued from different parts of city. They were all abandoned and fighting for their lives. Street dogs were tearing them apart,” said Vivek Tiwari of ‘Bezubaan’, an NGO working for stray dogs. He claimed to have found six such pet dogs so far.

He said his office has been getting number of calls from people asking to keep their pets in his dog shelter. “People want us to take away their pets. They say they are scared and feel they can be in trouble. Each day there are six to 10 such calls. We tell them to be responsible for their pets and take caution instead of dumping them,” he added.

Shyam Babu, a dog rescuer said, “two dogs, a German Shepherd and an Argentino, were saved in Barra and Yashoda Nagar on November 17 after their owners left them tied to a pole without food and water. They were being attacked by street dogs.”

He said: “In September alone, 12 abandoned foreign breed dogs were rescued. By now, these numbers have risen sharply.”

Asked about RTI replies, the mayor expressed surprise about KMC not having knowledge of decisions taken by her and the house. “Send me the copies of the replies, I will speak to the cattle catching department on this issue,” she said.

“The KMC is first body to have banned two breeds in view of public safety. We will continue to enforce the decisions we have taken,” she said. However, she did not comment as to why the KMC hasn’t formed the rules and guidelines.

As per KMC estimate, Kanpur has a population of 34000 pet dogs and 2000 of them were registered with the municipal body, 1800 after few dog breeds were banned.


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