There is a very popular saying that ‘a lot can be said about a man by how he treats his dog.’ I would like to re-phrase this as – ‘a lot can be said about a man by how he treats any powerless, voiceless animal out on the streets’.
Imagine you are so alone on the streets. You are so hungry that each movement becomes difficult for you. There are hundreds of people going by, yet you cannot talk or express yourself to them. We can’t even imagine such situation. Just think what numerous homeless and stray dogs you are passing by are experiencing. They are being ignored and abandoned to live a life full of struggle.
These days millions of dogs are stray or lost the number of dogs being killed or chucked out are provided by official organizations is dreadful and unfortunately this number is rising every day. This problem of stray dog population in India is huge one because of the open garbage. Stray dogs rely on garbage on the streets as a source of food. Secondly, India has fewer government and NGO services that deal with stray dogs because of that their number is increasing day by day.
What should be done in the future ?
- A strong law by the government – The Indian government in the past few years has come up with large scale interventions and organizations that can deal with stray dogs in India but unfortunately their efforts turned out to be a failure because the implementation was not there so the government should keep a check and try their level best to implement such laws. They should promote adoption of stray dogs and ensure that people do not support mass killings.
- Sterilization of dogs – One of the main reason behind increasing stray dog population is breeding and migration. Many animal welfare organizations believe that the spay and neuter model – where both male and female dogs are taken from the streets, sterilized, vaccinated and returned to their original area which can be successful in reducing stray dogs population.
- Sensitization among humans– Mostly half the battle is won when awareness among the masses increase most of the people are not aware of how to deal with the issue of rising stray dogs population in their locality. They just run to kill them. However, it is not a solution because they also have emotions instead of killing such beings people should go and leave them in animal shelters where their proper care can be taken.
In the end, I just want to say we all have to finally look around and realize the cry of homeless animals and should provide them necessary help. Killing off innocent creatures is not a solution it is just a cruel move. And the government should take necessary steps to solve this problem so that these animals can also live a life full of care and love.
By – Shakun
masscommunicationblog 