BENGALURU: City residents are complaining that over 100 community dogs have gone missing from various localities. As many as 67 dogs from HSR Layout, 10 dogs from Nagawara, and 12 each from New Thippasandra and Banaswadi have been reported missing. In some areas, a new group of dogs have been found, say animal lovers. Post several failed attempts to register a complaint with the police by residents, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) decided to step in and file a complaint. The police finally registered the complaint when the Animal Husbandry department intervened, they say.
After many complaints from the animal welfare activists, the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) intervened and urged the Mayor and Police Commissioner to take action. The organisation has also written to the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), DCPs of different zones and filed a complaint on the BBMP website as well, which, however, was rejected.
Under the Stray Dog Management Rules 2001, it’s illegal for an individual, RWA or estate management to remove or relocate dogs. Prashanth V, deputy campaigns director, FIAPO, said, “We suspect illegal displacement of dogs in different parts of Bengaluru. It’s a punishable offence, and we’re running campaigns on social media on this. These dogs have gone missing over the last one month.”
A Banaswadi resident, Shalini Mohan, said that the dogs that her neighbours and she have been feeding went missing when she came back to the city after two days of travel. “There is a homeless man who takes cares of the dogs along with his son. He said a small truck had come and taken these dogs away at around 2 am. His son saw a van with dogs on a road parallel to the police station in Frazer Town, and their legs were tied. He found one of our community dogs Tommy and rescued him, but he went missing again the next day,” she said.
A city-based animal lover said people aren’t aware of the laws. “Offenders can be booked under Sections 428 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code and imprisoned for five years.”These sections state that anyone who is involved in “killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless any animal or animals of the value of 10 or upwards, shall be punished with imprisonment, which may extend to two years, or with a fine, or both, and whoever commits crimes for the value of `50 or more, can be imprisoned for a term which may extend to five years.”
Dislocation may be due to dog bite cases
The dislocation could be the result of various dog bite cases reported in the city recently. Prashanth added that they have made several requests to the BBMP to sensitise people about the issue and carry out an effective ABC (Animal Birth Control) programme in the city. “We have been asking them to conduct counselling sessions for kids in BBMP schools on how to read the body language of animals to avoid getting bitten. ABC is necessary to control population and also aggressiveness of a dog,” said Prashanth.An animal lover told CE that the current ABC programme addresses only 35,000 surgeries a year, which is not enough. “It should include at least one or 1.5 lakh surgeries a year,” she said.
Randeep D, additional commissioner (Administration), said he’s only aware of the 67 dogs that have gone missing from HSR Layout. “The assistant commissioner of the Animal Husbandry department has filed a police complaint. We are not sure where these dogs are and who is involved in the relocation. We will take action against the perpetrator, be it someone who’s within our department or an outsider.”
Another animal lover said she appreciates the BBMP filing the complaint with the police seeking immediate action. “The neighbours in the community are refusing to produce CCTV footage. The police isn’t taking any action either. Only when it started happening in different localities, were we able to see some kind of pattern. We hope they are not being traded for meat.”