BENGALURU: Imagine paying a fee for owning a pet in your apartment, or worse still, having your pet banned from an apartment complex. With increasing instances of conflict between pet owners and other residents, Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF) has come up with a set of pet ownership guidelines in apartments.
In order to give merit to everyone’s concerns, the guidelines have been prepared with inputs from animal rights activists, animal lovers and people who have faced issues with pet owners. The initiative aims to address lack of information and protect apartment associations and pet owners from potential violations of law.Nagaraja Rao, governing council representative of BAF, said, “Some apartments have by-laws that ban pet ownership, which is illegal.”
Srikanth Narasimhan, general secretary of BAF, said, “There have also been instances where pet owners have been forced to abandon pets, which is also illegal. This can lead to criminal prosecution of people who abandon pets as well as for people who have forced or intimidated a pet owner to do so.”
Although there had been disagreements, since pet owners question the need for a regulation since Prevention of Cruelty on Animals Act covers a majority of the issues stated, Srikanth said they were still able to reach a middle ground. Around eight BAF members, including pet-owners, were present while drafting the guidelines.
Sandhya Bhat, a governing council representative of BAF and a pet owner, said, “Pet owners also need to take responsibility for their pets, by making sure they are leashed at all times in common areas. They also need to clean up in case the pets relieve themselves in common areas.”
Priya Chetty Rajagopal, an animal rights activist, added that the guidelines from BAF is an important step to ensuring that apartment associations, pet owners and other residents understand their rights and obligations properly. “These guidelines and framework can help create a conducive environment for a harmonious and peaceful co-existence between pets and humans.”