The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India and the Voice of Stray Dogs have filed a joint petition in the Madras High Court against the Corporation’s proposal to build pounds for stray dogs out of the city.
The animal rights activists claimed that the proposal for relocating ‘community dogs’ was illegal under The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and also violated the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001, which mandates that dogs living on the streets be treated, sterilised, immunised and returned to the location where they were found.
Earlier, PETA and representatives from other animal protection non-governmental organisations had appealed to the Mayor to drop the plan for the ‘forever pounds’.
“Confining dogs to what will essentially be prisons, is not only cruel and illegal, but also ineffective because other strays will simply move into the vacant areas,” said PETA India Director of Veterinary Affairs Dr Manilal Valliyate.
“The only way to fix the stray dog problem is to sterilise dogs in the city. Another solution is to ask the public not to patronise breeders or pet shops, which churn out pups for profit, which only makes the overpopulation issue of dogs worse,” he added.