Don’t villify people who feed stray dogs, say animal rights activists in Delhi

Animal rights activists said people who feed stray dogs play a vital role in mitigating human-animal conflict.
| Photo Credit: File Photo

A day after the Delhi High Court remarked that feeding stray dogs makes them aggressive and territorial, animal rights activists on Tuesday said people who feed stray dogs play a vital role in mitigating human-animal conflict and that they should not be villified.

The court made the remark on Monday while hearing a plea by the father of a one-and-a-half-year-old girl, who was mauled to death by a pack of strays on February 24, seeking a compensation of ₹50 lakh.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, activists said that a pitbull and not a stray dog was likely to have attacked the girl as the spot where the attack took place — Tughlak Lane’s Dhobi Ghat — lies within a gated colony. They also demanded that the CCTV footage of the incident be released publicly.

“NDMC and MCD must immediately establish a working committee, which includes members of animal welfare organisations, to identify and crack down on unlicensed breeders and pet shops as per Pet Shop Rules 2017, which have been ignored to date,” animal activist Ambika Shukla said.

Anjali Gopalan of All Creatures Great and Small, a non-profit that provides shelter, food, and medical care to abandoned animals, said, “Feeders are the people dogs trust the most and it is they who will be able to get a greater number of dogs sterilised and help in controlling the population of strays.”