22 Sep 2021  |   04:55am IST

DOGS SNARL; COWS MOO; TUMBLING MEN

DOGS SNARL; COWS MOO; TUMBLING MEN

JOSEPH LEWIS D’ SILVA

Dogs were the first animals to be domesticated by early humans. They started off as humans’ hunting companions and graduated to be friends and protectors.

Strays are accustomed to look for food from garbage bins. If they do not find it, they attack people. The menace of stray dogs has assumed an alarming proportion; the recent horrific mauling of an 8-year-girl at Navelim being a case in point. Stray dogs are often seen chasing two-wheelers, resulting in accidents. Man’s best friend appears to have turned man’s worst foe. These hungry stray dogs become walking biological dynamites.

Remedy for this problem, according to one school of thought is to eliminate the infected dogs by euthanasia; another one, is absolutely certain that sterilisation is the best solution to control their population; a few say the strays should be given to animal lovers for adoption; others opine that street dogs should be picked up by the civic bodies and dropped in dog shelter.

Dog lovers do not want to eliminate the strays from the road. Some wonder whether the love for animals should be stretched to such an extent as to endanger human life. According to them, when it comes to choosing between the suffering of human beings on one side and the suffering of stray dogs on the other side, weight will have to be given to the suffering of humans.

We have problems with accidents due to stray canines that snarl; and added to this the stray cattle that move on roads pose danger to vehicular traffic and pedestrians. The death of a senior citizen at Bicholim has again turned the focus on the menace of stray cattle.

The farmer used his cattle during its productive years and then he used to sell it in the open market for its ‘market value’, when it was not profitable; and the one who bought it would slaughter it. The farmer would buy young cattle, with the money obtained, to replace old and unproductive ones. This action would complete the cycle of farm production. Now the round appears to be broken. The farmer is not allowed to sell his cattle in the market. It is abandoned on the road to stand as long as it wants or amble along chewing garbage and plastic bags from roadside bins and act as walking recycling plant. 

Streets are designed for traffic and pedestrians. They are not habitats for animals. If illegal kiosks, along with self-employed humans can be removed to avoid visual pollution, urban congestion and traffic hazards --- then cattle and dogs roaming on the roads also have to be removed. Local authorities should not sleep like Rip Van Winkle but act like Orpheus by playing on the lyre to send all strays to dog pounds before another child is lost; and all the cattle to cow fold before another human, dashes against it and gives up his ghost.

A viable middle path between the demands of animal rights activists and the safety of people has to be arrived at; granted that all lives are important but human lives are more valuable. The woof, woof here and a woof, woof there, here a moo, moo; and there a moo, moo on our roads should be removed. Authorities should not think that this is like asking for the moon.


IDhar UDHAR

Idhar Udhar