Let’s begin by meeting the ‘moms”, the folks who protect and feed stray dogs. “Moms’ casue most of
them happen to be lady protectors
Debbie Nair, a furniture stylist, has shared her home
with animals, mostly strays, since she was a child. She says that there are so
many stray dogs out there that need help: “If the entire human race is meant to
be cared for then why can’t we include these dogs? There is also a law on the
same.”
Debbie feeds stray dogs and shares some of
the negative experiences she has had doing so: “Many people don’t like stray
dogs because they think that they are dangerous to the public. But these dogs
don’t bark or bite unless provoked; like being stoned at or other such
harassment.” Her own neighbours were against her and they felt that Debbie was
encouraging the dogs.
However, there is a law stating that if an
animal feeder is harassed, the aggressor can be taken to court. The Animal
Welfare Board of India issues IDs for people who feed stray animals and these
people are protected by this law. “From the time I informed my locality
residents about this law, they have backed off.”
However, Himaani
Choudhari, an animal rescuer in Goa, hopes that the ID cards make a difference
as not many know about it. “I know so many people who love feeding dogs in
their locality but each cooperative society has its own set of rules, sometimes
not taking into account prevailing laws. In some residential societies, I have
witnessed people being threatened with fines and even eviction for feeding
strays within the compounds,” she says.
Himaani explains that
during her job of rescuing animals, she came across a terrifying incident where
a dog was abandoned by his owner and while begging for food around the
neighbourhood, he was wounded with third degree burns after some people threw
boiling water on him. His wounds were then infested with maggots. Himaani got
to know about this through her friends and immediately rescued the dog,
sterilised and treated him and today he lives happy and healthy at Stray Assist
in Porvorim.
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Also addressing the
issue of stray cattle, Himaani says that it’s not their fault. “Cowshed owners
ill-treat the male cows and as soon as the female gives birth to a male calf
they are removed from the shed and sent on streets as they are of no use to the
owners. That’s the reason these cows roam around with no shelter or proper
food. Not many are aware about this,” she says. Himani is currently working
towards finding a way to help stray cattle.
PAWS (Panjim Animal Welfare Society)
in St Inez is an animal shelter that has been taking care of sick, unwanted
dogs and also rehabilitating street pups. Sanchita Bannerjee Rodrigues and her
team at PAWS explain that as an animal welfare society, they take
responsibility of stray dogs and treat them by disinfecting, sterilisation and
vaccination. They aren’t allowed to relocate the dogs, as per the law. “Since
the animals are reintroduced to the same place, people feel we are not doing
our job properly. But they don’t understand that like humans, even dogs have
emotions and feel a sense of belonging to a place. We try our best and treat
them but have to leave them back at the same place,” says PAWS co-coordinator
Anuradha V Pai.
Conclusively, Ramiza Sayed another co-coordinator at
PAWS says that as long as the person feeding strays takes responsibility of a
group of dogs and does it within their own territory, without creating problems
for the residents there or interfering with them, the person has the whole
right to do so and can file a complaint against people harassing them. “As far
as the law is concerned with regard to the ID cards, I think people should
start following it.”
