Bombay HC okays culling of stray dogs

Status
Not open for further replies.
Dinesh_Malhotra

Dinesh_Malhotra

Forerunner
MUMBAI: Their bark may really end up being worse than their bite. The fate of lakhs of dogs was sealed on Friday when the Bombay high court ruled

in a majority verdict that stray canines that 'create a nuisance' by, say, barking too much, can be killed. The verdict applies not only to the estimated 70,000 stray dogs in the city, but to canines in all of Maharashtra and Goa.

A three-judge constitutional bench which was to have the final say on whether stray dogs' days were numbered, went two to one in favour of the discretionary execution of troublesome stray dogs, and also rabid, incurably ill and mortally wounded dogs. The verdict, however, has been stayed for six weeks, and no dogs will be killed until then.

The issue of troublesome strays has been dogging the high court for a decade, raising the question of whether any provision in law permits civic bodies to kill them. The high court heard a reference made by a judge while sitting at the Goa bench to decide whether stray dogs should be put to sleep or only sterilised. In 1994, the BMC stopped killing dogs and switched to sterilisation to curb their population.

Justice S Radhakrishnan, who headed the bench, took a compassionate view of 'homeless and abandoned' strays and held that the discretionary powers of the civic chief could only be exercised if the dogs were rabid, mortally wounded or incurably ill__the three categories in which animals can be killed in accordance with the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

But Justice Radhakrishnan expanded, with the assent of animal activists, the definition of 'incurably ill' to include 'perenially violent dogs', since these 'pose danger to human beings'. He said dogs can't be killed at discretion, as permitted under the BMC Act, merely because they cause a nuisance.

Justices Dilip Bhosale and Vijaya Kapse Tahilramani, the other two judges on the bench, however, did not agree completely with Justice Radhakrishnan. In the majority judgment they signed, they held that the civic chiefs of Mumbai and the municipalities in Maharashtra and Goa could use their discretionary powers to kill "dogs which are found or reported to be a source of public nuisance".

The term 'nuisance' was dealt with at length by Justice Bhosale. He said that in the canine context, it would mean "anything which endangers human life or is injurious to public health". Significantly, the majority view was that "no hard and fast rules can be laid down for what constitutes nuisance, but a continuously barking dog at night could well be called a permanent source of nuisance".

Significantly, under the BMC Act, even an abandoned pet dog of any pedigree, if not claimed within three days of 'creating nuisance' can be put to sleep under the discretionary powers of the civic chief.

The high court heard detailed and passionate arguments for days from animal rights activists__including In Defence of Animals, Welfare of Stray Dogs and the Goa-based Norma Alvares__and from the central, Maharashtra and Goa governments as well as the BMC. It then came out with its 156-page judgment, which finally went against the dog lovers' arguments.

The court upheld the BMC's argument that its existing powers under the act could be enforced to put down dogs which proved to be a nuisance. The civic chief 'may' put a dog to sleep for causing nuisance, but it is not a mandatory power.

The debate essentially was whether the Animal Birth Control Rules under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, which sought to control the dog population and rabies through sterilisation, were superior to the BMC provisions which permitted discretionary killing. Justice Radhakrishnan went in for a harmonious construction and said the BMC act could only be implemented subject to the PCA act, while the majority judges held that the civic laws could be implemented on their own and were not diluted because of Animal Birth Control rules.
Click to expand...

source:Bombay HC okays culling of stray dogs-Mumbai-Cities-The Times of India
 
All i can say is i envy you, i can't stand barking dogs at night :@

One of the reasons i look forward to the rainy season is it shuts them up.

But when it does not rain :(

We had a cpl of cases here in Bangalore (yr back) where kids got mauled, then they started catching strays. Pretty soon we heard the shelters were full and got the impression they let them loose further out.

What do you think happened next ;)

All this show lasted for a few months and things were back to the usual.
 
blr_p said:
All i can say is i envy you, i can't stand barking dogs at night :@

One of the reasons i look forward to the rainy season is it shuts them up.

But when it does not rain :(

We had a cpl of cases here in Bangalore (yr back) where kids got mauled, then they started catching strays. Pretty soon we heard the shelters were full and got the impression they let them loose further out.

What do you think happened next ;)

All this show lasted for a few months and things were back to the usual.
Click to expand...

well i am against it.......
 
sterilisation isn't really helping ,it's been more than 10 years since 1994, so anythig that does control the strays is fine by me.

human rights>animal rights
 
You know, the thing with only culling dangerous strays is that it is difficult to characterize dangerous strays - they often become dangerous only at certain times (night!) or in groups - so anyone observing them at other times (e.g. court, animal rights group, municipality) would think they are safe, but it turns out they are not.
 
blr_p said:
All i can say is i envy you, i can't stand barking dogs at night :@

One of the reasons i look forward to the rainy season is it shuts them up.

But when it does not rain :(

We had a cpl of cases here in Bangalore (yr back) where kids got mauled, then they started catching strays. Pretty soon we heard the shelters were full and got the impression they let them loose further out.

What do you think happened next ;)

All this show lasted for a few months and things were back to the usual.
Click to expand...

same here :@ :@ ..bloody stray dogs :@ :@
 
I am against it as well. Now where the hell is Menka gandhi ?? Taking an innocent life is not a solution to this problem. They should have made a dog farm or something like that instead. :|
 
Bluffmaster said:
I am against it as well. Now where the hell is Menka gandhi ?? Taking an innocent life is not a solution to this problem. They should have made a dog farm or something like that instead. :|
Click to expand...

I read in the TOI today,they did try to do that,relocate the dogs to a new dog pound in Dahanu but the dog lovers opposed that too.
 
Where Govt. not care about 1000's of Indians get killed by terror attacks every year in India who cares about dogs, after all they are not their VOTE BANK.
 
I never quite understood how people feel more for stray dogs than for the children that are mauled by these dogs.
 
Honestly 90% of the times, its humans who are directly responsible for attack by dogs on them.

Dogds dont bite for the fun of it, most of the bite cases happen either when these strays are harassed by kids, abnormal idiots, drunks and then they retaliate or by panic response( screaming, sudden movement etc ) of people which confuses the dogs and they end up biting people.

I hope someone files a case against this in SC. I am totally against this. If HC is serious about this, then they must make sure the people who are suppose to capture these dogs are properly trained to spot the trouble makers. Otherwise these idiots will just round up dogs randomly and start killing them ( there is money to be made even out of that :|, its a cold fact ).

And there are plenty of people just waiting for decision like this which is taken without thinking it through.
 
^ Sterilization is the answer, and not only to dogs but humans too, clearly the "hum do, hamare do" policy is not working.... Why discriminate :)
 
Shripad said:
If HC is serious about this, then they must make sure the people who are suppose to capture these dogs are properly trained to spot the trouble makers.
Click to expand...

Would it be better if they stepped up sterilisation efforts then ?

Or is that too much money for not enough gain. Wonder how they manage to not have this problem in the west. I'm sure animal rights activists are very vocal there.

I'd like to think they were keeping the neighbourhood safe, but i doubt all the racket is 100% to scare burglars away. Most of the time its just marking out territory to keep other dogs out.

A friend told me of his problem with a neighbour whose dog would not shut up at night. So after sometime they reported the owner to CUPA and the dog was taken away. A barking dog at night is the sign of a troubled dog.

Problem solved :)
 
@Aces170

I agree with ur sentiment.

Just as we would be apalled at killing humans, why do we have to kill animals ?

If it was in their minds the Govt can steralise each and every one of us ( Look back at the sterlisation in the 70s done by Sanjay Gandhi - forceful Nasbandi )

So this seems like a way of drumming up support to their cause by being inactive & then doing exactly what they want.
 
i dont understand wat grudges ppl have against dogs...

i for one have been bitten by dogs twice.. yet i dont find them my enemy..

when we dont expect humans to behave rationally.... y animals ?

can we file a PIL against it ?
 
blr_p said:
Would it be better if they stepped up sterilisation efforts then ?

Or is that too much money for not enough gain. Wonder how they manage to not have this problem in the west. I'm sure animal rights activists are very vocal there.

I'd like to think they were keeping the neighbourhood safe, but i doubt all the racket is 100% to scare burglars away. Most of the time its just marking out territory to keep other dogs out.

A friend told me of his problem with a neighbour whose dog would not shut up at night. So after sometime they reported the owner to CUPA and the dog was taken away. A barking dog at night is the sign of a troubled dog.

Problem solved :)
Click to expand...
You are not a dog person are you? :P

Barking dog != trouble. Atleast not always.

Also sterilization is not a quick fix.

sterilization is not quick fix, it takes generations of dogs to finally achieve manageable numbers. It happens gradually and honestly I can see the results here.

Its already happening here in Mumbai, 4 stray dogs stay in my compound. 3 of them were caught and sterilized and released after a week, 1 intelligent female pup managed to hide when the BMC people came in the pump room. Now she is preagnent with a litter. Some dogs always escape capture and repopulate :P ( though numbers remain in control )

And honestly I live in a area where people have learned to live with the stray dogs and prefer their presence. These so called strays have helped foil at least half a dozon robberies( 2 were even captured thanks to these dogs ), same no. of car jacking and petrol snatching incidents and the one stray which you will mostly find sitting outside my home has even saved my sister from an aggressive intrusive stray dog bite.

Nobody trained these dogs, but if you are good to them, they automatically develope sense of loyalty towards people in the area.

Killing is not a solution and neither its ethical. Its easy, but its not right.

Since this news flashed on TV, people have even kept strays inside their compounds fearing immediate action by BMC. I hope we are better than Chinese at this.
 
It isnt really about the dog attacks but the barking by dogs throughout the night that pi$$e$ me off. I am a dog lover too but I love my sleep more than I love stray dogs :|
 
Darthcoder said:
I am a dog lover too but I love my sleep more than I love stray dogs :|
Click to expand...

same.

but wondered whether it would be contradiction

The day is noisy with the sound of life, can't one expect peace at night.

Shripad said:
Barking dog != trouble. Atleast not always.
Click to expand...
That comment was specifically towards a non-stray ie the owner whose dog made it a point to exercise its vocal chords at night, every night for weeks on end.

I fail to see why a dog would not be quiet at night given a lack of external stimuli.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom