Mumbai: Two healthy and vaccinated dogs that resided within the premises of TCS company in Andheri (East) were recently picked up by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and later ‘released’ outside the company gates. As a result, both these dogs are missing, and activists have alleged that this is due to the negligence of the BMC officials in charge of veterinary services.
Activists of Pure Animal Lovers (PAL) Welfare Foundation have complained about this to the municipal commissioner and also written to the local MIDC police station to lodge an FIR in this serious matter on the grounds of cruelty.
“Firstly, it is sad and shocking that two healthy and sterilised young dogs were picked up from inside the premises of the private company in Andheri on January 11. When the local animal lovers pointed out that these dogs are already neutered, the dog catchers said that they would take them to the Deonar office to vaccinate them. No paperwork or public notice was issued by the civic body to notify that these dogs were being taken away by them,” said the legal advisor of PAL Welfare Foundation, Roshan Pathak.
He further stated: “When we rushed to the Deonar site, we were told that the two dogs would be released shortly back in Andheri. However, when the dogs were not seen at the company site, the BMC officials said that the dogs were ‘released outside the company gates’. It is illegal and against the AWBI rules, since the dogs should have been released inside the company premises where they were picked up. It’s been nearly a week, but both these dogs have still not been found in the Andheri (East) area. We have even started doubting if the dogs were actually released back or not. Did any animal hater misuse the system to get rid of the dogs? That is why we also approached the police to lodge an FIR, but it was not done.”
While the animal feeders who took care of the dogs are obviously distraught at not finding them in their area, Pathak added that even in the recent case of poisoning of at least four dogs at Cooper Hospital in Juhu, the BMC sent their dog-catching van to the hospital just after the mass poisoning case, in a knee-jerk reaction. “In the Cooper Hospital case, I told the BMC why they wake up and come for sterilisations only after something heinous like dog poisoning takes place. We feel that some haters have secretly asked the local politicians to get rid of dogs from their areas. Such evil planning often succeeds just before a major election; and currently, the BMC elections are due in the next few weeks,” said Pathak.
When TOI contacted the civic head of the veterinary health department and general manager of Deonar Abattoir, Dr K A Pathan, he merely said: “I will not be able to comment in detail regarding this (Andheri-East dogs) case. Please speak to our veterinary officer, Sachin Kulkarni, for this particular case.”
However, despite calling Kulkarni and also texting him a query, he did not respond till the time of going to press.
Meanwhile, Pathak said: “Our PAL team members, which include Tejal Shah, Yogita Narvekar, Abhinav Pandey, and Rakesh Mukka, urgently request all city feeders to make a list of all the dogs and cats that they feed, so that if any go missing or are picked up unreasonably, then we can immediately complain to the authorities in order to get them back. Be alert about any ploys being plotted by animal haters just before the municipal polls.”
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