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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: May 2007

High Court favors impounding dogs

 

MUMBAI--The Constitutional bench of the Bombay High Court on April 20, 2007 heard arguments on the constitutionality of Animal Birth Control programs in Mumbai and Goa. The cases before the High Court parallel claims made by ABC program opponents in Bangalore and Hyderabad that releasing street dogs after sterilization unconstitutionally jeopardizes the safety of citizens.

"The 3-judges bench is expected to direct setting up committees as per the ABC rules to monitor the implementation and progress of ABC in Mumbai and in Goa," reported Mumbai attorney Norma Alvares. "The judges have accepted the argument that killing dogs is not the solution to the problem, and want to give ABC a chance to show that it is effective in reducing the numbers of dogs and curbing rabies.

"One of the judges wanted the dogs to be moved out of the city once they are sterilized," Alvarez noted. "That would have been impossible to do, and would be contrary to the program," which counts upon sterilized dogs occupying food sources so that unvaccinated and unsterilized dogs cannot invade their habitat and multiply.

"Finally," Alvares continued, "he accepted that all dogs cannot be sent out, but still felt that at least some dogs must go to a pound so as to reduce the number of dogs on the street. The court is therefore directing that the authorities set up dog pounds.

"I supported the idea of state dog pounds," Alvares said, "because all of us receive complaints now and then from people about aggressive dogs troubling people on the street, and none of us have place to accommodate such animals over long periods of time. If the government sets up a dog pound, these animals can be transferred there and this will appease the public."

Mumbai municipality and Goa state are to report progress to the court on June 22, Alvares said.
The Bombay High Court heard the case one day after Puducherry chief minister N. Rangasamy told the Puducherry Congress that his administration is soon to institute dog impoundment, emulating Bangalore.

Puducherry, on the southern coast of the Bay of Bengal, is the onetime French outpost formerly called Pondicherry.