Drop a Heart and Spread Love!

by Animal Welfare Group 92

You call me a stray dog,” “I would love to be called a ‘community pet’.” Five reasons –

1. If cared for, community dogs have the potential to
   make the neighbourhood safe.
2. Community dogs have indeed prevented crimes such as robberies, rapes, violence, etc. so many times around us.
3. If cared for, community dogs develop loyalty to neighbourhood.
4. By scavenging garbage, community dogs reduce perishable waste that could otherwise be a source of contamination for people.
5. Being friends with community dogs costs next to nothing.
   In fact, we should look at the issue as larger concept of animal welfare, which makes a strong and confident community. Community pets need us hence they must be safe and guarded against human greed, cruelty, neglect, apathy, ignorance, and intolerance. The Indian laws protects animals, but unless citizens take it forward and begin protecting animals, the laws will not be effective. As a democraticand responsible society, we must be aware of the laws that protect animals and use them to protect animals around us.
   We must begin with our own neighbourhood. Sector 92 has 600 Plots out of which currently only 300 houses are occupied and 50 are under construction.There are 80 community dogs in the sector, which makes one community dog for every 7.5 houses. Imagine what the number of community dogs will be if these dogs were not neutered? Sector 92 is more than 20 years old and developed on grasslands next to open forest area. Boundary wall was only constructed a decade back and fencing was done five years back. During this period, security apparatus was not developed and the community dogs in the sector have been a major support to the safety and security of the sector and residents.
   I am happy to share that we are a small group of volunteers working for the welfare of street animals in our sector. Feeding stray dogs is not the only thing that we do. It started first by befriending some dogs which was only possible with the help of some residents who made them wear reflective collars. These reflective collars not only help in identifying them in case they are lost or wander off from the society, but they also indicate these dogs belong to our sector and are cared by us and keep them safe from road accidents.
   In the last three months, we have vaccinated 80 percent of the street dogs in the sector, so that they do not pose any health hazard to humans, our personal pets, and other street dogs. 90 percent of the street dogs in the sector are now sterilized. This would eventually stabilize the populationof dogs in the sector. In fact, we have gone further in this endeavour. Health Card for Community Dogs of Sector 92 with Details of Given Name, Sex, Age, Neutering Status Vaccination Record, Medical / Surgical History and Deworming Record Cards have been handed over to the RWA Office, for easy access for all residents.
   Our group spent months of June and August on the welfare of the dogs that belong to our sector.Sterilization of community dogs requires a tremendous amount of effort by the volunteers. Obviously, we need more volunteering in this effort. We seek greater support, volunteering, and participation from the residents of our sector to strengthen the hands of the animal welfare group. We urge fellow residents to come forward.