Read this before you gift a pet
It’s the story of two strangers who found comfort in a temporary home cushioned among the slums of Chinchpokli in Mumbai. Cuddling and demoing ruff love for a photograph, Don a paraplegic Boxer and Spots a maggot-scarred Dalmatian were rescued last month, malnourished and abandoned by their owners, at different places. The two nibble on milk and bread among other Indian stray dogs and cats, some shaking off anesthesia after a sterilization operation, others barking out at visitors, waiting to be walked.
Animal behaviourist or not, anyone can tell Don’s had a traumatic past. At the Welfare of Stray Dog’s campus, he refused to eat for days and sat quietly only “to look quickly at you and look away again,’’ says CEO Abodh Aras. Dragging his hind legs behind, Don hasn’t barked ever since he was rescued, unlike his canine companion Spots who jogs around, even with front paws, maggot-eaten. “He doesn’t know how to behave now. You can see how uncomfortable he is around humans.’’
Caretaker Aras, who once rescued an aristocratic Newfoundland sniffing its way around in a Dindoshi garbage dump says abandoning pets is rampant because “people think pets are toys.’’ Reasons for separation include skin infections, birth defects, the flaky, “I never knew he would grow this big’’ and “we’re shifting base’’.
Dog dumping is on the rise in metros like Delhi and Mumbai, say activists who network using SMS and online social media to find new homes for the `abandoned breed’. Topping the list of most abandoned breed is the Indian Spitz or Pomenarian followed by breeds like Labradors, German Shepherds, Daschunds and Pugs. There are two types of abandonment. “They either leave them on the road or look for new owners. Both ways, it’s the dog that suffers,’ says Aras.
SOS adverts like, “Hi, I am a little white dog, but I have no name, because no one seems to know it. My owners left me on the street, though I loved them with all my heart,’’ and the more interactive, “Are you lonely? Do you need an escort for 24 hours? Unconditional love with only requirement of 10 % reciprocation and a few caresses,’ flood online pet-lover communities. On Facebook, a 128-member strong community called `Pets for Adoption in Mumbai’ says on its about section: `Wanna put a pet up for adoption? Dogs, cats, rabbits, turtles… even snakes? Just upload their pictures and add a brief profile in the wall.’
Veterinarian Dr Deepa Katiyal, an active member of Petnopolis a networking site for pet lovers doesn’t know what to do when she finds random pets tied up outside her Goregaon clinic with some money and little notes. “They either come with skin rashes or hip dysplasia,’’ she says. According to her, recent illegal indiscriminate inbreeding has produced an entire generation of dogs with “faults in line.’’ So when someone buys a puppy, “they have no idea it will grow up to become handicapped.’’ And then, medicines for curing skin diseases like scabies and making sure the dog is clean often costs more than the cost of certain breeds themselves, reason enough to abandon the dog.
And although The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act states that an owner who `without reasonable cause, abandons any animal in circumstances which render it likely that it will suffer pain by reason of starvation or thirst’ shall be fined or imprisoned, enforcing it becomes difficult. In several countries like Japan and New Zealand inserting a microchip below the skin at the back or left side of the neck of the dog is compulsory, making it easier to track the dog owner of lost and abandoned pets. But the system hasn’t been introduced in India yet, causing grief to crèche owners like Sairaj Iyer. “There have been times when people have left that their pets with me saying that they would return and then shifted homes,’’ he says. Iyer narrates stories of he managed to find new homes for an abandoned Great Dane Mastiff, paraplegic German Shepherd and a Neapolitan Mastiff. “More male dogs are bred than female, skewing the ratios’’ leaving a large number of male dogs without mates. “If a dog is not allowed to mate at two, it’s going to become aggressive. The easiest and most common practice then is to dump the dog.’’
But that’s just an excuse, like are all reasons for abandoning a pet thinks Aras. “There are behaviorists for aggressive pets, boarders to relocate pets, vets to help deal with diseases and a gamut of other pet professionals waiting to help out.’’
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