Shymon’s tragedy is still fresh in our minds. The auto driver from Piravom lost a kidney in an accident caused by stray dogs on the road.
Strays have become killers on the prowl. We have seen several young faces mauled by dogs. We are still deliberating on what to do with these animals.
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Is a dog’s life more valuable than a man’s?India has a law that allows for the culling of animals which pose a threat to man’s life.
Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act is clear on this. District collectors are responsible for taking action against animals under criminal procedures.
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However, a Supreme Court case and the Animal Birth Control Rules are held as impediments for the culling of strays. This is in violation of the constitutional rights for life and property.
If we were to buy the argument that animals should not be killed, we should not have butchered poultry or cattle or pigs. Nobody comes to the rescue of other animals.
Dogs are the only animals which attack humans and sometimes lead to deaths. That, precisely, is the reason for some people’s objections to the culling of strays.
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The anti-rabies vaccine business in India is officially estimated to be worth Rs 2,400 crore a year. Media reports put the value at over Rs 7,000 crore.
The Kerala Medical Services Corporation had been buying vaccine for Rs 20 crore a year when I took charge in 2010.
A closer examination revealed that a larger share of this money was spent on buying immunoglobulin as the booster dose.
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This was bought from a single company without inviting any bids.
This was supposed to be administered to dog bite victims only in acute conditions, doctors in the Health Department had said.
We stopped the drug’s distribution and brought down the expense on vaccines to Rs 3.5 crore. This amount has again shot up to Rs 12 crore, given the recent spurt in dog attacks.
The vaccine mafia wants the people to be bitten by dogs. The same mafia is covertly funding the associations that lobby against the culling of strays.
When India’s top-paid lawyers appear in the Supreme Court on behalf of these associations, Kerala is not able to convince the court about the legality of its actions. We cannot even convince our own officers that it is legal to kill animal deemed risky to human lives.
We have to bear in mind that the government had culled thousands of ducks in Kuttanad during the bird flu scare. Cattle had been culled in Europe whey an epidemic struck them. Even in northeast India, dogs are killed for food. Why are the dog lovers not protesting there?
They do not have the courage to do so. They can sell anything in Kerala and they will get the media coverage they seek.
The argument that dogs would be harmless if they are sterilized is not based on any scientific evidence. That is just another business opportunity.
Sterilizing a dog would cost Rs 750. This would go up to Rs 2,000 if we take into account the doctor’s fee and the cost to rehabilitate the dogs.
Kerala has at least 3 lakh dogs. The government will have to shell out about Rs 60 crore to sterilize all the dogs.This money can feed so many people and ensure them medicines.
Let us think of the dogs once everybody is assured of basic facilities and we have reached the standards of living as in Europe.
(The writer is the director of the Agriculture Department and a former managing director of the Kerala Medical Services Corporation.)