The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : At night, stray dogs rule

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 13, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

At night, stray dogs rule

Swahilya

Canines chase two-wheeler riders menacingly

Chennai : Chennai has indeed come a long away since the gruesome incident in 1998 when 30 dogs were killed and buried, some of them pups in the Porur Town Panchayat limits. The protests that the incident evoked among animal welfare activists turned the spotlight on Animal Birth Control (ABC) programmes for stray dogs.

Today however, residents of several areas complain about the menace of stray dogs. "Stray dogs' activity heightens at night, when they chase two-wheeler riders menacingly, barking all the way," says an officer in Mogappair who returns home late every night.

S. Sivasubramanian of Ashok Nagar complained that the stray dog menace was rampant in the Postal Colony and Manthope Colony area. "Daily, by 10 p.m., as if by a magic wand, dozens of dogs start roaming about. They chase two wheelers frightening the rider and persons on the pillion," he said pointing out that there were two accidents in the past three weeks in his area.

V. Santhanam, Secretary of the Chromepet Rail User Forum said that stray dogs are a nuisance on the platform. "The stray dogs are often the pets of beggars who feed them," he said. He appealed to the Municipality and the Railways to put an end to the menace in railway stations.

T. Sadagopan, chief co-ordinator of the Thandurai Pattabiram Consumer Council, said that in the Avadi Municipality, hundreds of mangy dogs roam in the evening. Senior citizens find it difficult to walk on the road and vehicle traffic on the highways is disturbed with the dogs frequently crossing the road. "There are many people in Avadi who go to the Municipal Hospital for treatment of dog bites. Those who cannot afford private doctors have to travel all the way to Government General Hospital for treatment," he said, pointing out that complaints to the Municipality and the Tiruvallur Collector have borne no fruit.

Parvathy Vaidyanathan, who moved from Mylapore recently to Bangalore, has a slightly different take. The colony was safe from thieves because of lurking dogs, she says. "No sooner than the dog squad removed them, following a complaint, burglars immediately struck in the area," she said.

Gouhar Azeez, founder secretary of the Bharatiya Prani Mithra Sangh said, "I don't know why people first of all see it as a menace. They are like any other scavenger such as crows, cockroaches and pigs."

M.P. Vijayakumar, Commissioner of the Chennai Corporation, said that following a complaint from residents, the Corporation sends its team to impound the dogs. At the clinic, the dogs are sterilised and vaccinated in the presence of the NGOs as per the Animal Birth Control rules.

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