Investigation & Analysis Category

[Edit Note: What’s it about stray dog hunting down deer in zoo’s?  They don’t pick on any other small animal or birds in a zoo – and dogs that are not used to hunting and are scavengers are best in the Indian urban environment – turn blood thirsty killers. They who don’t just kill to eat but commit mass murder – far greater than their capacity to consume. From New Delhi to Mysore to Kanpur newspaper stories are full of how dogs entered the zoo and committed this carnage! No-one bothers toRead More

[The title of this report is not meant to hurt the sentiments of anyone wrt to the reference of Auschwitz. The author is a student of modern Jewish history and the Holocaust. The moniker is used to illustrate the plight of those who entered a Nazi concentration camp not from their choice, and not having any escape till death rid them of malnutrition and disease. The clear difference here is that dogs are not put down – so they necessarily have to go down through medical neglect, disease and malnutrition. By wayRead More

Our usually trusting, usually friendly street dogs are often at the receiving end of horrible abuse and anger, because of the wide-spread (and absurd) belief that they’re easily rabid, and routinely spread rabies. The information being disseminated by organizations believed to be responsible seems to contribute to this erroneous belief. There is a figure doing the rounds – that around 20,000 people die of rabies annually, in India; and this is what is thrown at people who argue for compassion, and compassionate, scientific, lawful handling of street dogs. But is this figure of 20,000 human deaths onRead More

As affluence in India rises more and more larger animals such as bovines,  camels and increasigly horses are slaughtered to show the ‘status ‘ of the person making the sacrifice. Slaughter was symbolic and never meant to be a status parade that it has become. Even on Bakr Eid slaughter of animals other than goats or sheep is not allowed under Indian law. No slaughter is allowed other than at a slaughter house under legal procedure and an exception is provided for ritual slaughter on Eid but can only beRead More

This is Part IV of a multipart photo feature on Srinagar, Kashmir’s dogs which gives an insight into where and how they really live. These pictures of dogs in Srinagar’s Bandh Road, Shivpora, Uptown area. Kashmir has the tradition of ‘Kashmiriyat’. An etiquette and manner and tolerance uniquely Kashmiri. But Kashmir also has the ‘tradition’ of killing dogs by poisoning them every summer. Much the same way they are in Kerala. To keep the streets relatively free for the ‘tourist’. Issues related to stray dogs in Kashmir, and related to stray dogs inRead More

This is Part III of a multipart photo feature on Srinagar, Kashmir’s dogswhich gives an insight into where and how they really live. Kashmir has the tradition of ‘Kashmiriyat’. An etiquette and manner and tolerance uniquely Kashmiri. But Kashmir also has the ‘tradition’ of killing dogs by poisoning them every summer. Much the same way they are in Kerala. To keep the streets relatively free for the ‘tourist’. Issues related to stray dogs in Kashmir, and related to stray dogs in Kerala have been reflected on these pages many a time.Read More

This is Part II of a multipart photo feature on Srinagar, Kashmir’s dogs which gives an insight into where and how they really live. Kashmir has the tradition of ‘Kashmiriyat’. An etiquette and manner and tolerance uniquely Kashmiri. But Kashmir also has the ‘tradition’ of killing dogs by poisoning them every summer. Much the same way they are in Kerala. To keep the streets relatively free for the ‘tourist’. Issues related to stray dogs in Kashmir, and related to stray dogs in Kerala have been reflected on these pages manyRead More

Kashmir has the tradition of ‘Kashmiriyat’. An etiquette and manner and tolerance uniquely Kashmiri. But Kashmir also has the ‘tradition’ of killing dogs by poisoning them every summer. Much the same way they are in Kerala. To keep the streets relatively free for the ‘tourist’. Issues related to stray dogs in Kashmir, and related to stray dogs in Kerala have been reflected on these pages many a time. The reports that come from Kashmir will make you believe that Srinagar, and the rest of Kashmir is overrun by large dog moving around inRead More

Edit note: It is not uncommon to see meat cleavers being used on dogs – a lot of times when dogs approach ‘meat stalls’ the stall owners cut off dogs’ tails to ‘teach them a lesson’. 2 of my dogs (they were stray/street dogs but now live with me, have their tails missing as well.  Rescue, photo’s and text: IDA. Used here with permission. On 1 Aug 2012 IDA got a frantic call from one Mr. Jadhav of Chunnabhati-Mumbai around 10:30 am stating that someone had attacked a sterilized dogRead More

‘Greater Kashmir’ has been very vociferous and lop sided in its reporting on the issue of Stray Dogs with every single ‘report’ ending with the same line allegedly quoted from a judge on the PIL ‘Will sterilized dogs stop biting’. Behind its thinly veiled reporting is the propaganda calling for the continuation of the Kashmiri ‘tradition’ of poisoning dogs to manage numbers. The publication is now running an open forum where people can suggest what they’d like to do with stray dogs, and you can guess the responses. What ‘Greater Kashmir’ has consistently lacked and actively resisted isRead More