Investigation & Analysis Category

This is a series of posts on Kashmir where getting a head-start into writing has been a nightmare since it seems a highly personalized polarized situation. So we’d refrained comment without any clear evidence in our hands. However now we’re in possession of a bunch of official documents – which we’re digitizing and putting out and asking the relevant questions that arise from them. As with the other writing on ‘The Voice of Stray Dogs’, unless otherwise specified, the article is authored by Rakesh Shukla and expresses the opinion ofRead More

For this dog both the Municipal Corp & the AWO are cuss/**** words Dogs that undergo the ‘Animal Birth Control’ (ABC, spay and neuter) procedure as per the ABC (Dog Rules, 2001) were initially required by the Bangalore Municipal Corporation (BBMP) to have their ear clipped so they could be spotted. Then BBMP mandated that the Animal Welfare Organization (AWOs) clip both ears deeply so if the dog was ‘sleeping on one side’ it could still be clearly seen. Then they mandated that nylon chords/ tie be put around the neckRead More

Dog meat is found commonly across Nagaland and to an extent in Mizoram. Since dog meat is common but dogs are not ‘farmed’ as they are say in Korea & China they are smuggled into Nagaland, much as they are from the countryside of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand into China. Reportedly 200+ dogs are smuggled across from  Assam into Nagaland each day. In Assam ‘dog catchers’  (working for the smugglers) get about Rs 50/ $1 for a single dog they catch – the same dog is sold wholesale in NagalandRead More

This is an eyewitness account by Radhika Bose Makar in Kolkota (formerly Calcutta) of her intercepting a truck with 39 calves squeezed in, all with legs tied, being taken for slaughter.  Radhika runs CAPE Foundation and focuses on spreading awareness amongst school children, youth and slum dwellers through workshops and awareness programs on protection for animals, against cruelty and environment related issues. The text and pictures are used by Radhika’s permission and without changes.   March 1, Calcutta: We spotted a tiny matador on AJC Bose road, ferrying what weRead More

  This is an eyewitness account of Dr. Vibhuti Sharda. After we published the article here it turns out that she’s been working on this issue on the ground for months. Dr Vibhuti is the quintessential dog lover with the quintessential dog lovers traits – discovers an atrocity – runs to the administration which turns a blind eye – courts still taking a view of the matter – as a last resort connects to Menaka Gandhi to get something moving. Oct 2011 visits to the Shimla Municipal Pound 1st OctoberRead More

You’ve earlier read the earlier incisive article by Radha Rajan on the Jallikattu 2012 and the report prepared by Prakash Sasha published here. Earlier in 2007 Prakash Sasha had made a report that was submitted by AWBI to the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court in the context of Jallikattu hearings in 2007.  It is a very good chronicle of much as things change, they remain the same. This is a statistical report from Jallikattu 2009 which gives a partial list of number of human deaths and injuries. ManyRead More

3 Engineering grad students in Shimla ‘discover’ the Shimla dog pound on 8 March 2012 where about 20 dogs were seen living in deplorable conditions.  Watch the photo gallery here, watch the video here. Of the approximately 20 dogs at the pound, 1 was lying dead, and other one next to it was breathing its last. The pictures and the video (including the voice overlay) is as supplied by the student groups’ welfare organization ‘Pawsome’. Earlier, in 2010, the High Court of Himachal Pradesh had ruled that the ‘dog menace’Read More

The contrasting approaches of  The M.C.D. [Municipal Corporation of Delhi] and the B.B.M.P [Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike] in the face of AWBI’s advice on errant organizations namely ‘Circle of Animal Lovers’ (CAL) in Delhi & ‘Animal Welfare Society’ (AWS) in Bangalore. The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) & both municipal bodies in Delhi and Bangalore received several complaints over the past years against the treatment of stray dogs by the respective Animal Welfare Organizations (AWOs) from several volunteers and animal lovers – with irrefutable evidence. In both cases AWBIRead More

The Feral Dogs of KGA – these dogs live in a jungle like environment near the Karnataka Golf Association – Golf Course. They are true feral dogs – not easy to find in the urban environment. Extremely shy and nervous, they don’t associate with humans at all, will not approach a person and none of them would wag their tails (other than 2 pups who’ve now been conditioned). Its taken a couple of months of feeding to get them to a point where they will accept food in human presence.Read More

I’m a stray dog in Bangalore and I’ve had learn to live with “The Lesser of Two Evils” 25 million stray dogs were reportedly killed in Bangalore from 1934 – 1999 by the municipal corporation of Bangalore as a measure of stray dog population control. It is a moot point that that did nothing for actually controlling the population. One does however meet old Bangaloreans who talk of the ‘good old times’ when one only had to complain and the dogs in the street would be ‘taken away’. One alsoRead More