There is a man in my building who has six dogs in his flat. While he claims to be a great animal lover, I know he is breeding them for sale. What can I do?
There is a high court order in Chennai against breeders. You can file a complaint with your RWA and ask for the man either to stop or to leave the premises. According to the law, you cannot conduct business from your house. Breeding dogs is as much as a business, even though it is illegal because the man has not registered himself as a businessman, pays no income tax and sells the dogs through cash transactions. You can actually report him to the Income Tax officials as well.
I rescued some dogs from my alley and took them to a shelter. The shelter’s staff wasn’t as pleased as I was. Did I do anything wrong?
There is no point in rescuing healthy dogs. You should feed them and look after them in your alley itself. It is cruelty to expose them to the illness of a shelter or to have them locked up for no reason.
If they were ill enough to be taken to a shelter then you should be paying for their treatment and not hiding behind the excuse that they’re not your personal dogs. All shelters are overcrowded and underfunded. You should’ve given them money for the treatment and food and once they are well, you should take them back. Shelters are communal resources and shouldn’t be taken advantage of to salvage your conscience or to make you feel good. They are all run by small NGOs who get no funding from institutions or government and if they are used simply as dumping grounds, they will shut down.
In my city, I have seen a person walking nine dogs at a time, early in the morning and again in the evening. Could they all belong to him?
This is probably a professional dog walker. It is an excellent way to earn extra pocket money. A number of people keep dogs but have no time or energy to walk them. If you offer this service, you could earn money as well save the dogs’ lives. Just remember to walk dogs who get on well with each other and not to walk them in the heat. Make sure you have fresh water with you. Also keep a poop bag so that you can pick up their faeces and not litter your neighbourhood. Many young people all over the world do this.
The people who own the flat downstairs are never there. They live abroad and come back in the winter, three months later. They keep a dog who howls the whole day. He is taken out for a walk once a day by a temporary servant who comes in for an hour to feed and walk him. The rest of the time he is by himself. I feel very bad for him. Can I do something?
You can ask the servant if you can keep the dog with you. If he doesn’t <g data-gr-id="97">agree ,</g> then get the email id of this couple and write to them about keeping the dog. You should inform them that what they are doing to the dog amounts to cruelty and that the law doesn’t permit cruelty of this kind. Should they
persist, they are likely to have a case against them and the dog taken away.
I feel very sorry when I see chickens waiting to be killed in open chicken coops on the road. I really would like to rescue them. What can I do?
You’ve given the answer yourself. Rescue them! Every chicken coop on the road is illegal. Under FSSAI law, they cannot be kept on an open road. Under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, they can’t be locked up and killed in front of each other. According to the municipal laws, chickens can’t be kept in <g data-gr-id="80">khokhas</g> or killed in open areas as this is bad for everyone’s health. So if you use all the laws and keep them with you in writing, you can rescue them.
The next step is where to keep them. If you have a garden at <g data-gr-id="90">home ,</g> make a small shed for them in a <g data-gr-id="91">corner ,</g> put hay in <g data-gr-id="92">it .</g> <g data-gr-id="95">Otherwise</g> let them roam around freely. Each chicken has his/her own personality and they make charming pets. <g data-gr-id="81">Infact</g> once you get the courage up, you can make a team called Chicken Rescue, inform the police and clear your town of these <g data-gr-id="82">khokhas</g>.
My old dog seems to be perpetually <g data-gr-id="87">hungry</g> but she doesn’t seem to eat much from the two meals we give her.
Old dogs need to be fed many times a day in very small quantities. Give her softer food which is easier to chew and swallow.