Children join hands to spread awareness against putting colour on street dogs

Kolkata: In a unique initiative more than 200 school children and youths from Shobhabazar area in North Kolkata

on Sunday took out a rally to spread

awareness among people against the sprinkling of colour on the street dogs and pets during Holi as it could prove fatal for their lives.

Medical Bank, a social organisation from the city organised the awareness rally that started at around 10 am on Sunday from near Shobhabazar metro station area and it travelled through various lanes and bylanes of the northern fringes touching important intersection at BK Pal, Beniatola.

The students who took part in the rally were holding banners and placards urging people not to throw colours on street dogs and other animals. People and local residents, mostly young who were there on the roadside at all the important points that the rally covered, were urged to keep a look on the street dogs in their locality so that nobody can sprinkle colours on the animals and pets.

The campaign was mostly carried out through a microphone so that the message could be delivered to the most number of people. What was more intriguing in the rally was that some pets were also used so that the message could be sent across.

The school children and other participants in the rally also demonstrated before the people how various colours and chemicals which are often used during Holi can harm the street dogs and other animals. People in various parts also responded well and assured the campaigners that they would ensure such incidents never happen in their respective jurisdictions.

"There have been a number of instances where street dogs developed an infection on their skin and eventually died after the people applied colour on them. The dogs including puppies have a natural tendency to suck the portion of their body where the colours are sprinkled. They later develop various ailments after they swallow the colour. Many of the dogs shed their hairs after they develop the infection. Some of the colours which are sold in the market are of poor quality and mixed with chemicals. Toxic substances in some of the colours are very harmful to human and to animals as well," said D Ashish secretary Medical Bank.