Madras Canine Club against taxing animals to perform
Picture for representational purpose
Chennai: The state government has informed the Madras high court that under the guise of dog shows, organisers try and derive monetary benefit from the animals even without considering the health and pain the animals suffer while performing in these exhibitions.
Therefore, it is essential to depute a government official to monitor the shows. Mr E. Sivagurunathan, additional secretary to government, animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries department, stated this in his counter-affidavit filed through additional government pleader P. Sanjai Gandhi in response to the petition filed by the Madras Canine Club.
In its petition, the Madras Canine Club sought to forbear the authorities from treating dogs shown in dog shows organised by the petitioner as “performing animals”, thereby, causing any disturbance, obstruction or disruption to the shows.
It is irrelevant whether a dog show is called an exhibition of performing animals, or a beauty contest or fashion show. In its counter, Sivagurunathan submitted that the animal husbandry department plays a major role in providing veterinary health care and through the network of veterinary institutions manned by qualified veterinary doctors.
It is, therefore, the department of animal husbandry that must play a supervisory role when such dog shows are conducted by government or private parties.
The animals that are brought for exhibition in such shows must be given proper care and animal husbandry officials must be allowed to play a role in such shows so that the health of dogs throughout the competition may be supervised.
He said in cases where the interest of animals are at stake, the burden to maintain due care towards the animals becomes high. It is, therefore, necessary to implement and impose all necessary laws which protect the interest of animals and regulate activities with respect to animals.
Therefore, when a private party is willing to organise such shows, in such cases, government departments which deal with the health, vaccination and protection of animals must be consulted and made participants in such exhibitions so that a check is kept on such exhibition and any violations can be identified and penalised, he added.
Permission most often not sought:
While it is mandatory for organisers of dog shows to seek permission from the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), a statutory body promoting animal welfare in the country, a top official of the board has said it is often the case of organisers failing to inform them about their event. This then leads to such shows being organised without any officials present for monitoring.
On an average, the board receives up to 60 applications per week to permit animal performance shows, mostly for films. But AWBI vice-chairman of AWBI and chairman of Blue Cross of India, S. Chinny Krishna said, there have been instances of organisers not applying at all.
In this situation, the recent notification of the Tamil Nadu government to the Madras HC, regarding the need to post their own official to monitor the shows, is absolutely correct and couldn’t have come at a more opportune time, Mr Krishna said.
Mr R. Raghuram, a dog breeder who has participated in shows across the world, said though the government’s move is welcome, he is not sure of how it will be implemented. “On a average, the annual Madras dog show has more than 3,000 dogs.
I am worried about how many specialised officers will be posted to ensure a proper monitoring,” he said. There are others who have called for a blanket ban on such shows. “Most dog shows are intended just to create popularity.
I am sure none of rules and regulations is being adhered to. Ideally, no permission is to be given to the organisers of such shows,” said Ms C. Padmavathy, managing trustee, Animal Welfare and Protection Trust.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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