Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday stressed the need to control the stray dog menace in the state and permitted the local authorities to “put to sleep” the critically ill, fatally injured and rabid dogs as per the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules 2001.
The court observed that the dogs roaming in public have to be captured for vaccination and sterilisation which is the obligation of the local bodies with the aid of the Animal Welfare Board.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice A.M. Shaffique also issued eight guidelines to end the stray dog menace in the state. The court made it clear that all stray dogs are not required to be killed and that killing has to be undertaken by the local authorities only in accordance with the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and the provisions of the Rules 2001.
Rule 9 of the ABC rules mandates ‘euthanasia of street dogs’ while Rule 10 deals with rabid and dangerous dogs (isolating till they die a natural death). “Monitoring committees have to be set up in all local bodies to monitor all actions pertaining to planning and management of dog control. It is for the monitoring committee to lay down instructions and guidelines for stray dog menace, including the way rabid and terminally ill dogs are removed,” the court observed.
The court asked the local authorities to set up the committees in two weeks. These committees should issue instructions for catching, transportation, sheltering, sterilisation, vaccination, treatment and release of sterilised, vaccinated or treated dogs.
All local authorities in consultation with the monitoring committee should set up a ‘dog control cell’ to receive complaints about dog menace within two weeks from the formation of the monitoring committee. “If a complaint is received that a dog has bitten one or several persons, it is the obligation of the local authority to capture the dogs, keep them in a kennel,” the court said.
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