Stray canines on R-Day hitlist

NEW DELHI: The Republic Day spruce-up may be good news for you, but for the stray canine population of the city, this is bad tidings. Especially, when the dog catcher decides to adopt a particularly aggressive and callous mode of operation.
The standard implement used by the civic authorities in the city is the "dog-catcher" or the rod and loop method.
A plastic coated loop of wire is attached at the end of the rod. Once the loop is passed through the animal''s head, the wire is tightened to an extent that it traps the dog but does not choke him.
The average dog catcher, however, often converts this implement into a weapon to choke the animal as the Times City discovered at Man Singh Road where an NDMC employee was seen trapping a stray canine with a dog-catcher.
The animal was left to dangle in mid-air. Certainly not a humane way to trap dogs.
Just what sort of a "threat" these dogs are to the R-Day is not clear. Obviously civic authorities feel it necessary to expend some energy in hunting down strays. The operation seems similar to efforts to put away what police calls "bad characters".
Animal lovers, however, say there are better ways of trapping a dog without attacking it.
"The rod and loop method is acceptable internationally. But if you use it to haul up a dog and dangle it in mid-air, it only serves to choke him," said Geeta Sheshmani of Friendicoes.
Sheshmani says that as the dog is caught in the loop, another worker should catch hold of the animals hind legs and put it in a cage.
NDMC has already picked up some 300 strays who will stay at the Friendicoes pound in Gurgaon till the Republic Day.
As per a 1993 court order, civic agencies are supposed to catch dogs in a humane way, sterilise and vaccinate them and leave them in the same area from where they were picked up.