In Noida, strays chase woman in condo, she runs with pet in her arms

NOIDA: A video of a woman running with a pet in her arms after being chased by a couple of dogs has reignited a debate on whether strays should be allowed in gated compounds and brought the Noida Authority’s sterilisation programme under scanner.

The video, which is being widely circulated on social media, shows the woman walking the pet Shih Tzu in the society park when a few stray dogs start barking.Chased, the woman – a domestic staffer – picks up the Shih Tzu in her arms and runs towards her tower. The incident took place at Mahagun Moderne in Sector 78.
The AOA of Mahagun Moderne said the number of stray dogs had been increasing in the compound as they were yet to be neutered or spayed. While Noida Authority officials said they had sterilised around 6,000 dogs last year, NGOs working on its behalf claimed a roster was not being followed because of various limitations, including lack of resources like enough centres to keep the sterilised animals.
Some residents voiced demands to remove strays from the society compound, but it led to opposition among animal lovers, who said it was illegal to remove them from their natural settings.
“Those feeding the dogs are not sticking to the rule of giving them food at a fixed spot. In the past four months, there have been 4-5 cases of dog bites in the society. We had urged the Noida Authority to sterilise the dogs, but they are yet to do it. As is evident, the number of dogs is increasing every now and then,” said Mridul Bhatia, an AOA member.
Kaveri Bhardwaj, an animal activist who runs a shelter home in Greater Noida, said the dogs were not at all aggressive, but curious.
“They neither attacked the pet, nor the woman. The stray dogs chased her out of curiosity when she started running. They had anyway seen a dog of another breed walking in the society,” she added.
Asked about Noida’s sterilisation drive, Bhardwaj said, “The Noida Authority started its drive only in 2015. Before that, some other organisations were doing it. The number of strays has increased in the city.”
Of late, two societies – Humane Welfare Society and Animal India Trust – were working with the Authority for the sterilisation of stray dogs. The contract of Humane Welfare Society, however, expired in December last year.
Veterinarian Sarungbam Devi, the founder and trustee of Animal India Trust, said, “We have been working with the Noida Authority for the past two years after an extension of four months. We are yet to get our reimbursements for six months. We have been raising our own funds for the sterilization drive. But there is another problem. While we have 19 animal centres in Delhi, we have just two in Noida. Here, we can’t sterilise more than 500 dogs because of lack of infrastructure.”
Devi said timely payments could encourage more NGOs to come on board. “We are an NGO, we can’t work on our own. The Authority is not paying us in time. How are we supposed to operate when infrastructure is in a shambles? We lack space to keep the sterilised animals too. If these facilities are taken care of, the sterilisations would definitely increase,” she added.
Indu Prakash Singh, an officer on special duty at the Authority, said more NGOs would be engaged.
“We have not got complaints from any NGO so far regarding lack of infrastructure. We have anyway decided to hire four more NGOs. Soon, more dogs would be sterilised in the city.”