Agonised owners accuse PMC of poisoning pet dogs

pune: animal lovers and some other residents of nibm road in kondhwa are up in arms. they accuse the pune municipal corporation (pmc)'s dog squad of poisoning two pet dogs along with one stray dog on thursday afternoon. mala kumar, a resident of vijay park colony, has lodged a police complaint against the pmc. the dead bodies of the dogs have been rushed to the government diagnostic centre in aundh for a post-morten.ms kumar, who is an active member of the blue cross society, charged that the pmc had used strychnine, which has been banned for killing dogs. she said not a single instance of a dog bite has happened in the area, and anyway the pmc does not have any right to kill the dogs. ms h. evans who runs a travel agency along the nibm road said that her pet dog was sitting outside the glass fronted entrance to her office. "i was on the telephone when i saw the pmc's dog's van passing by. soon after, a man wearing a blue shirt came and gave my dog something to eat. i did not object because i though he was a good samaritan. however soon i saw the dog was writhing in pain and it died," ms evans said. she pointed out that the dog had a chain around its neck and a mark on the thigh, indicating that it has been sterilised. "how on earth can they kill sterilised pet dogs?" she asked, quite distraught. elaine kochar, a resident of vijaypark society, said that before fleeing from the spot, a person had given poisonous food items to a stray dog called lali adopted by their society. though none of the residents could furnish the number of the dog squad van, they say they saw a person alighting from the van. they claimed that the person had poisoned some five-six stray dogs in the area. bodies of three dogs were found when the police panchnama was made at around 4.30 p.m. sunil tirlotkar of the society for prevention of cruelty to animals (spca), lorenzo standen and manoj ostwal, who had gathered at the spot, challenged the pmc's right to poison dogs that were sterilised and "public friendly". when contacted, pmc's health department chief dr anil ravetkar said that he would inquire into the incident. "i do not think that my staff will go to someone's office to feed poison to their dog," dr ravetkar. "and, anyway, why are pet dogs being let out onto the streets?" he admitted that the pmc was poisoning stray dogs which looked ill and were suspected of carrying rabies. "i cannot ask my staff to risk their lives to catch a stray dog which is suspected to be carrying rabies," he said. asked why dogs are being killed when the pmc has launched a programme to sterilise stray dogs, dr ravetkar said, "we cannot take criticism from both sides. some people criticise us for not killing the dogs; they argue that merely sterilising dogs is of no help as sterilised dogs also chase vehicle riders. the bites of stray dogs cause mental trauma and physical pain, if not rabies." though the bombay high court has banned killing of stray dogs, dr ravetkar pointed out that some city lawyers have now filed cases against the pmc in the pune district court demanding compensation for citizens who were bitten by stray dogs.