Kochi: Animal and pet lovers won’t be too happy with an observation made by the Kerala High Court on stray dogs.
Hearing a writ petition filed by a law student who was bitten by a stray dog, the high court voiced strong concern over the growing menace of stray dog attacks in the state.
A single member bench of Justice C S Dias came down heavily on an animal lover, who was part of the group which opposed the plea seeking implementation of Animal Birth Control Rules.
“Will give you all stray dogs, you can take care of them,” the Justice Dias remarked, asking the person to suggest solutions to address the crisis.
He said one can understand the pain only after being bitten by a dog or losing someone to such an incident. “Animals have legal rights. But human rights are above all,” the high court observed.
Over one lakh dog bite cases and 16 deaths have been reported this year in Kerala due to suspected rabies. The court noted that even vaccinated children had died of rabies, leading to a batch of petitions being filed in the high court related to dog bite incidents.
Justice Dias stressed that urgent and practical solutions are the need of the hour, adding that responsibility for dog attacks must be fixed.
“Stray dog attacks should be considered like wild animal attacks. We have to find a solution. Humans and animals should co-exist,” the court said.
“If a human attacks an animal it is an offence, similarly, when an animal attacks the human the custodian is charged with an offence,” Justice Dias stated. He added that if dogs attack humans, the Gram Panchayat secretary, who is in charge of the dogs, should be held accountable.
However, the court clarified that euthanasia was not a solution.
The court accepted the state government’s proposal to set up an interim committee, under the court’s supervision, to tackle the issue.
The high court directed the Director General of Police to inform how many FIRs have been registered in relation to such attacks in the past year. The Chief Secretary has been asked to file an affidavit listing the number of deaths and the compensation paid to victims. The matter will be next heard on August 4.
Stray dog cases in Supreme Court too
Stray dogs threat is not confined to Kerala only. On Monday, the Supreme Court initiated proceedings on its own motion over stray dog attacks and resulting fatalities.
A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, taking suo motu cognisance of the matter after a report in The Times of India highlighted the death of a six-year-old girl in Delhi due to rabies following a dog bite, flagged the situation as “alarming and disturbing”.
“This is a highly disturbing news report titled ‘City hounded by strays and kids pay price’. It contains extremely troubling details. There are reports of hundreds of dog bite incidents from both cities and peripheral areas, many of which have led to rabies infections. Ultimately, it is infants and senior citizens who are falling prey to this deadly disease,” the court noted.
This follows observations made by another Supreme Court bench on July 15, regarding the urgent need to regulate stray dog feeding and address public safety concerns.
Hearing a plea seeking designated spots for feeding stray dogs in Noida, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta remarked that people should feed such animals within their homes rather than endangering others in public spaces.