Samikhsya Bureau
Can the so called dog lovers in India and elsewhere take a lesson that tethering an active animal like the dog the day long which requires its muscle-flexing as and when felt by the animals. That never happens and millions of dogs confined in house holds are tied to a steel chain thus deprived of its regular physical movements.
It is normally believed that a big cat like tiger or leopard requires minimum 25 kms long muscle flexing under the prevailing circumstances to keep itself fit. Similarly, a dog also requires at least 10 kms long movement in a day.
Besides the cruelty meted out to the animal by stymieing its health by the claustrophobic limits of a house , the animal slowly loses its immunity leading to several complications those normally skips their masters’ attention. People for Animal (PFA) in India although had pioneered an awareness in this regard and even had initiated steps for taking care of stray dogs in distress but the people in posh houses pay no heed to such factors tantamount to cruelty on animals.
Sadly, so far there is no such legislated law to protect such animals from the fanciful dog lovers who believe that dumping some food twice or thrice in a day suffice or taking the animal to a vet once in a while is all about animal care. Majority in fact forget that physical movement for such animals is the most crucial panacea for good health.
Now, India should take a lesson from our neighbour country Bangladesh, where the government is going to exercise its writ against tethering of dogs by the so called dog lovers.
The Bangladesh government has drafted a law stipulating punishment for cruelty to animals like tethering a dog without giving it the scope to move for 24 straight hours or more. The cabinet gave its final nod to the draft ‘Animal Welfare Act 2019’ in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office in Dhaka.
The draft law has been based on the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1920, according to cabinet secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam. It will be the owners or supervisors’ duty to behave well and humanely and refrain from cruel behaviour towards animals without logical reason,” the draft law says, according to the secretary.
Actions of any person while slaughtering any animal for using its meat as food or sacrificing it following religious rituals is not deemed to be cruelty to animal under the new law.
It has declared as cruelty the tethering of a dog for a day or more without allowing it to move or exercise, Shafiul said. The punishment for violating the law or abetting in the violation will be six-month jail term or Rs 10,000 as fine or both.
We in India have all the laws but the irony is the lackadaisical implementation or enforcement which lends the freedom for dog-keepers to behave with the pet they like. Some take it as a class complex coming out during morning or evening with a tethered well bred dog and then go back home to abandon the animal for rest of the day.
