The Keralam government's recent decision to impose a ₹10,000 fine for abandoning dogs is not yielding favourable results.
The number of purebred pedigree dogs being abandoned in public places is on the rise by the day in the state.
The move to monetarily penalise people comes even as the state government is yet to address the concerns of animal rights activists.
The state government decided to bring amendments to the Kerala Municipality Act and Kerala Panchayat Raj Act last month against the backdrop of a sharp increase in instances of pet dogs in the age group of five to six years being abandoned.
During the 2020 pandemic, as everyone stayed home, children demanded pet dogs. Now, the same children are either moving abroad for
higher studies or outside the state. This has forced a section of parents to abandon
the dogs.
Sreedevi S. Kartha of People For Animals, Thiruvananthapuram chapter, told The Telegraph that on Thursday they were informed of three more dogs abandoned on the streets.
"The state government is set to impose the ₹10,000 penalty for abandoning pet dogs, keeping them without licences and operating illegal breeding centres or pet shops without licences. There is no dearth of pets being abandoned by their owners who do this heinous act thinking they won't be caught. The local self government department and state animal husbandry department, who are jointly coming up with the amendment, are yet to take stakeholders into confidence before it's made a law," said Sreedevi.
She said at least five dogs were being abandoned every day in Thiruvananthapuram alone, which is an indicator of such instances in the remaining districts.
Senior veterinary surgeon Dr Jacob Alexander said that the only way to curb dog abandonment was to microchip them. "Once a pet owner logs in to avail the licence to have a pet, he/she should also mandatorily upload the microchip (number) along with the veterinarian's signature." This will help track the owners if they abandon their dogs.