Keeping Animals Safe
Animal homelessness is a very large cause for concern in India. There are millions of stray animals all over the country, and rural areas receive much less help, intervention and volunteer help for these animals. The numbers have never been accurately recorded, however in large cities Spay-Neuter has greatly helped in the controlling of these numbers. Mumbai's last recorded number of stray dogs was at 50,000 in 2005, however the numbers have dropped significantly after that by virtue of aggressive adoptions and spay neuter. This has all been possible only with the help of diligent NGO's working in the city ensuring quality control and monitoring these numbers. In recent times the awareness of animal rights and rescue have reached large proportions. Cats are still not looked after as well as dogs and are not even included in the local municipalities plans to help.
It is heart wrenching to see infant animals, sick and disabled animals and young animals with no abilities to survive just helpless on the street. They usually die very horrific deaths without intervention. In addition there are several families who buy dogs and cats and simply abandon then when it becomes inconvenient, these animals have no survival or adaptation skills and usually die very quickly from starvation, being attacked by territorial animals, road accidents etc. Road accident casualties are especially a large problem in cities where there is a gross overpopulation of vehicles which are usually callous to the existence of stray animals. The very reason that the existing environments need to made safer for dogs and cats and that the helpless ones need rescuing is because we have become a civilized society where it is now our duty to tend to the helpless and needy.
Animal casualties are caused due to several reasons in the city as well as in rural areas. The vehicular traffic and the number of animals run over on a daily basis are a lot in every city and unfortunately animals don't always receive the help they require due to lack of resources on time. Often times these dogs and cats are victims of human cruelty and are often beaten and maimed and require medical intervention. Some animals become disabled or blind and need a safe haven to be able to survive. In rural areas the lack of resources leads to many diseases and wounds in animals that get worse with time.
Many of these animals need intensive care and organizations trying to help them try to provide the best help they can within the resources available. Even pets that are meant to be looked after in homes are often subjected to cruelty and then abandoned making them sick and wounded and requiring medical intervention. Cats are especially susceptible to such incidents and occurrences and are usually difficult to medicate or handle and require skilled volunteers and help to do so. Since animals cannot communicate their feelings through words, and diagnostics are only available in limited circumstances it is difficult to address this issue completely.
Why Spay Neuter is essential and other issues
Animal overpopulation is now but a lesser of a problem compared to the human population explosion! However this situation has risen from excessive garbage and no proper disposal of it and other such factors. Hence the population of animals is a topic of importance, especially in rural areas and in cities where government spay neuter programs have failed to be applied correctly or simply do not exist. This has led to gross intolerance towards dogs and cats leading to acts of cruelty. This is a situation that needs to be systematically tackled in order to control the population of stray dogs and cats. In addition to respecting them as community responsibility the expertise of professionals who know how the carry this out effectively is a desperate need of the hour. Spay Neuter programs started by municipalities running in partnership with NGO's seem to work better as animals are not displaced, nor are surgeries carried out carelessly.
Census of animals are not accurately available for quoting, however NGO's do maintain records area by area and usually meticulously carry out vaccinations and spay neuters. It is difficult to address these problems because of many secondary problems such as stray animal illnesses, improper spay neuter, slums being demolished and leaving pets behind etc.
Spay Neuter is the only way out to the current Animal overpopulation issues in certain areas.
Strange notions of the Indian Population
The poverty and lack of education and awareness in many parts of India makes it very ignorant towards the issues of stray animals. Very often the lack of skill or know how to be able to help an animal also contributes to this. While there is a large subset of the liberal educated population that has gravitated towards helping animals and making a difference and of course the kind population that is inherently predisposed to helping animals regardless of their background the vast majority is still mostly ignorant.
Below are some reasons that do not favor the welfare of stray animals:
Even still there is a part of the population working very hard to ensure the well being of stray animals and are in a small number in comparison the majority, and it is important to somehow sensitize everyone to this issue in order to make a large scale change.
Read on to understand why the situation is so in India.
