Pune: The civic body’s drive to pick up sterilised community dogs from roads along the palkhi procession route has drawn criticism from animal welfare volunteers, who questioned the legality and necessity of such exercises, which they said were increasingly being undertaken before major public events and VIP visits.Bhagyendra Chudasama, an animal welfare volunteer, said rounding up sterilised community dogs to “clear the streets” for local events was in violation of the law. “Under the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, only unsterilised dogs can be captured and must be returned to the same spot. These arbitrary drives subject territorial, vaccinated dogs to immense psychological trauma, leaving them visibly rattled and anxious upon return,” Chudasama said.Others said repeated capture and confinement leaves territorial dogs stressed, arguing that such drives could ultimately prove counterproductive. “Catching dogs with nets, hurting them in the process, and shifting them to cages in overcrowded shelters is more traumatic than crowds or noise,” said Sushma Date, another volunteer.Pune Municipal Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram denied that the civic body undertook a large-scale dog-catching drive. “Dogs are not such a big threat. We picked up dogs only from parts of the main palkhi route as a limited precaution to ensure the safety of the warkaris,” he told TOI.But activists remained sceptical. “If it’s for the safety of the warkaris, how does catching just 15 or 20 dogs help, when there are thousands more on the streets? In any case, the most gentle, friendly dogs are caught during such sessions as the feral ones are too difficult to catch with nets,” Date said, pointing out the “irony” of this drive during the Palkhi, “when Sant Dnyaneshwar himself always said animals were manifestations of the divine and that compassion for all living creatures is a core duty of humanity”.The issue also drew the attention of former Union minister and animal rights advocate Maneka Gandhi, who said she spoke to an additional municipal commissioner of PMC, urging the civic body to reconsider the practice during various events.
