D is for Dogs.. stray dogs

I’m not a dog person, not even an animal person at all. They’re messy and smelly and hairy and so demanding. And I’m talking about pets.

Add to all of that, a basketful of fleas, a bucket of grime and a bunch of scabs and wounds and you have the strays. They really have no chance of making a case for themselves.

So why am I doing a post on them?

Well that’s precisely why.

Nope this is not a sympathy post, though of course they deserve that and much more. However this is not as much about them as us. In our country, we find them everywhere, right? 

So what do we do about them?

- We can ignore them (for how long, though?)
- Chase them away (they’ll only come back)
- Wait for the municipal corporation to do something (which may take ages or not happen at all).
Even if the corporation does step in, all they can do is get them sterilised and vaccinated and release them back. They cannot be killed unless they have rabies. At least that’s my understanding of the law. If I’m wrong please do correct me, dear readers. There just aren't enough dog shelters to take care of them all.

Dog lovers might suggest we adopt a stray. Not being one myself I can understand how that might not be an option for all of us.

However, here’s someone who found a humane yet practical option. Meet Kalpana. She runs a library close to where I live. I’d watched her feeding these dogs and hated the thought of navigating my way through a bunch of them to get to my books. However, over the years I’ve learnt to see her point and their’s too.

Another friend takes a snooze
That's Kalpana with 'Tipu'
Kalpana looks after some eight dogs of our locality. She got them sterilised and vaccinated. She feeds them everyday. The vaccination and sterilization is way more important than the feeding.

The canine friends have become an integral part of the library and can be found snoozing among the books or happily welcoming book lovers who drop by.


Once they know they have a regular supply of food they turn less aggressive and more friendly. Come to think of it I’ve never as much as heard a growl from any of those at the library.

What a compassionate solution, this is! Don’t you think?

In parts of Delhi the stray population went down drastically due to similar initiatives taken up by animal loving citizens. Go here for that story.

PS: If you're a regular here this post might sound familiar. Yeah.. a piece of fiction I did recently was inspired by strays like Tipu. 

This post is done for ABC Wednesday - a fun initiative for bloggers.


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