Can street dogs be trained to protect women in Delhi? - AsianAge
Can street dogs be trained to protect women in Delhi? The New Delhi Municipal Council has come with an idea to “employ ” stray dogs to make the city safer for women and at the same time control the dog menace.
The civic agency has sent a proposal to the Delhi police and to other authorities, however, no details of financial and logistical arrangements for such an ambitious idea have been formulated as yet. Still, the NDMC is hopeful that its proposal will be accepted by fund-starved Delhi police.
A senior NDMC official told this newspaper that the corporation has been looking at “this as a thoughtful solution” to two problems. “The proposal has been sent to the Delhi police, and we want to come up with a comprehensive plan to find a common solution for dog menace as well as women’s security.”
Dogs will be trained to accompany police personnel in public places. “We will train the dogs in a way that they will help the police personnel in keeping Delhi safe. In parks and in the public, wherein a few constables are employed and yet security is an issue, the trained dogs with the police personnel will add to security,” said the source in the council.
The NDMC, which has been getting regular calls complaining against the stray dog menace and increasing incidents of dog bites, feels once the dogs are “employed for security” they will be in a better position to deal with situation.
“Until now, when we get calls to deal with canines, we have to sterilise them, vaccinate them and return them to the area where they were spotted. There are a lot of complaints from animal activists as well. I hope this solution will silence them all as we are providing them a shelter,” the source added.
“Dogs will be fed, vaccinated and taken care of, whereas when they are on streets life is not easy for them,” said the senior official. The NDMC is hopes its one-of-a-kind solution will get the police’s approval.
Even animal care centres are keen to see if the proposal works out as they feel that it will reduce their burden.
“This move definitely will be a welcome one as it will reduce the burden of the care centres in Delhi. We get calls of stray dog bites. If the agency employs them and takes care of them rather then just abandoning them, it will be a very innovative idea,” a senior executive in Friendicoes, an animal shelter in the national capital, told this newspaper. more