Animal Birth Control centres are necessary not only to keep a check on the number of strays in a humane manner, but also to ensure that more and more dogs aren’t affected by diseases.
However, if a video shot by the Almighty Animal Care Trust is anything to go by, what is being done is far from it. The video, shot at the government-run Animal Birth Control Centre in Basin Bridge, Chennai, shows that the dogs are hurt, in pain, and there’s blood all over the floor. It’s a sight that makes you want to look away, but also makes you question what humanity has come to.
Speaking to TNM, Sai Vignesh, the founder of the Trust, said that he has been going to the centre at least once weekly over the last month to feed the dogs, and has seen the cruelties that these dogs are put through. The dogs are brought to this Centre from all over Chennai so that they can be neutered. However, Vignesh alleges that the surgeries are performed by quacks and veterinary students, so the stitches come undone.
"At the Centre, harsh treatment is meted out to the dogs, where they are given food and water only once. The dogs starve. The area is unclean, and the carcass of a deceased dog isn’t even cleared. The starving dogs just end up eating them", says Vignesh.
He further adds that the caretakers are only there from 9 AM to 3 PM, post which only the security guard is there. The video, which is up on the Facebook page of the Almighty Care Centre, was shot with a pen camera as their cellphones were taken away.
According to the regulations of Standard Operating Procedure by the Animal Welfare Board of India, “arrangements are also made to provide a separate quarantine area to house dogs suspected to be rabid. Besides this, the ABC Centre should also have a separate isolation area to house individual dogs that show symptoms of illness. If possible, arrangements should be made to ensure that the drainage system is kept separate in the areas where the rabid and ill dogs are housed.”
A petition was filed on September 21 by the Almighty Animal Care Trust with the Corporation Commissioner, which elucidated on the condition of the dogs, and provided certain suggestions that could be implemented.
The petition states that the dogs are mostly resting on “their own urine and feces leading to unhealthy conditions”. It also questions if there are any checklists or records about the dogs, the treatment given to them, where they were picked up from, etc.
After the petition was filed, P-4 Basin Bridge Police Station Inspector Purushottam met the corporation veterinary doctor on the morning of September 25, where the doctor gave his response. The inspector said that they warned them, but no action has been taken.
Kannadasan, the Corporation veterinary doctor, in a written response, denied all the allegations made by the Almighty Trust, and stated that they regularly pick dogs from the streets, sterilize them and drop them back to the same place. He added that they are following all the rules stayed by the Animal Husbandry department, and that they are treating the animals well. The blood in the video was because a dog had hurt its legs, the doctor also added.
"There have not been any such cases from the government centre, so we did not take any action. We will surely take action if any such thing happens in future again. I have personally went and checked the place and police personnel are keeping a check at the centre," said the inspector.
This isn’t the first allegation of animal cruelty at an Animal Birth Control Centre. In March last year, the Animal Welfare Board of India inspected another ABC Centre in Chennai (Lloyds Colony) after welfare activists reported that four dogs had died. Even then, activists had alleged that all three ABC Centres in Chennai were not being maintained properly.