By IANS,
Srinagar: A novel protest by a Jammu and Kashmir legislator against the menace of stray dogs was prevented by police in Srinagar city Wednesday.
Engineer Rashid, a legislator from the Langate constituency, threatened to release stray dogs into the courtyards of the ministers’ houses to attract attention towards the growing menace of stray dogs in the city.
“Two truckloads of stray dogs being brought to Srinagar were seized by the police in areas of north Kashmir today. I intended to release these into the courtyards of ministers’ houses to awaken them to the danger the stray dogs pose,” Rashid told IANS.
“I then planned to release a few of these into the lawns of the civil secretariat in Srinagar so that the administration is jolted out of its slumber. But this has not been allowed,” he said.
As the legislator approached the civil secretariat with his vehicle carrying a few stray dogs, policemen seized the vehicle and drove it away from the seat of governance in the city which houses the offices of the chief minister, senior ministers and bureaucrats.
Official estimates say that around 100,000 stray dogs exist in Srinagar city which has a human population of 1.3 million.
NGOs and civil society members have been raising their voices against the state government’s inability to tackle the stray dog menace.
As animal activists rally in support of stray dogs preventing their physical elimination by the municipal authorities, dog sterilisation is the only preventive measure being taken here to control the explosion of canine population.