UP witnesses 559 sq km increase in forest and tree cover: ISFR 2023
This achievement places Uttar Pradesh second only to Chhattisgarh, surpassing all other states in forest cover growth.
Even as the number of stray dogs assaulting children rises, animal abuse is also on the rise.
Kamna Pandey, a former member of the Animal Rights Commission, said she has filed FIRs in two cases of animal cruelty and receives several complaints from animal lovers on a daily basis.
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“The first FIR was filed at Gudamba police station against a man who killed a puppy by chopping its leg off, and the second was filed at Husainabad against a group who broke dogs’ limbs before killing them,” she said.
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“We have also got reports that some people have hired private persons to kill stray dogs in their localities. People must understand that killing dogs is not the solution, and, in fact, it leads to retaliation by animals in self-defense. For instance, the female dog whose puppy was killed by a man in Gudamba turned aggressive and has attacked a few people,” she said.
Animal abuse has been recorded in Prayagraj, with a young man tying crackers to the tail of a stray dog in the Naini district and setting it on fire. The dog died as a result of his burn injuries.
After a dog bit a local resident in Kanpur, a group of men used a hammer to break the dog’s teeth.
In these incidents, no police action has been documented.
Following the Thakurganj incident last month, in which a little girl was mauled to death by stray dogs, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation has increased its efforts to sterilise stray canines.
“Some volunteers have reported that LMC squads are catching pigs with wired iron rods in some locations, which is prohibited under the Prevention of Cruelty Act 1979,” Pandey said.
Dr Arvind Kumar Rao, LMC’s chief veterinary officer, rejected all charges of cruelty by squads, claiming that animals are captured in the most compassionate manner imaginable.
He also stated that the sterilising push has been stepped up and that two new centres have been established.
(with inputs from IANS)
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