Humane Treatment for Ahmedabad's Street Dogs

We, the undersigned, wish to register our shock, disgust and moral outrage at the illegal, cruel and downright barbaric treatment of the street dogs of Ahmedabad by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).

We, the signatories, are aware that the AMC is acting illegally with regard to management of the street dog population of Ahmedabad. According to the laws of India, the use of iron tongs to catch street dogs is banned, as well as the dislocation of dogs from their territorial habitat. Under Sections 428 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, street dogs cannot be dealt with in such a manner. They can only be sterilized, vaccinated and then returned back to the location from where they were picked up, as per the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules.

The AMC refuses to abide by these laws.

AMC is using iron tongs to catch street dogs:
The iron tongs used by the AMC to catch dogs are without any doubt cruel and inhumane. For reference please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXdqO8Dd6kU , in which a defenseless dog is barbarically caught by the AMC dog catchers. The tongs are in fact so injurious that up to 50\% of the dogs caught with them die from internal bleeding. The tongs are pincers. They are applied to the dogsв necks and abdomens and squeezed tightly in order to get a grip on the dogs, pick them up, and load them into the dog-catching van. The ensuing pressure is so intense that it often pierces their internal organs and causes hemorrhage and death. Some dogs have their abdominal cavities torn open by the tongs.

Despite the grave injuries and suffering caused by the tongs, and despite the fact that their usage is in direct contravention of the law, the AMC employs this heinous method on an average of 150 dogs per day. The AMC has to date ignored the disgust and outrage provoked by this barbaric method.

AMC is dislocating street dogs to the cityвs outskirts:
The dogs caught by the AMC are not taken for vaccination and sterilization as the law requires, but instead to peripheral areas of the city and dumped, such as the sewage farm at Pirana. For reference see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxr7lOebr_w and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--vKGUrpcR4 .
Without food, water or shelter, and often badly injured from the catching process, the dogs are left to die agonizing deaths (if they are not dead on arrival). What is even more senseless is that this hideous policy of torture, murder and dislocation serves NO PRACTICAL RESULT! When dogs are removed from their locations, other dogs move into the vacated areas and fight to establish dominance. People inevitably get bitten in the crossfire. As such, the practice of dislocating resident dogs from their areas actually serves to put human residents at increased risk of dog bite and rabies! Further, the removal of dogs has never worked as a dog population control policy. Even the highest recorded removal rates have failed to check street dog populations. All removal and dislocation does is open up new habitat for other dogs to inhabit and repopulate. Accordingly, it is essential to the success of any intervention to relocate the dogs to their original territory following sterilization and anti-rabies vaccination.

Neither mass killing nor dislocation of street dogs contributes to a sustainable solution; instead, they cause immense suffering to innocent dogs and make matters worse for the cityвs residents.

An effective and humane approach to dog population control:
We acknowledge that the rapidly increasing dog population is of serious concern to Ahmedabadвs citizens. However, we condemn the way in which the AMC manages the issue, which constitutes a serious dereliction of duty toward residents, and an unconscionable crime against dogs. There are effective, humane and legal approaches that do not cause unnecessary deaths and injury to the dog population and that, in fact, are proven to address the issue successfully. Sterilization and immunization are the only legal methods of managing the street dog population and the rabies threat. Further, any such program is to be carried out using humane methods.

Our requests:
We ask that the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation immediately cease its illegal and barbaric treatment of the cityвs street dogs, that it implement forthwith a mass sterilization and anti-rabies vaccination campaign in accordance with the standards set forth by the Animal Welfare Board of India and under its supervision. That such medieval cruelty would be employed by the municipal authority of a modern city in 21st century, democratic India -- a city that is seeking UNESCO world heritage status no less -- is truly shameful.

We also protest in no uncertain terms the brazen and despotic targeting of Ahmedabad dog-lover Lisa Warden, who has been trying to convince the AMC since 2009 of the need to adopt an effective, scientific, legal and humane dog population initiative. In response to her efforts the AMC has revealed a dangerously anti-democratic and totalitarian bent by slapping her with a whole host of charges including theft, obstruction of public servants, extortion, defamation and misleading the public. We demand that all charges against Lisa Warden be immediately withdrawn.