Head count of dogs !! Eating only the entrails ?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 08 2018 -

Dogs captured by trap cameras :: Pix - TSE

All unchained dogs would be rounded up.

A head count of pet dogs would be launched soon in association with the Veterinary Department.

This is Forest and Environment Minister Th Shyamkumar after announcing that the ‘predators’ which took the whole State of Manipur on a spin for quite some time are but dogs which are kept unchained.

The intent of the Government is appreciated, but how feasible is it is the question that ought to be raised.

A head count of dogs ? Does the Government have the resources and enough man power to take this up ?

If yes then good but it does not hurt to be realistic.

Keep all dogs chained. Again how feasible is this ?

As things stand right now, many pet owners may be keeping their pedigreed dogs under chain and taking them out for walks in the morning and evening, but how many mongrels are exactly kept chained or in their kennel ?

Moreover how many pet dog owners actually go ahead to build a kennel for their pets ?

A look at the reality should tell the true story.

Dogs, this is what experts from the Wildlife Institute of India have declared and while the findings of the experts may be taken at face value, it still does not answer the question of why numerous dogs suddenly went on the offensive to attack livestock.

Or were the dogs previously kept chained or inside their kennel that the dogs posed no threat to the livestock ?

Why did dogs suddenly decide to go on the hunt for livestock ?

Aren’t efforts going to be made to answer this fundamental question ?

Yes experts from the WII have zeroed in on dogs, but this still does not answer the question of why ?

And yes, are dogs known to eat only the entrails of their kills ?

Stating that the dogs started attacking the livestock because they were not chained cannot be a satisfying answer. No way.

And a headcount of dogs sounds too far fetched.

No scientific explanations given so far and this is what is not expected from the Government.

Moreover is there any plan to conduct a scientific study to understand how and why the dogs in Manipur suddenly decided to start attacking livestock ?

Is it a case of the dog owners not bothering to feed their pets properly or is it something else ?

This question may be better understood in the backdrop of the point that there are no stray dogs in Manipur.

Why this is so need not be spelt out in detail, but everyone knows what would happen if there are stray dogs roaming the leikais and leiraks of each locality.

These are some questions which have not been addressed to satisfactorily.

Moreover the explanation that in winter dogs need food to give them the needed body heat will not cut ice, for 2018 is not the first year to experience winter !!

Winter comes and goes every year and if this is the case then such attacks would have been experienced earlier too.

It is good that the WII experts have managed to zero in on the identity of the ‘predators’ yet more efforts need to be put in to come out with a scientific explanation on why this happened.

The one line statement, ‘keep them chained’ will not find many takers. This is the bottomline.

Owners too need to come to the point that owning a pet comes with its share of responsibility.