FWD from HSI-Animalia: (IN) VSPCA attacked by mob

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EMERGENCY in Visakhapatnam: VSPCA attacked by mob

anmlpepl (Merritt Clifton, editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE.)

Sun, 24 Dec 2000 22:38:06 -0800

X-Message-Number: 3

 

The Visaka SPCA, founder Pradeep Kumar Nath, the many other

people involved with it, and the thousands of street dogs and other

animals they serve in Visakhapatnam, India, remain in imminent danger

after a Christmas Eve mob attack on their Animal Birth Control clinic.

 

The information about the attack presented below, received by

e-mail from Nath, has been verified by telephone by ANIMAL PEOPLE

publisher Kim Bartlett.

 

ANIMAL PEOPLE can testify from direct knowledge, including a

five-day visit just three weeks ago, that the Visakha SPCA is one of the

outstanding humane organizations in India, and that the Animal Birth

Control program it is operating is both well-managed and eminently

effective.

 

The civic authorities of Visakhapatnam evidently need to be

reminded that their duties extend to protecting the Visakha SPCA from

violence, upholding the animal protection laws of India, and apprehending

and jailing those responsible for the Christmas Eve attack.

 

ANIMAL PEOPLE shall be putting this incident on page one of our

forthcoming January/February 2001 edition.

 

---------------

 

We have the following contact information for the Visakhapatnam

officials:

 

 

Shri. A.K. Khan, Commissioner of Police

Phone No: 91-891-525500 ® or 91-891-562763 (O)

FAX No: 91-891-562763

 

Shri. J.S.V. Prasad, District Collector

Phone No: 91-891-726999 or 91-891-754106

FAX no: 91-891-564426

email: viscall

 

Shri.Sanjay Jaju, Municipal Commissioner

Phone No: 91-891-754395 ® or 91-891-746300 (O)

FAX no: 91-891-568545

 

Shri.H.J.Dora, Director General of Police

Phone No: 91-40-3235170

FAX No: 91-40-3296565

 

Dr.C.Rangarajan, Governor of Andhra Pradesh

Phone: 91-40-3310521

FAX: 91-40-3311260

 

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Delivered-anmlpepl

" pradeep " <vspcanath

" Kim Bartlett, publisher, ANIMAL PEOPLE. " <anmlpepl

A.B.C. DISPENSARY under seige

Mon, 25 Dec 2000 07:30:29 +0530

 

 

Dear Kim,

 

As you saw here three weeks ago, the Visakha S.P.C.A. has been

conducting our Animal Birth Control program since Feb.11th 2000 in a

makeshift shelter. This programme replaced the heretofore merciless and

extremely cruel way the muncipality had of electrocuting the stray dogs.

 

Since then we have been struggling to keep pace, making maximum

use of the two veterinarians available to us through the generosity of our

donors, and of our veterinary technician, Teresa Gibbs, who has been

provided by PETA.

 

Besides this ABC program, as you know, we are also maintaining a

shelter for distressed cattle, protecting wild animals, protecting sea

turtles and dolphins, stopping the illegal slaughtering of cattle and

their illegal and inhumane transport, and protecting migratory birds and

the entire forest cover.

 

Unfortunately, today -- on Christmas Eve -- about 200 people from

the nearby village attacked us with sticks and we exchanged blows in self

defence. Teresa Gibbs was punched on the face as she charged at one of the

attackers who was removing the kennels with dogs inside and rolling them

around like a ball. Some attacked our van and were removing the air from

the tires.

 

All of this happened in front of two policemen. They squatted in

front of the dispensary and did not allow us to operate. The one dog

brought by the municipality van was let loose by these miscreants. We

believe the mob was comprised of hooligans paid by the combined efforts of

three major political parties. All the news media were there. There was a

complete traffic jam from 9.00 A.M. till 2.00 P.M. The police came, after

frantic efforts to get help from them, two hours after the incident, and

as usual asked only stupid questions. As most of the police were deployed

for the Utsav (a festival occurring on the sea turtle nesting beach, at

peril to the turtles who are nesting even now), few were available to

respond to our emergency.

 

The mob wanted us to stop our operations immediately and move

elsewhere. Their contention is that we should neuter more than 200 dogs

per day. They say that the operated dogs are being let loose in the

village, which is not true (they are returned to their locations of

capture), and that their livestock are being eaten (also not true).

 

The Chief Medical Officer of the Municipality did come to sort

things out but we felt very disappointed when he further instigated the

villagers against us by saying that the Municipality wanted to kill the

dogs which was the only way to control the population but was not allowed

because of us. He was seen giving ideas on how to petition the District

Collector and the court against us.

 

We have suspended operations. I am asking that an immediate

meeting be arranged between Visakha SPCA, Police Commissioner A.K. Khan,

Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Jaju, and District Collector J.S.V. Prasad.

We are also requesting police protection.

 

Warm Regards,

 

Pradeep Kumar Nath,

President,

Visakha S.P.C.A.,

26-15-200, Main Road,

Visakhapatnam 530001 A.P., India

 

phone: 91-891-564759

fax: 91-891-528662

email: vspcanath

 

 

------------------------

 

ANIMAL PEOPLE has available for e-mailing the following photographs

of the dog electrocutions formerly practiced by the city of Visakhapatnam,

halted by Pradeep Kumar Nath of the Visakha SPCA and Christine Townend of

Help In Suffering:

 

#1 - " Current is attached by two wires to truck and dogs take up to

25 minutes to die. " (Photo by Christine Townend.)

 

#2 - " Overcrowded dog cage, kept in sun without any food or water

two days before dogs are electrocuted. " (Photo by Pradeep Kumar Nath.)

 

#3 - " The brown dog at the end is alive after 15 minutes of

electrocution. The boy is seen poking with the iron rod to kill the dog. "

(Photo by Pradeep Kumar Nath.)

 

#4 - " The wires. " (Photo by Pradeep Kumar Nath.)

 

#5 - " Dogs still alive are killed with rod. " (Photo by Christine

Townend.)

 

#6 - " At the back of the van, a brown dog is seen vomiting blood. "

(After electrocution and spearing.) (Photo by Pradeep Kumar Nath.)

 

#7 - More dog-spearing after electrocution. (Photo by Pradeep Kumar

Nath.)

 

 

Each photograph includes the date and time that it was taken.

 

 

 

--Merritt Clifton, editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE.

 

 

 

----

 

Visakhapatnam background

anmlpepl (Merritt Clifton, editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE.)

Sun, 24 Dec 2000 22:38:23 -0800

X-Message-Number: 4

 

Shocked Townend halts dog-zapping

(From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1998.)

 

VISAKHAPATNAM, MUMBAI, BANGALORE-- Dogs must no longer be

electrocuted in Visakhapatam, India, the Andhra Pradesh High Court ruled

on November 4--just as ANIMAL PEOPLE prepared to publish excerpts from an

expose of the practice by Help In Suffering managing trustee Christine

Townend, documented by photographs far too gruesome to print.

" Yesterday, late night, I received the news that the High Court

has passed the order that the Municipal Corporation of Visakhapatnam must

immediately stop the killing of stray dogs, " Visakha SPCA secretary

Pradeep Kumar Nath faxed to Townend. " The petitioner, " Nath on behalf of

the Visakha SPCA, " has been given three months' time, with an extended

grace period of two months, to start an Animal Birth Control Program, "

modeled after those in effect in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Delhi, and

other Indian cities with a no-kill animal control policy.

" Meanwhile, " Nath continued, " only the terminally sick and

dangerous dogs may be put to sleep, by means of sodium pentathol. "

Nath said he was arranging for the Visakha SPCA to supervise

enforcement of the High Court order.

" I'm totally over the moon, " said Townend.

Townend visited Visakhapatnam on October 21 at Nath's request,

after his lawsuit against the dog electrocutions hadn't advanced in 18

months. Townend recorded in detail a 30-minute procedure by one Mr.

Bangarayya, the municipal dogcatcher, which included packing a two-day

collection of 40 dogs into a single wire cage, drenching them with the

help of " several young children " whom the dogcatcher hired " for a few

rupees per day, " jolting them repeatedly with household current, stabbing

the survivors, and burying some alive who were unconscious but still

breathing.

Mr. Bangarayya was paid 10 rupees per dog killed--about $1.75 for

each day's work.

" The dogs were almost all young, verifying that massive killing of

dogs does not eliminate the dog population, but only encourages it to

breed rapidly to fill the available space, " Townend wrote.

" After taking photos and witnessing the procedure, " she added, " I

determined that this must be stopped at once. "

She had already complained to the Viskhapatnam city veterinarian,

a Dr. Reddy, to no avail. She had also solicited use of surgical

facilities for the ABC program from " the deputy director of the

Visakhapatnam Polyclinic, " who promised cooperation, but " suggested that

he would like curtains put on the window of the room at the Polyclinic

where he lives. "

Then Townend was frustrated. Now she was furious.

" I again visited Dr. Reddy, with Mr. Nath, " she wrote, " and told

him that if he did not stop this method of killing, which is contrary to

the 1960 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, I would go straight to

Delhi to Mrs. Maneka Gandhi and to the media, and that Visakhapatnam's

name would be blackened around the world. After this, his attitude

changed, " at least to the extent of agreeing to make the electrocutions

more efficient.

That wasn't good enough. Townend dispatched copies of her

documentation to Maneka Gandhi, the Indian cabinet minister for social

justice and empowerment, and--still on October 21, en route back to the

Help In Suffering sanctuary in Jaipur--met in Mumbai with D.R. Mehta,

chair of the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

Author of a recent pamphlet entitled The New Allies: Science &

Non-Violence, Mehta is also a dedicated Jain advocate for both animals

and human rights.

" D.R. Mehta immediately donated 15,000 rupees to Mr. Nath, " to

help start the Visakhapatnam ABC program, Townend recounted, " and took me

to meet other wealthy Jains who might also help. One of his contacts

agreed to donate another 100,000 rupees from a charitable fund, " and

agreed to help expedite the court case.

It was an extraordinary day for Nath, who founded the Visakha SPCA

with little but hope in 1995. According to Townend, who confirmed her

account with independent witnesses, Nath rises each morning at 4:30 a.m.

" to patrol the nearby beaches to ensure no olive ridley turtles are on the

sand, where they face the risk of killing by dogs, rats, or humans. He

then purchases food with his own money and feeds various colonies of dogs

and cats. After this, he returns to his house where he feeds 11 rescued

animals, whom he has nowhere else to keep. He works as a clerk at the

State Bank of India, " Townsend continued, " and has refused promotion

because he does not wish to be transferred to another city where he cannot

watch over the street dogs and the turtles. He sleeps about four hours a

night. "

Before D.R. Mehta's gift, the largest contribution the Visakha

SPCA had received in 1998 was $100 from ANIMAL PEOPLE in payment for

photographs.

[The Visakha SPCA is located at 26-15-200, Main Road,

Visakhapatnam 530 001, India.]

 

Mumbai

 

D.R. Mehta was earlier instrumental in obtaining an October 5

ruling from the Bombay High Court that Mumbai may not kill stray dogs.

The court directed Mumbai to adhere to Animal Welfare Board of

India guidelines, which require that dogs suspected of being ill, rabid,

or vicious be quarantined. The decision to kill any dog is to be made by a

veterinarian.

Mumbai adopted a no-kill animal control policy in 1994, after

spending 10 million rupees to catch and electrocute stray dogs during the

preceding year. Under the no-kill agreement, Mumbai animal welfare

organizations were to sterilize at least 5,000 stray dogs per year. Among

them, they actually sterilized 7,500 to 8,000 dogs per year.

Successfully emulated elsewhere in India, the Mumbai program was

recommended as national policy in December 1997.

In mid-1998, however, a stray dog bit the son of Kirit Somaiya,

president of the Mumbai chapter of the Bharatiya Janata Party--and the BJP

had just formed a new national government. At Somaiya's demand, the BMC

announced it would kill all " nuisance " dogs--which it claimed would be only

dogs who were sick or bite.

Remembering that " sick " had been quite broadly defined before 1994,

the animal welfare organizations Ahimsa and the Viniyog Parivar Trust

immediately challenged the killing policy, and won a temporary stay on it

in late August. The High Court ruling--pending further appeal or

legislative amendment--makes the stay permanent.

Earlier, Hyderabad opted for an escalated ABC program instead of

wholesale dog-killing, after Swapna Devi, age 4, was reportedly dragged

from her family's shack in June and eaten by a pack of as many as 30 dogs.

Andhra Pradesh High Court Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy on November 5 found

the city and state jointly responsible for Devi's death, and awarded her

mother Padma Devi compensation of $3,700, with which " to better the life

of her two sisters. "

 

Bangalore

 

Bangalore is reportedly still electrocuting about 1,300 dogs a

year, at a pound The Times of India recently described as " a throwback to

the Nazis. "

As in Visakhapatnam, the electrocutions result from public fear of

dogbites, and especially from fear of rabies. Human deaths from rabies in

Bangalore alone through the first two-thirds of 1998 were coming at a pace

likely to top 100, up from 73 in 1997--which is more than the total number

of human rabies deaths in the U.S. since 1960.

" Only the Animal Birth Control program is the longterm humane

answer, " Compassion Unlimited Plus Action honorary secretary Suparna

Baksi-Ganguly told ANIMAL PEOPLE. CUPA, the major Bangalore humane

society, recovers, sterilizes, and vaccinates about 200 dogs per year

from the city pound: enough to demonstrate the efficacy of the approach,

but far short of a full-scale ABC program. Baksi-Ganguly has written to

ANIMAL PEOPLE at least three times since July 1996, seeking updated

information on possible sources of funding for full-scale ABC, to replace

the dog electrocutions, but has not so far attracted notice from any major

U.S. animal welfare foundations.

[CUPA is located at 257 1st Cross, HAL II Stage, Indiranagar,

Bangalore 560 038, India.]