How will animal rights activists interpret the tragedy of a ten-year old boy mauled by a pack of dogs? No matter how wonderfully you phrase your response, the only way to answer this question is to feed anyone of them (as a test case) to the same pack of dogs and see what happens. Will they still recommend dog pounds, animal shelters, long-drawn sterilization programmes (which will take thousands of human lives before completion) and anti-rabies centres (letting dogs bite first and make treatment free). It's plainly maddening. If this dog-eating-man phenomenon is tragic, even more tragic is the way the whole society is held ransom to a handful of insane. Given the horrifying statistics of dog bites and the number of killings reported so far, only a savage can see it happen. We have fumed a lot earlier too, but nothing seems to come through.
The very scene of this child who was returning home before he was pounced by dogs is ghastly enough even to make beast shake their heads in disbelief. The helplessness of administration towards this problem can't be understood by any logic. Such incidents are nothing new as dogs are soon to outnumber humans in our valley. What should have caused an alarm to the whole government and threatened to shake its foundations does not seem to ruffle a feather. We can't help but condemn only and condemning we have been for so long. Now the recent move from a social group Valley Citizens Council, VCC to kill stray dogs and save human lives can be the only positive way to deal with the problem. The time to invite academic debates as to whether environment allows us to eliminate dogs is past. The life of every Kashmiri has been jeopardized and it's the responsibility of every individual to save first his own life and then the life of his fellow humans from becoming a dog fodder. Only a public movement participated by one and all can let humans be at peace. Taking to streets in Kashmir is always fraught with the risk of life. But things have come to a pass when each man Jack, irrespective of one's political leanings, will have to be the part of that social movement. By the way we are not talking of any reformation or any revolution, it's a simple question of saving humans from animals. Rights are rights, but what to say when a human right to live is compromised with an animal right to kill. Do we need children first or dogs first?

Lastupdate on : Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 IST