Srinagar, May 27: With the government starting its much hyped Animal Birth Control (ABC) program to sterilize stray packs –the venture, which is being seen worth millions of dollars–a “Dog Mafia” is out to grab its share by “intriguingly” asking the authorities to outsource the specialized task.
 And to be a part of this program –presently being executed jointly by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) and the SK University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) Kashmir, the miscreants seem to have found a novel method of morphing visuals to show that dogs are being ill treated.

THE MAFIA TAG
 The miscreants nicknamed “Dog Mafia” are believed to have allegedly morphed some videos and photos to pretend that stray dogs are being ill treated and killed in Srinagar, much against the ground reality that everyday around a dozen people, mostly children fell prey to canine bites.
 Such visuals have been doing the rounds for the past few months even as the dog attacks on humans in this summer Capital have been on record high.

WHY MORPHING?
 But then what would “Dog Mafia” get out of morphing or pretending to be whistleblower that dogs are being ill treated, or killed in Srinagar? Well this, observers plead, has a simple reason. “If you’re able to convince government that there’s threat to life of stray dogs, it can be compelled to go for sterilization through multiple means, something just not possible without the support of private agencies, which will finally get profited,” said a retired bureaucrat requesting not to be named.
 Explaining his point further, he said given the enormity of the dog population, around one lakh of which are on prowl in the City, private agencies could bag contracts to get the dogs sterilized “more rapidly”.
 Given the fact that the government has already spent over Rs one crore on the construction of “resort like” dog pound at Shuhama on the City outskirts, there would be a need to construct more such facilities, where the dogs could be sterilized.

THE INTRIGUE
 Observers said if the sterilization work is handed over to private agencies or NGOs, the monitoring would be “almost impossible”.
 “Who will keep track if the dogs were truly sterilized or not and what kind of treatment they were meted?” asked a senior vet at SKUAST.
 Given apprehensions that bagging contract worth crores for the dog sterilization, would not be a cakewalk, the “dog mafia” started the morphing mischief.
 They for now are trying to pressurize the concerned from all quarters that the sterilization “be outsourced to private players.”

THE MODUS-OPERANDI
 Officials believe that some “dog rights activists” are behind this “proxy war”, which for now is being played on the internet through pseudo name IDs to send mails.
 One such pseudo name is trying to malign the image of a young vet who recently resigned from an animal rights organization pleading that “undue support for killer stray dogs was brining a disrepute to humanity.”
 This pseudo name is understood to have mailed a complaint to Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) member, a woman who recently visited Srinagar to review ongoing dog sterilization.
 While accusing the SMC of ill treating the dogs, the mailer wrote to the woman: “I thought you were actually sympathetic towards the dogs and am shocked to see you are now denying the poisoning after my mail and your own eye witness account(of visit to Srinagar)?”

THE SMC STAND
 When contacted the SMC Commissioner Dr GN Qasba admitted to have received such mails. He however has his own take on the issue. Though strongly refuting any dog rights abuse, Dr Qasba said such allegations couldn’t be ignored.
 “As a responsible organization we have to seriously look into such complaints because in a civilized society like ours everybody’s life, be it even stray dog does really matter,” he told Greater Kashmir.

THE IRONY
 But the irony is that nobody has formally come forward with a complaint. The SMC people said they tried to contact the complainants on their mailers, but the IDs looked fictitious because nobody responded or came forward in person.

THE MYSTERY
 Some months back a prominent “dog rights activist” from Kashmir, mostly stationed outside had mailed similar complaints to local media. But when asked to give details as to where the dogs were ill treated, he seemingly backtracked and went into hiding.

BOTTOMLINE
 While humans continue to get bitten and canines have been breaking all records of attacks, a million dollar question posed last year by then Chief Justice FM Ibraheem Kalif Ullah, remains unanswered: Will a dog stop biting after sterilization?

Lastupdate on : Sun, 27 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 27 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 28 May 2012 00:00:00 IST