Face-offs between animal lovers, hsg societies lead to soul-searching

Rushi R Tawte

Mayuri Harshal Gala, resident of Yogi Hills, Mulund West, had filed a case against Jeetu Chandani, the secretary of her society for cruel conduct towards stray puppies in the area in June. Chandani allegedly took some six stray puppies living in the society and abandoned them. Mulund cops filed an FIR against Chandani and arrested him. Gala calls the case a game changer. "Due to the media coverage and the police case, Jeetu Chandani is calm and controlled towards the animals [today]. His behaviour has changed." Gala used to feed the dogs late at night, so as to avoid the attention of the people in the society. But after mid-day brought this case to the public's notice on June 7, the animal-loving residents of Yogi Hills feed and care for the strays openly.

Now humbled, Chandani says, "I had taken the decision not to feed strays because I was thinking correctly, and I [still] believe it was the right decision. The dogs would perform sexual acts and pee on the water tank. I didn't want people, especially kids, to see that. This was the main reason I requested the members to not feed the animals within the society premises."

Mayuri Gala. Pics/Rajesh Gupta

Charged with animal cruelty and facing arrest, he still says, "Members of housing societies must understand and co-operate when some decisions are made by the secretary as it's for the betterment of all of us. Feeding strays is not an issue, but their population increases and their actions as animals can't be controlled." mid-day reached out to all stakeholders in this to understand the issue and address it correctly.

Savitri Kataria
A resident of Lok Everest in Mulund West, the society issued a notice to Savitri Kataria, asking her to refrain from feeding dogs or birds in the future. It stated that she would be fined '500 for each instance, if observed practising even after the society's decision, which would be added to her maintenance bill. Other residents, such as Rashmi Thakkar, have also been fined. Sunil Kataria, Savitri's son, says, "The designated place where the society demands us to feed them is a dump yard, where dogs rarely wish to come."

Chandan Shadadpuri. Pic/Swarna Srikanth

Rushi R Tawte
The residents of Rudra Darshan Society in Mulund East have filed a complaint against Rushi R Tawte for feeding strays, which creates nuisance in the society. Tawte says, "Wherever I feed dogs in Mulund, people don't accept. In my own society, the other society members don't give shelter to the animal even if it's raining heavily."

Also Read: These keepers make sure that stray dogs don't sleep empty stomach

Chandan Shadadpuri
Chandan Shadadpuri, a cruelty case investigator at Society for Animal Safety (SAS), was made to move to another building in 2016 from Madhav Sankalp in Kalyan West for feeding stray dogs. He now lives a kilometre away in a building called Avon. Today, he isn't allowed to feed the dogs of Madhav Sankalp as he is an outsider. He says that the members of the society are cruel towards animals and don't feed or take proper care of them.

The dump yard at Lok Everest in Mulund West, where the society expects people to feed the dogs

Narendra Patil, senior inspector, Khadakpada police station, said that they are finding solutions to the issue with mutual talks and discussions. On July 22, both parties were at the police station. The residents of the society demanded in writing that if they took care of the dogs, Shadadpuri wouldn't intervene.

Plant and Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
Nilesh Bhanage, founder and CEO of PAWS says, "Animal cruelty has always been happening but stayed unnoticed till date." Inspired by Maneka Gandhi, Bhanage says, "The root cause for such cruelty is lack of awareness. It isn't always that the society or its secretary is at fault." When there are rules laid down by the society not to feed the dogs or puppies on the stairs or any other place than designated, the feeders must understand and co-operate. PAWS has solved 52 such cases in the past year, wherein both sides were counselled and a mutual, amicable decision was taken."

Bombay Animal Rights
"The key reasons for animal hatred and cruelty is man-animal conflict and lack of awareness," says founder Vijay Mohanani. Co-founder Vicky D'silva adds, "Our suggestion would be to keep an animal help desk at certain police stations, so that these problems could be addressed." According to them, feeders come across issues such as abuse and ill-treatment towards strays, no financial assistance and no proper medical assistance on sterilisation and vaccines.

Advocate speaks
Lawyer Deepika Atmaram Suhanda says, "We all know that we have conflict between animals and humans. Why? People are so busy in their lives that they forget animals are also part of our society. Under Indian laws, animal cruelty is an offence under Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Also, according to IPC section 429, anyone subjecting an animal to cruelty is punishable with imprisonment up to five years and fine or both. But, feeders or caretakers must also take responsibility and not create a nuisance to others."

Also Read: Mumbai: Pet peeves no more in Versova's animal-loving society

What the Animal Welfare Board of India says

Guidelines for caregivers
. Those who feed street dogs are advised to participate in their sterilisation and yearly vaccination, too.
. Caregivers are advised to keep the sterilisation and vaccination status of the dogs they are feeding.
. Caregivers are advised not to feed street dogs close to residences on their own. They are also advised to avoid feeding them adjacent to playing areas and walking tracks. Caregivers are advised to clean up feeding sites after feeding is over.
. Caregivers are advised to participate in solutions for maintaining cleanliness.

Guidelines for housing societies
. Beating and driving away street dogs is not allowed; animal birth control and release back into the same locality is allowed.
. There is no law that prohibits the feeding of street animals.
. Attempts to interfere with or harass persons who choose to look after and feed community dogs may be tantamount to the grave offence of criminal intimidation.
. If any human subjects aggression or hostility towards dogs, which results in snapping and biting by the dog in self-defence, human aggressors shall be the only ones to blame.

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