Dog relocation stops in Dhaka South, but for how long?

Animal lovers have forced the Dhaka South City Corporation to halt relocation of stray dogs by moving the High Court, but they cannot rest assured as the issue remains unsettled.

The authorities can keep dogs under control through coordinated management without relocation or killing, the animals’ rights activists say. An urban planner also says relocating dogs cannot be the right approach. 

After the city corporation decided to relocate 30,000 stray dogs recently, the animals’ rights groups opposed the move and held different protest programmes.

On Sept 29, their representatives sat with Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, who told them that the city corporation will not relocate the dogs if someone takes full responsibilities to keep the animals.

The organisations sent a letter to the mayor on Oct 8 with nine recommendations on managing the dogs following his advice. 

They recommended coordination between the health, livestock and local government ministries.

The other recommendations included vaccinating the dogs against rabies, taking programmes to allay citizens’ fears about dogs and inspire them into adopting dogs, and making registration of pet animals mandatory.

Rubaiya Ahmad, chairman of animal rights group Obhoyaronno, said the city corporation did not contact them after they sent the recommendations.

“We’ve done our part of the job, but it appears they are not doing anything,” she said.

“His (mayor’s) words have failed to reassure us of a scientific and compassionate decision,” she added.

Nadia Choudhury, an animal rights activist, said they want the DSCC to work with the communicable disease control wing at the Directorate General of Health Services to prevent rabies and control dogs just like Dhaka North City Corporation does.

“We need DSCC’s help for this. But more talks are needed first,” she said.

Sarwar Jahan of BUET’s urban and regional planning department believes the authorities should make guidelines on the management of dogs after consulting experts.

“It’s true that stray dogs are causing fear, embarrassment. But relocating or killing them cannot be the right decision. They have the right to stay in this city,” he said. 

In a recent interview with bdnews24.com, Mayor Taposh said: “You will never find a stray animal on the streets in any civilised country. This poses a risk to the people and they suffer from it.”

”Already we have taken an initiative to remove the stray dogs from Dhaka. But we’ll go for a coordinated approach,” he added, declining to comment further citing that a writ petition on the issue was being heard by the High Court.

Actor Joya Ahsan, Obhoyaronno, and People for Animal Welfare or PAW filed the petition on Sept 17.

After initial hearing, the panel of Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam and Justice Mohammad Ali ordered a halt on relocation of the dogs until the final order.

As many as 50,000 dogs in the two city corporations are being vaccinated under a national programme on eradication of rabies at the DGHS.

Obhoyaronno Chairman Rubaiya said the government agencies lacked coordination in managing the dogs.

“One agency is vaccinating the dogs, another agency is relocating them,” she pointed out.

Nadia said even the two city corporations lack coordination. Dhaka North is vaccinating the dogs with the help of a non-government organisation while Dhaka South is relocating the dogs.

Asked if the relocation of the dogs will hamper the vaccination efforts, SM Golam Kaiser, deputy programme manager of the rabies eradiation project, said the relocation did not happen when they began the programme.

“The city corporation is also involved in it. We are giving the vaccines at ward level. We began the work after taking permission from the mayor. So far I know, the relocation work has been halted now,” he added.