Time is Money, money is time! How often have you heard this phrase or used it? Do you have the time to even read this article? There’s hardly any time left to finish what I’m writing, it’s 12:06 am, I have to get up in 5 hours. Complete home chores, prepare breakfast, gobble it, and get ready for one of the most difficult tasks in the world…Asking people for their time.

Excuse me, can you spare few minutes for the environment? Can you really? Most of us run against time, trying to catch up with the life we dream of and hope for. Yet life passes us by and we don’t even realize it. It makes you wonder whether taking few minutes out to save some lives is too much to ask…

We know you have to rush to work, make those important phone calls. Reach on time for that important appointment then go home to the people who are waiting for you…your family. The people you care about the most, protect fiercely and work endlessly to provide for. Isn’t it? You sacrifice for them, travel under severe weather for them and deal with the most difficult devil (your boss) for them. Where’s the time for anything else?

At Greenpeace, we are not all that different…we are looking out for our family. You are family, just like every life on this planet. We spend our time spreading awareness about our environment on this fragile earth. Conducting scientific research, power-packed campaigns and finding alternatives and solutions to make our world a better and safer place for all. We walk on the streets asking people to spare few minutes for the environment. To listen. To act. To support.

An international NGO, referred by some as “environmental watchdogs” because when dangerous situations are about to raise their ugly heads we sound the alarm. With presence in more than 42 countries with 35,000 supporters in India and 2.8 million worldwide Greenpeace is getting stronger than ever. Power-packed campaigns against climate change, toxic dumping, genetically modified crops and deforestation, to name a few, are getting recognition and gaining support all over the world.

Do you know what it is like to see a life being snuffed out? We hope you don’t have to face the horrors that many have suffered and are still enduring because someone somewhere didn’t have few minutes for the environment…I hope when you see a Greenpeace volunteer next time you can spare a wee bit of your time to listen to your family. Greenpeace on Earth!

You tackle reason with reason, logic with logic but how does one tackle the unreasonable? First it was Vidya Thakur with the diabolical plan to achieve stray- free Mumbai, and keeping the dogs separate from the bitches! Only leading to further aggression in them. And now we have Mr.Jairaj Pathak with a even more sinister plan kill them as Shanghai and other developed nations do so. Now that we are resorting to mirror effect lets also ape them by being slum free, garbage free and beggar free.

Let’s all pack our bags and move back into the woods from where we once came. Because it seems we have either forgotten to be civil or are simply bored of it. The wild, mediocre and senseless now attracts us. Reason, individuality and scientific temper are flushed down for fanatism religion and herd mentality. As you read the following you will understand why.

To solve a problem one has to first understand it keeping in mind all the aspects and minute detail. It requires a vision to imagine the outcome and the repercussions like the ripples formed in a pond. A to Z have to be covered so that the problem does not raise its head again.

Today it hurts to see how from civil we have turned to the uncivil. Is it out of sheer boredom of monotony or being too civil? Just yesterday I watched in disbelief men dressed in their tuxedos and women in their evening gowns eating monkey eyes live pregnant maggots and explaining how they try to crawl up your food pipe, alligator legs, its head, and how it is delectable! Chefs in the kitchen casually tossing bloody eyes, private parts of all animals, frying squirming tarantulas n boiling oil and the grotesque carnival continues. But nothing beats the Koreans eating live baby octopus as the octopus struggles for its life up the food pipe with its suckers firmly on the palate and the tongue while the eater tries to chomp it down. All this only reminds me of the scene from Indiana Jones Temple of doom. And just up north in India we have temple for lakhs of rats who are reincarnation of a god, so devotees travel here to drink from waterholes in which’s theses rats play and urinate and devotees eat food bitten by them as Prasad.

If this is how we want to live then let’s move back into the woods( as I suggested above)  so we don’t have to put up with the façade of being civil, reasonable.

Each day as I read these views one can conspicuously see the sheer hatred these people have for animals and I would like to mention that animals rarely create or generate wastes that harm nature unlike humans who churn out trash and choke the very womb that supports us – nature

I doubt any government  policy ever goes through the above .So is the case that we are facing now .It shows poor insight and more quick fix solutions to the dog population and which I guarantee is bound to come back. Vidya Thakur needs to understand canine behavior first to tackle this and the scenario due to which this problem has risen.

I shall systematically go through the so called proposals so that a layman reading this gets a clear picture.

1) Aim – to achieve a dog free city by shifting them on the outskirts of Mumbai.
Scenario- you will find dog population mushrooming where slumdwellwers live and multiply and side by side the army or rodents. The tones of garbage thrown acts as a buffet for them. . A simple case of cause and effect and nothing else, action and consequence.
The aim should be to remove all the slums and let the city look like a city and not a village; even villages have their own rustic charm. Shift all of them out of the city but surprisingly a ‘plausible’ argument for the slum dwellers is that their jobs are near by, their children schools are near by. So if we stretch this argument a little further we all should encroach anywhere that suits are fancy preferably near your office or your  child’s schools and cry fowl when the legal owner asks you to vacate , you block roads and destroy “ other ‘ peoples private property and of course public transport you cripple the city to justify your ‘existence’.
(and while they are sterilizing to curb dog population they should also do the same with the burgeoning population in Mumbai and fine people with more than two children ) What is the future of all those toddlers and children that you see each day at the traffic signal? How safe are they? Who is more cruel you refusing to give them a rupee or there parents that bring them into this world knowing that they have no means to provide from them?

Another crucial element that is never mentioned is that most of these bitten cases where children are involved are from the slums and pavement dwellers who exist so closely with the dogs and their children (toddlers) pushing and tugging with the strays. Many pelting stones at them for fun or forcefully tying them with a strong rope as there pets.

And Yes I agree with all the canine haters i.e. if a dog is rabid and hostile must be put to sleep.

2) Aim – keep dogs and bitches separate to control population!
Scenario – this is the lamest one! Lets retrace our steps to problem solving as mentioned in the above paragraph ‘to solve the given problems all aspects and spheres have to on the table in front of you’. All animals in general have 3 needs and are not mentioning wants here. They are 1) food 2) water 3) last but not the least SEX. It is only humans with our comparatively larger brain have managed to control and regulate the above three. We have heard of celibates and yogis that do not eat and drink but survive on sunlight. But unfortunately animals (we too are from the same category) have been unable to achieve the above. To separate them would be the most cruel action only aggravating the problem.

Sterilization is the best solution to all this. And repeatedly readers have been reverting that killing them does not wipe out rabies neither does it control population or curb it (as mentioned by the WHO also ) The dogs in the vicinity keep a check on the feline population  in turn they keep check on the mice and the dominoes effect continuous . We cannot wipe out an entire link in the chain.

Many readers called dogs as pests , extreme situation must be handled with extreme remedy but in the thesis of an argument if we stretch this argument to other area then rodents , crows , beggars , slum dwellers excreting on the footpath newly made to walk on , politicians and corporators that induce communal disharmony risking lives , beggars and their children born into this cruel world begging f or a living and selling babies to get that perfect emotion to get more money out of you ,the eunuchs that tease and get naked when you don’t pay them , all these are a pest are they next on Mr.Jairaj Pathak list ??

When you move away from this news and wham! There is another that girls and boys should not study together once they attain puberty? So we are voluntarily creating sexually starved nation. We come into existence from the union of man and women and we term it as sin and a crime. We want all things tailor made, no one wants to make the effort and read the scriptures from which all these so called reforms origin. Suicide bombers are justified killing of civilians and children also in the name of god.

I don’t know how many pf us still remain, who have not yet fallen victim to this above madness and mediocrity. And watch out for more absurd and monstrous events you just have to flip the morning paper or put on your T.V. The majority has already been infected by incivility.

(Suneeta is an avid animal lover and Petnopolis.com member. Her profile is available at http://www.petnopolis.com/suneeta)

Sure I have a litter of Cocker Spaniels for sale remarked a stern, confident young man, standing anxiously outside a veterinarian’s clinic. I observed him for a while and could not help overhearing his conversations on the phone, as he stood with a small carton in his hand. Finally I was called inside, and as I was getting my queries answered, I noticed a litter of 6 puppies in the carton ! I involuntarily picked up a tiny, golden, soft pup from the box….miniature Spaniels!!

“Their tails need to go” he said. Go where? I thought. Well, all I could do then, is watch what was happening in a state of surprise.. These little puppies, who could barely stand up, were going to get their tails chopped off…

WHY?

Simply because they are Cocker Spaniels with long tails!! Wouldn’t that look weird? They will not sell.. So, these little lives are put through a procedure called Docking.

Docking was a procedure done a very long ago, when dogs were used for hunting, and the slightest sound of its tail could distract the prey. But today, when hunting itself is a banned sport, why is docking continuing? Today, docking has only aesthetic value, and nothing else! The sooner dog lovers and pet owners understand the unconditional love for their pets, the easier it is to discourage breeders from practicing this inhuman thing of docking a puppy’s tail.

A dog’s tail is the reflection of the emotions. The various gestures and positions of a tail and the different ways of a tail wag is the body language of a dog. This is one of the basis of reading animal behaviour..

The disadvantages of docking somehow over-rule its advantages; which apparently are none! Giving away of the sutures is the most commonest of the complications, which then lead to a wound which is very easily prone to infection, maggots, bleeding and of course immense pain. Also, the bone could be exposed if the surgical technique is not performed correctly and carefully.

The tail contains numerous nerve endings, which is why it is a very sensitive part of the body, and NOT a vestigial organ which can be done without!! An animal’s sense of navigation and direction is governed by its tail as well. So, one can imagine the damage its caused..

Well, another cosmetic surgery performed on our canines is something called ‘Cropping’. As the name suggests, it is a procedure where the ears of a dog are surgically made to stand up erect by cutting the pinna – which is the external ear.

Why is this done?

“I want my dog to look alert!”

“I want him to look like a German shepherd”

“He’s a watch dog! His ears must look fierce!”

The common thing in all the above reasons, is the word ‘look’…

Easier and more interesting and painless ways of getting dogs to actually be good watch dogs is through good training and sharing a rapport with you pet. It takes time, patience and most of all, humanity. Importantly, dogs are instinctively and innately alert. No amount of cropping or docking is going to alter nature’s way of creating our canines.

Again, disadvantages of cropping outstand the miniscule advantages.

Firstly, the surgery does not have a definite success rate. The ears may not get the shape one might have thought of, and the puppy then wont meet your expectations.

The ears are exposed to the dust and moisture causing infections. Haematomas- collection of blood-leads to severe infections. Any condition of the ear, especially the pinna, is extremely painful, as the skin is very thin and is closely adherent to the cartilage.

To conclude, as conscientious animal lovers we need to stop and think. Our pets don’t chose us on the basis of our appearance…At any given time we’re greeted with those floppy ears and that outrageous wag!! Im sure you don’t want to put them under the knife!

Everyone in Mumbai knows about the cruel ways in which animals are kept at Crawford market for “sale”. Ok, may be not everyone but definitely each animal

lover does. Yet the animal market there flourishes and business goes on. Foodstuffs and FMCG items are kept in a better condition, and one is not even

talking legalese.

It’s a known fact that most shops have no licenses and it’s even illegal to conduct business with them as well as keep the animals sold there as pets.

Their condition is so pitiable that even a child would cringe.   Despite this a number of people go and buy pets from these shops. Every person I spoke to,

and I spoke to four different people completely unconnected to each other, had almost the same excuse for buying a pet from there.

Three of them had bought squirrels and one a Pomeranian puppy .
“I couldn’t see the plight in which the animals were kept and have rescued them”!!! (Yeah right!!!)   If you wanna rescue animals there are so many on the

streets, or even up for adoption from pet pounds Why not give them a home? It would even be cheaper on your pocket coz the truth is at least as far as the

dogs are concerned it’s all about the money. When I stated this reasoning to one woman who had just bought a squirrel I was told: “If I had not bought it

some one else would so its “cool”!!
Well this brilliant reasoning would make sense if we were talking about a one-time sale. However what these buyers are doing is giving these illegal pet shop

owners business and doing it in a way that they don’t feel bad!
Fact is you may be, rescuing one animal from there but at the cost of rescuing one animal you are placing another one in the same situation till some other

saintly person like “her’s truly” comes along to “rescue” it.

The fact is today no one cares enough to stop or take any action against these sellers because there are too many other “issues” that the authorities have to

deal with to manage time for this.

So what? If the authorities do not do anything, we certainly can!
We may be saving some money and a “life” but the price that the other animals that replace the sold oneson the  “shelves” pay for this is too high.

I think its high time we do some thing about this here in Mumbai and everyone who would like to be a part of the “BURN THE PET MARKET” community please call

and report with your customary white robe and a can of gasoline!

LOL just kidding ……on a serious note all those interested in forming a community, which would like to work towards improving the conditions of these animals,

can write to us. Its high time we did something here, people. Pets need power and dignity lets give it to them….

Usually people get pissed off.I, on the other hand, get pissed on!

We have a nutty Boxer named Bobby who lives a few furlongs away, a five year old boxer male. A unique piece really. His eyes remind me of Jerry Lewis, the yesteryear comedian, and his temperament is of a typical Mills and Boon hero silent and stern.

On one of our morning walks we ran into him and his owner, following the etiquette of good dog owners we stopped for a little chat n pet. We greeted Bobby and turned to the owner who was telling us something about him. Next thing we knew Bobby lifted his leg and….yes, peed on me! I jumped back but it was too late!
Clear case of dominance of course. Territory marking is common with male dogs, a deliberate act not to be confused by housebreaking problems or submissive urination. Marking is a way of claiming territory.

Few days before that incident with Bobby I met a stray. Cute mongrel, about a year old. I named him Pisoody. Longing to make friends but scared as hell. After some encouragement he came forward and went into submissive mode; on his back, tail tucked between the legs. I did what one must do in such a situation. Bending down in a sitting position, I waited holding my hand out for him to sniff and asked him to come to me. He did, again he was on his back. For a moment everything seemed ok. Then just as I was about to pet him he shot off a sprinkler. That’s submissive urination, that’s like the ultimate gesture of submission but quite common. Many people either shout at the dog or stop going to him altogether. This only makes it worse for the poor canine. If you are patient and understanding things are a lot easier. We had a happy ending because I kept giving him non-threatening/friendly signals and in the next 5 seconds we became friends.

Whenever you come across a submissive or a threatening canine think before you act. The last thing you want to do is give the wrong signal. Never run or advance towards the dog. Always give out a non-threatening signal. Stand your ground, be confident and friendly. Let the canine come to you. Let him sniff you and your hand before you go to pet him. Avoid petting on the head unless you are well acquainted with the dog, stroke either under the chin or behind the ear, holding your hand out, palm facing up.

As for me…I just hope that in the future canines don’t mistake me for a fire hydrant, tree or a lamp post!