SC seeks Kerala reply on plea for dog pounds in the state

The Supreme Court today sought Kerala government's response on a plea seeking setting up of dog pounds in the state to prevent stray canines from attacking people and livestock.
A bench of justices Dipak Misra and Amitava Roy gave the state government four weeks to respond to the application which contends that by catching and sheltering stray dogs in such pounds, it would reduce the incidents of attacks by the canines. Pounds are enclosures maintained by public authorities to confine stray or homeless animals.
The petitioner, Sabu Stephen, has submitted a proposal for stray dog pounds in order to make the roads and public places free of stray dogs.

The application was filed in a batch of petitions by various NGOs and individuals being heard by the apex court, which has set up a panel headed by former Kerala High Court judge S S Jagan to inquire into the incidents of common people and children killing stray dogs and the support rendered to this by several vigilante groups in the state.
The panel, in an interim report, had said that more than one lakh people in Kerala have been bitten by dogs in 2015-16 and warned that frequent stray dog attacks on children there have created a dangerous situation.

Subsequently, the apex court in November last year had restrained vigilante groups in Kerala from imparting training to children and distributing airguns to people at subsidised rates to kill stray dogs and publically propagate that there was a "war" against canines in the state.

The Centre had earlier, in an affidavit, said, that "involvement of various agencies/departments at the central and state level, more particularly at the state level, was required in the proper and effective control and management of stray dogs as per ABC Rules implemented by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI).
"As the task had to be performed through the municipal authorities and other state government departments at the state level, the state governments should be advised to set up and strengthen institutional mechanisms and the AWBI should be part of such mechanism.

"State governments have already been advised by the central government to set up state-level Animal Welfare Boards which should be the nodal mechanism to perform this task."
It also said the Health Ministry may be asked to identify schemes or source of funding for control and management of stray dogs through relevant agency at the state level.