Udaigarh: Amid corona outbreak owing "she" dog as pet is increasingly becoming a burden on the pet lovers in the tribal belt and they are increasingly abandoning her, even though it costs them emotional trauma. The financial burden of keeping one over a dog is proving too much for the tribal folks in the area as their resources have dwindled due to financial downturn after the pandemic.
The managers of dog shelters said that more female dogs are being rescued in the area. They say that especially post-pandemic the pet owners and animal lovers are grappling with lack of resources. They are not even able to feed their pets. And here lies the point. The pet owners are preferring the dogs and deserting the female dogs.
Animal lovers who are aware of such cases expressed dismay and distress, while reflecting on the pets that have been suddenly become homeless.
A villager Shivam Thakur, is raising more than half a dozen stray female puppies after their owners abandoned them. He said that a male dog is a requirement of the families of tribal community as it protects their homes.
The rural community believes that it is necessary for the male dog to be nurtured with best food to make it strong and in the presence of female dogs, food and other resources will have to be shared, said a villager.
The second reason said a villager is that male dogs scramble for mating with the female dogs in the area and often damage crops in the process. The practice is so prevalent that only 10 percent of them attain adulthood. Unlike bigger cities, Jhabua-Alirajpur districts lack NGOs that work in the field of animal welfare.
When contacted a social worker Kirtish Agnihotri from Ranapur said that village panchayat, Nagar Panchayat and municipality need to work to resolve the situation.
Dr Rajendra Damore, a veterinary doctor from Udaigarh said NGOs and Jeeva Daya Samiti performs sterilisation of dogs in big cities. But no such organisation is working in the Jhabua-Alirajpur district.
Udaigarh gram panchayat sarpanch Gajraj Maurya said we do not have any plan. Even if we save them then in future the female dogs which we will rescue will become a headache for the village, Maurya said.
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