By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 7 May: PETA India is organising an event in Dehradun tomorrow to promote Animal Birth Control as part of “Be Kind to Animals Week”. This event will be held at noon at the Plaza area in front of the Lemon Tree Hotel on Rajpur Road. Volunteers dressed as giant condoms and holding placards reading, “Dogs Can’t Use Condoms, Sterilise Them”, will promote the cause. They will hand out leaflets promoting sterilisation in Dehradun. The aim of this event is to help residents brush up on their ABCs: Animal Birth Control.
PETA India campaign coordinator Utkarsh Garg has reminded that millions of dogs and cats suffer on the streets or languish in animal shelters because there aren’t enough good homes for them. He added that PETA India urges everyone to get their dogs and cats sterilised and to consider adopting a dog or a cat in their family. He stressed on the slogan, ‘Don’t buy but adopt a homeless animal instead’. Garg further reminded that, in Dehradun and across India, dogs and cats struggle to survive on the streets. Many go hungry, are deliberately injured or killed, get hit by vehicles, or are abused in other ways. Countless animals end up in shelters due to a lack of good homes. Every time someone buys a dog or a cat from a breeder or a pet store, an animal loses a chance at finding a home. An estimated 70 million cats and dogs are living on the streets or in shelters in India, according to the State of Pet Homelessness Index, a report by Mars Petcare India in partnership with an advisory board of leading animal welfare experts.
Garg said that the problem of stray animals can be controlled to a great extent by sterilising the stray animals and pointed out that sterilising one female dog can prevent 67,000 births in six years, and sterilising one female cat can prevent 4,20,000 births in seven years. Sterilised animals also lead longer, healthier lives and, in the case of males, are less likely to roam, fight, or bite.
He added that the Union Government has notified states of the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023, under The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. As per the Rules, the Animal Birth Control Programme for the sterilisation and immunisation of community dogs is to be carried out by the respective local bodies, such as municipal corporations, municipalities, or panchayats. PETA India encourages dog and cat guardians to get their companion animals sterilised so that puppies and kittens that have already been born have the best chance at finding a good home and living in comfort and safety.
