Bini Dahal

As night time sets in, the neighbourhood is filled with dogs howling and barking. Within a week, the number of dogs on the street has doubled. How can this happen? People apparently leave their pets on the streets after a point of time when they feel they cannot raise those animals anymore. Sadly, street dogs are not much-taken care of. Since such dogs have to live on little of food thrown by people here and there, they are deprived of nutrients and affection. With insignificant medical care, their health deteriorates more leading to further new problems.
Leaving a well-bred dog on the street does not seem to be the only behaviour shown. These days more brutal acts have increased greatly against dogs. A fortnight ago, two men brutally and repeatedly thrashed a street dog called Khaire with a spade and a rod while tying the animal to a pole at Attaishkilo in Dhulikhel. Such a merciless step was taken after the dog apparently had bitten a small child. A video clip of the same went viral only on April 11. No sooner had the disquieting video drawn an attention of the animal welfare community than the latter visited the police to report the case. But the police did not give much importance to the mater. Thankfully, the viral video has acted as proof forcing the police to investigate into the case.
In a nation where perpetrators involved in heinous crimes such as rape and murder roam around the society freely, it is not a shock if animal torturers are not brought to justice on time or if they receive very light punishment. Yet, the increasing number of animal right activists and also the rising public interest towards the safety of dogs have been quite empowering.
So, on April 14, animal welfare campaigners staged a demonstration at Maitighar Mandala against the brutal killing of Khaire. Few campaigners joining the event had brought their pet dogs along with different placards calling for prompt action against the perpetrators. Some of the placards had hashtags such as JusticeForKhaire and harsh reality stating hashtags like “There are more dangerous people in this world than dangerous animals”.
To conclude, the killing of Khaire is a clear indication of sheer ignorance and an inhumane act. All the dog ever wanted was pure love and affection. And being an animal that is much more inferior in comparison to human beings, how can we punish a dog for such an action that it itself does not understand? Also, is killing the only way to end animal-induced attacks? This is a big issue to ponder over.
Celebrating festivals like Kukur Tihar with both street dogs and pets for a day may be a perfect social media post but ignoring and even attacking the same animals for the rest of the year is the biggest irony ever. It is high time we paced up our street animal management activities and also controlled them. In particular, to those people who are or will raise fancy-bred pets, please be whole-heartedly committed to taking care of them or rather trying to adopt street dogs. The police too should consider brutality against animals a worthy cause to fight against. Only then can we protect them.