Stray dog deaths due to hunger rise in Kashmir

Tribune News Service

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Srinagar, December 17

Dogs are dying of hunger and cold in the ongoing winter in Kashmir as business activities of the food industry are affected due to continuing disturbances.

With dip in business activities of the food industry, officials said dogs don’t get enough to eat to survive in the winter when they need energy rich diet to combat the cold.

Dozens of carcasses of dogs are seen lying on roadside across Kashmir and the national highway dissecting the Valley from south to north.

“Unlike in the past, when Kashmir would witness isolated cases of dog deaths, the number has certainly increased in the past few months,” said a municipality officer.

“These days, on an average, we lift five dead dogs within the city limits and bury these in the Galandhar high ground on the city outskirts. The number of deaths is also high in other parts of Kashmir,” he said.

Officials said dog deaths have increased after non-vegetarian food outlets were shut in protest against the abrogation of Article 370 by the Central government on August 5.

Srinagar, which leads in canine population in Kashmir, has 49,000 stray dogs as per the 2013-2014 census conducted by the Humane Society International.

At least one lakh birds are killed in Srinagar on a normal day, which produces nearly 40,000 kg garbage for stray dogs, said Dr Javaid Rather, Veterinary Officer Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC).

Rather said during the strike, the availability of garbage minimises which was absolutely one of the major factors responsible for their deaths. He said dogs needed energy-rich diet during winter to sustain them in cold and to fight against hypothermia – a condition in which body temperatures slips below normal.

He, however, put the figure of average dog deaths per day in Srinagar to two.

Animal rescue and rehabilitation centres are coming up in all districts of Jammu and Kashmir for the prevention of cruelty to animals.

Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Baseer Khan last month directed all deputy commissioners to identify 2 kanals of land to set up these centres. “Animals in distress will be lifted and rehabilitated in these centres, which will have canals for stray dogs also,” Rather said.