Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the six corporations in the state to immediately take steps for registration and licensing of pet dogs within their respective areas and to identify sites within their territorial limits that can be dedicated for feeding stray canines.
A bench of Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and P Gopinath further directed the corporations of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Thrissur, Kochi, Kozhikode and Kannur to put up signposts at the feeding locations and to provide details of the same to the SHOs in their areas.
The directions by the court came during the hearing of a matter related to the poisoning of hundreds of stray dogs in the Thrikkakkara municipality area of Ernakulam district.
The municipality told the court that it has set up feeding points in 11 wards under its jurisdiction, to which the bench directed that signposts be put up at these sites identifying them as places where dogs can be fed and to provide the location details to the SHO of respective police stations.
The court said that this would ensure that "members of the public who feed community dogs at the identified locations are not subjected to any harassment while doing so, and in the event of any such harassment, the police authorities concerned can respond to the complaint filed by such persons".
It also said that the signposts at these sites should also indicate that the area was a no-plastic zone and a vigil be maintained to ensure no one dumps plastic or garbage there.
With regard to capturing the stray dogs in the municipality's areas for vaccinating and sterilising them at the closest shelter as well as provide any treatment they need, the court asked two animal welfare organisations -- Dhyan Foundation and Daya Foundation -- to depute their trained dog handlers to catch the canines and transport them to the shelters.
"The said community dogs shall, after being subjected to the birth control procedures, be duly vaccinated against rabies and other infectious diseases, rested and then taken back and freed at the very same location from where they were picked up.
"This exercise shall be undertaken by the foundations aforesaid in stages and carried on until all the community dogs within the territorial limits of the Thrikkakara Municipality are subjected to the aforesaid procedure and vaccination," the bench said.
The bench said the municipality shall render all assistance to the two foundations and the expenses incurred by them shall be reimbursed after the bill of expenses has been certified as reasonable by the court.
A direction was issued to the Kochi corporation to immediately take steps to open the animal shelter facility at Brahmapuram, which is lying unutilized, for use by the two foundations
The state government, meanwhile, told the bench that orders for reconstituting the State Animal Welfare Board would be issued within two weeks.
On this aspect, the court said, "While the reconstitution as aforesaid will be provisional and subject to modification once clarity is obtained as regards the statutory requirement regarding the constitution of the said Board, we would only insist that the state government make suitable arrangements for ensuring that the Board functions with an active web portal, pending identification of formal office premises, so that the general public can have access to the Board and its members in the immediate aftermath of its reconstitution".
The court had taken up the issue of the poisoning of the dogs after a video on it was brought to its attention.
