Owners throw pets on streets amid coronavirus scare

Not just pedigree dogs being abandoned but also cats and novelty pets like rabbits and birds, released into the open

Fears that the household pets could transmit COVID-19 has prompted the dumping of various types of animals into the street by their panic-struck owners.

Animal activists from across the city, speaking to DH spoke of not just pedigree dogs being abandoned but also cats and novelty pets like rabbits and birds are being released into the open.

“More than pedigree dogs, I have seen a lot of domesticated cats being abandoned. These are animals with bells in collars,” said Actor Samyukta Hornad who has been feeding street animals in the city during the lockdown.

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“I think that the COVID-19 crisis has brought the best and worst in people. On one hand, we have a lot of golden people selflessly volunteering their time to take care of stray animals. On the other hand, we have people dumping their pets into the streets,” Hornad added.

Sudha Narayanan, Founder Trustee of the Charlie’s Animal Rescue Centre in Yelahanka, said that the scale of abandonment has increased over the last week - after revelations that “Nadia” the Tiger at the Bronx Zoo had coronavirus.

“I felt this was a trigger for many pet owners,” Narayanan said, adding, however, the abandonment had started from day one of the lockdown itself.

“In the first three days, we had people tying their pedigree dogs, like Pugs and German Shepherds to the gate of our shelter at night. Since then, our shelter alone gets about seven calls or emails daily from people demanding that we come to their homes and take their pets away,” Narayanan added.

Colonel Dr Navaz Shariff, Chief Veterinarian at the PFA Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Centre in Sunkalpalya, said that the Bengaluru animal welfare network has been coming across many cruelty cases every day where animals are being abandoned.

Narayanan pointed to one case of a six-year-old female labrador that had been abandoned in front of the Veterinary College at Hebbal on Sunday afternoon. “This dog, which was found unconscious, had a gaping wound on its side. Bystanders said that a car had come around and that the people inside had thrown her there,” she said.

Circular Needs to be Issued

BBMP Special Commissioner for Animal Husbandry D Randeep said he was concerned by the abandonments but said there was little that could be done, except to try and educate people that their pets could not transmit the disease to humans.

This may not be enough, according to Priya Chetty-Rajagopal of Heritage Beku. She called for an immediate circular to be issued by the Animal Husbandry Department urging the general population not to harass caretakers, pet owners or encourage them to abandon dogs.

“Offenders should know that it makes them guilty of abetting to the crime of Section 11(1)(i) and Section 11(1)(j), PCA Act, 1960’ which comes with a prison term of up to three months.” Chetty-Rajagopal said.

However, it may not be that easy. “People are in a state of panic. We are now at the stage where they are calling up shelters and threatening them with bodily harm if they don’t come to take their animals away,” Narayan said.

Textbox: Scientific Studies Show No Transmission from Pets to Humans

Colonel Dr Shariff, Chief Veterinarian of the PFA, said there was no information to support the fear that pets transmitted the coronavirus to humans.

“In all the scientific papers published so far on the matter, the consensus is clear: animals cannot further transmit the Sars-Cov-2 virus to humans and there is no recorded case of the same so far,” he said.

“All four known cases of pets having tested positive for COVID-19: A dog in Hong Kong, a dog in Germany, a cat in Belgium and a cat in Hong Kong were kept and cared for by humans who were COVID-19 positive,” he added.