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A collar that saves strays from killer roads

Circle of Life
Last Updated 23 May 2017, 19:46 IST

  It’s not just pedestrians who are at risk on the city’s roads. Stray dogs frequently get run over by speeding vehicles, especially at nights.

A city-based organisation’s unique initiative, however, aims to prevent over 8,400 stray dogs in the city from getting hit by vehicles on the roads. The ‘Circle of Life’ initiative by Sarvodaya Sevabhavi Samstha, is India’s first mass campaign to fix reflective collars on to stray dogs. Besides preventing dogs from being knocked down, the collars will also reduce accidents caused by dogs crossing roads at night by 80%.

“Most of the emergency calls we receive at our animal shelter are about animals getting injured in road accidents. Most of these accidents happen at night when drivers can’t spot the dogs crossing the roads,” said Dr Akshay Prakash, co-founder and trustee of Sarvodaya Sevabhavi Samstha.

“Over 50% of the stray dogs brought to our centre for treatment are accident cases. These dogs either die due to severe injuries or suffer  irreparable damage to their legs and spinal cords. By putting a reflective collar on them, this can be prevented,” said Prakash, who is also a  veterinarian.

“At present, we will fix collars on stray dogs in Bengaluru East area and are also extending it to Yelahanka. We have already tagged over a thousand dogs with these collars,” added Prakash.

They have collaborated with Unikorn, a pet management mobile app to fund these reflective collars. People can donate to this cause by going to Unikorn’s website or by downloading the Unikorn mobile app and clicking on the ‘Circle of Life’ ticker.

By doing this, one can sponsor as many reflective collars as they can. The collar will also reduce medical expenses of over Rs 10,000 per dog for two months by reducing accidents. Prakash says that the ends of the reflective collars are stitched together to make sure that they do not fall off and to prevent curious children from pulling them out.

Prakash said he wants to extend the campaign to stray dogs on highways. The city’s dogs, in spite of being vulnerable, are used to the city’s traffic and are cautious while crossing roads, he said.

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(Published 23 May 2017, 19:46 IST)

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