Kerala DGP proposes Kashmir model to check stray dog menace

With the state government and Centre still clueless over how to deal with the stray dog menace in Kerala, the state police chief Loknath Behera has come up with a novel idea to check the problem. He said the state could experiment with the Kashmir-model in which strays are given the training to help the police in maintaining public safety and security.  

Behera said that the idea is to rehabilitate the street dogs in the police dog squad by giving. The dogs would be captured and given necessary vaccinations before imparting them training. 

"Native breeds are put into service for security and search operations in sensitive regions including Jammu and Kashmir. Taking lessons from that, the department will conduct a study and equip a dog unit in select police stations," Behera said. 

The police chief said that the department is mulling the project to rehabilitate the stray dogs with the help of local bodies. "We are considering dog squads comprising of trained stray dogs in select police stations on an experimental basis," he said. 

With a series of incidents relating to stray dog attacks reported from across the state, the issue has become a point of controversy. The clamour for mass culling of strays reached a crescendo when a 65-year-old woman was mauled to death by street dogs at Thiruvananthapuram last month. 

While the state government decided to put dangerous stray dogs to death, the Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and National Animal Welfare Board took a strong stand against eliminating them.  

• DGP Loknath Behera
• Stray dog menace
• vaccination and training