BRAVE CANINES AWAIT JUSTICE
Recently, animal rights activists were up in arms against the auction of 25 sniffer dogs who served long years in the Kandy Kennels Division. According to the Police the dogs had been involved in about 300 crime cases and 600 drug detection raids. But animal rights activists were of the view that they need to be given more dignity for the service they have rendered. Therefore at the onset of the incident attorney-at-law and animal rights advocate Lalani Perera wrote to the Acting Inspector General of Police expressing her concerns. The letter pointed out the fact that breeders (especially commercial breeders) exploit these animals and subject them to a life of misery, with absolutely no concern for their welfare.
Further, Sri Lanka has no law to protect these animals from such unscrupulous persons. The activists therefore urged the government to halt the sale of these dogs and instead take measures to give these dogs an opportunity to live in a caring environment for the rest of their lives. A suggestion was also put in place to consider introducing a retirement plan for these dogs within the Police Department in order to prevent exploitation and as means of showing gratitude for the services these animals have unceasingly rendered.
“Wherever they are, they should be looked after,” she said speaking to Daily Mirror Life.
Since no action was being taken and photos of one of these dogs that was chained went viral on social media, animal welfare advocate and founder of Tails of Freedom Shilpa Samaratunga along with founder of Embark Otara Gunawardena met with the Deputy Inspector General of Police. They discussed how the Police and private animal welfare organisations could work together to serve justice to these dogs. Following the meeting Defense Secretary Major General (Retd.) Kamal Gunarathne informed acting IGP to not to auction retiring Police dogs but to keep them at the Department and provide them with the necessary care.
Speaking about alternatives, Samaratunga said that dog auctions are not new in countries such as UK. “Initially they used to euthanise but now they have moved towards auctions. They used to give these dogs to the handlers with the support of the state. But there are strict civilian adoption policies. Even the screening process is very strict. They are being assessed on many areas from whether they have had pets before, how much it would cost the family to keep such a dog, type of house they live in and so on.but how the local auction was done is quite strange particularly because the Police didn’t check on where these dogs were going to.”
However it is not easy to put up a retirement kennel because there are space, financial and labour constraints but we are willing to get involved and help the Department. “There are other schemes where dogs get a pension according to their ranks. So if there’s a way they can work around a pension like for an officer with a rank there will be a way of sustaining their maintenance. They can also call for sponsorships,” she added.
Samaratunga further said that they are willing to work with the Police Department on any number of options as they want the best for these dogs. “We also learned that some of these dogs were younger but they didn’t have proper skill sets. Therefore we are ready to re-home them responsibly and checkup on their welfare regularly.”
But several news articles claimed that there were orders for these 25 dogs to be taken back but the authorities haven’t been clear on what their next plan of action is. However, the animal welfare activists are continuing their fight to ensure that their requests didn’t fall on deaf ears and that justice is actually served for these brave canines.
Animal rights activists were up in arms against the auction of 25 sniffer dogs who served long years in the Kandy Kennels Division. According to the Police the dogs had been involved in about 300 crime cases and 600 drug detection raids
SAMARATUNGA “There are other schemes where dogs get a pension according to their ranks. So if there’s a way they can work around a pension like for an officer with a rank there will be a way of sustaining their maintenance. They can also call for sponsorships,”