Spare a thought for the forgotten community of dogs around the country during COVID—19 lockdown

The government’s failure to sterilise dogs without interruption during the COVID- 19 situation will result in the increase in the population of community dogs in the country.

This was evident during the COVID-19 closure of businesses and offices when thousands of dogs were found on the streets going hungry.

These dogs were fed by office workers and eateries in the city and suburbs.

Compassionate dog feeders who undertook to fèed the dogs in these difficult times went through immense harassment and humiliation to obtain curfew passes from the police.

We spend our own funds to cook food and carry it around to feed the dogs. I cook around 40 kilos of rice and curry to feed the dogs in Colombo every day.

There are about 259 community dogs feeding on scraps in the

Meethotamulla garbage dumping ground.

India is the best example to follow. When curfew was imposed the Indian government issued a blanket order to issue passes to all community animal feeders.

Another problem we face is the difficulty in persuading households to neuter their dogs.

The community has a responsibility to sterilise their dogs. Dog owners let their dogs litter continuously contributing to the growing dog population.

One female dog can have up to 30 puppies in a year.

Also the public should be more compassionate towards animals which depend on them for food.

Every household should try to feed at least one dog in the community, the one outside their gate or on the road.

Anusha David Rescue Animals Sri Lanka