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Kerala artist to parade stray dogs in New Delhi

Kerala's campaign against stray dog menace is going to the national capital of New Delhi with an artist planning to parade 50 strays in front of the residence of Federal Minister Maneka Gandhi next week.
Artist Thrissur Nazeer is staging the protest against the Women and Child Development Minister as she is preventing action against the violent canines by the local bodies that are under fire from people confronting the menace.
Nazeer, who shot into the Guinness Book of World Records by playing mouth organ continuously for 101 hours and performing non-stop mimicry for 40 hours, will also try to ensure the support of Delhites, who are grappling with the problem equally, by playing music during his protest in front of the 14, Ashoka Road residence of the minister.
The artist will begin his journey with 50 stray dogs to New Delhi in a 28-wheeler truck on September 31. He will also play music in all major stops en route to Delhi. The artist told the Khaleej Times that people from all walks of life had extended their support to his campaign. He said that his campaign was not for freedom to kill the dogs. "I don't want the dogs to be killed. I want only the government to ensure the right of the people to walk the streets without fear of being attacked by stray dogs," says Nazeer.
He said this was possible now with stray dogs invading all public places across the state. They pounce on the people, especially children without any provocation. They also do not spare people travelling in bikes and cars. The stray dogs have become a threat to the lives of people.
Nazeer decided to do something against the menace after a series of attacks on children in different parts of the state early this month. In one case, a stray dog pulled out a three-year-old child from the verandah of his house at Ambalathara in Ernakulam district and mutilated his eyes, lips and back.
The incident, which was followed by a dozen stray dog attacks in different parts of the state, created a sense of shock and anger in the society and once again pitted animal lovers against those in favour of controlling the number of stray dogs.
The animal lovers have been up in arms against the authorities after an all-party meeting convened by the Chief Minister favoured culling of 'aggressive dogs'. They launched a massive campaign against this after a panchayat in Kannur district implemented the decision by culling 40 stray dogs by administering potassium cyanide injection last month.
According to the 19th Livestock Census, there are nearly one million stray dogs in the state. Out of these, 268, 000 are street dogs. Experts say the number of street dogs would double every year and they would number more than 1 million by 2017.

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