An incident of a pet dog biting a schoolboy in Bhubaneswar recently has snowballed into a major controversy prompting civic body authorities to come up with a set of new rules for keeping pets at homes.
Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner, Vijay Amruta Kulange on Friday said the pet animal guidelines will be implemented by next week.
As per the proposed guidelines, a person need to take due permission of the BMC for keeping an animal as a pet. Under new guidelines, a verification will be done if a person has adequate space and healthy environment for keeping pets.
Permission will be granted if the concerned owner shows a certificate issued by a vet along with requisite vaccination.
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“Those who have animals need to register themselves and certificate by vets will be mandatory. The vaccination of animals and other safety and other issues will be considered besides asking owners to submit an undertaking that their pets will not cause inconvenience to others. We have prepared a draft and the guidelines will be released next week,” said Kulange.
Meanwhile, the BMC’s decision to come up with rules and guidelines has not gone down well with former MP Tathagata Satpathy.
According to Satpathy, “I am unaware why BMC is doing this. But I think it may be an issue pertaining to an individual. Pet animals are mirror of the family who keeps them. I feel if there is any violence in a house, its impact is on the animals for which the owner should be held responsible.”
Subrat Prusty, President Canine Club, said, “Has Animal Welfare Board of India come up with any notification that such breed of animals (dog) cannot be kept in a house. BMC should not tell what type of breed should we keep? Do you think I will keep any breed which is not safe for the entire family members.”
(Reported By Soumya Sahoo)