Activists call for better implementation of rules during Deepavali to protect animals

Many pet parents prefer to leave the city and go to quieter areas to avoid the loud noises which startle their pets.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

As Bengaluru gears up for Deepavali celebrations, the pet parents and animal activists in the city call for animal friendly celebrations.

Many pet parents prefer to leave the city and go to quieter areas to avoid the loud noises which startle their pets. Sneha Nandihal, founder of ‘I Change Indiranagar’ and a pet parent, said, “We go out of Bengaluru. We never stay here during Deepavali. A lot of dogs do suffer, specially the stray dogs as they don’t even have a safe place to go to or anybody to comfort them.”

Stray animals tend to run away to escape the noise and get lost according to many animal lovers.

Goutami Shastri, a resident of Yelahanka New Town, shared an instance where a community dog in her area had run away due to the bursting of crackers. “So this dog which had been here for eight years had run away to a place that was almost a kilometer or more away because of the constant fire crackers that were burst. She just started running and maybe did not know where to go. The only reason we found her was because we went to a shop in the vicinity and then we saw her. You could clearly see that she didn’t know where she was and had gone through a lot of anxiety.”

Cats and birds too

Not just dogs, but even cats and birds experience discomfort during the festival. Krithika Kudva, a resident of Vasanthnagar, remembering a shocking incident last Deepavali said, “I saw a kitten who was lying unconscious over the burst crackers. She was thankfully alive and so I carried her to my PG. There we fed her and luckily we found her parent and handed her over.”

Activists say that despite the government announcing several guidelines every year before the festival, the implementation remains poor due to which animals suffer. Nandihal shared an incident of failure of enforcement in Indiranagar. “There is no enforcement. A lot of times when I call the police and complain that crackers are being burst beyond 10 p.m., they say, ‘Deepavali Bidi Madam’ (it is Deepavali, leave madam)“.

Priya Chetty Rajagopal, the animal welfare activist who has been fighting against the unregulated bursting of firecrackers during Deepavali since 2016, said, “The rules say that only green crackers should be bursted from 8 p.m to 10 p.m and only during the three days of festival. The responsibility of following the rules rests solely with the Station House Officer of the local police station of which we have about, close to 250 in Bangalore.”

Need to be more empowered

She also shared that she and her organisation have since 2016 continually gone to the Home Secretary, to the Police, and to the locals to spread awareness on the rules and regulations to be followed on Deepavali and what they can do when they see it being violated. She added, “So we want pet parents to be more empowered, to call, to complain. We’ve had better results over the last few years.”

Activists also urge citizens to keep their homes open to the strays which seek shelter and providing them with food and water. They suggest that pet parents can ensure that their pets stay in a place where they are protected from the noise and that they can comfort them with relaxing oils and blankets.