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Dogged determination
By Esther Williams and Ishani Ranasinghe
Scraggy pups wandering aro-und marketplaces, temples and garbage dumps are a common sight in Sri Lanka. Everyone talks about them but how many do something?
With stray dog numbers on the rise, the Blue Paw Trust has taken up their cause and put forward a proposal to the Colombo Municipal Council, which is now under discussion.

The plan envisages a programme for municipal workers to catch strays, which will then be vaccinated and sterilized by volunteer vets. The organization is to open shelters to house the strays for 10 days to ensure proper post-operative care and medication for them.

Each dog, once vaccinated and sterilized will have an ear tattoo with the date. The dog's photograph with all the vital information will be kept on record for future reference, says Shevanthi Jayasuriya, an active member of the Blue Paw Trust.

Explaining that strays are mainly a result of irresponsible pet ownership, Ms. Jayasuriya says that the current eradication programme has showed no significant reduction in their population. “Of the Rs.150,000 spent by the Health Department in 2000, 80% went towards vaccines for humans bitten by dogs.”

The Blue Paw Trust, with the support of the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) also hopes to train municipal workers, especially dog catchers, on how to get about their work safely and humanely; to identify rabid dogs; to protect themselves from infections such as ring worm and scabies that stray dogs invariably have and conduct euthanasia on rabid dogs.

Among the other activities planned are public awareness campaigns, with the focus on children to “lend a hand and mend a paw”; collection and analysis of information on strays and long-term action to bring down the number of strays.

Meanwhile, Anusha David of the Trust has been approached by the corporate sector to sterilize strays that are in the vicinity of their offices. “We will be willing to do so if the corporate sector assumes responsibility by meeting the cost of sterilization,” she says.

Sterilization, she thinks is the solution. “Stray dogs and their offspring can produce over 67,000 puppies in a year. Cats and their offspring can produce 420,000 kittens.” Effective sterilization will bring down the numbers, she adds.

Rescuing strays
Roaming around on roads with vehicles whizzing past, many a dog and cat fall victim to accidents, losing a limb or even their lives. In the heart of Colombo lives a kind-hearted person who reaches out to such abandoned dogs and gives a place in her heart and home for them.

Rescuing accident victims began for Chula Arsecularatne with Lucy. Severely wounded and abandoned, Lucy was in great pain when she was found. Today this Great Dane wanders about with no signs of the trauma she has undergone.

Seadevi was found close to the sea near the railtrack in Moratuwa. Though she recovered after much care was showered on her, she has only three limbs.

Tara is another unfortunate stray that had fallen into a tar pit and broken her leg. She had to be hand fed and looked after. She now runs around in her adopted home.
Tosca's home was the security post in Katubedda until she had a litter. When she found her pups missing one day she had run across the road in anguish and been knocked down by a vehicle.

Lucy, Seadevi, Tara and Tosca, along with many more stray dogs and cats have got a good home after being rescued and restored to health at "The Lucy Trust for Abandoned Animals" which is Chula's house.

It is filled with dogs because of her love for animals and her yearning to make a difference in this often cruel world.

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