Bengaluru: Bengaluru's dog breeding industry is booming. Prices of expensive foreign breeds, like Huskies, Rottweiler, Saint Bernards, retrievers and Great Danes to name a few, go as high as Rs 50,000 in the market.
But, in spite of such exorbitant rates, these dogs end up on the streets. Activists say that they have seen a rapid growth in abandoning of pedigree dogs in the recent years.
While fancy pedigree dogs may make good looking pets, they are much more than that, said Debaleena Ghosh, a city based animal welfare activist.
“It is a losing battle. The lack of knowledge regarding the breed and the lifestyle adjustments needed to get home a pet is astounding. In addition there is an attitude which equalizes pets as disposable things and not sentient beings, which is why we see a massive rise in abandonment,” she said.
Rekha Prasad, who runs Happy Paws Foundation, echoes similar sentiment. “I get 10 to 12 calls everyday reporting an abandoned Labrador or a Rottweiler. The mentality is that once you get bored of one dog, just throw them out and replace it with a new, younger breed,” she said.
As these pets turn out be more expensive than assumed, they end up on the street. “Another outcome of this attitude is that when owners or their families move cities, they leave their pet behind. They do not want to pay for the expenses for transportation,” said Debadrita Ghosh, animal welfare activist and founder of Precious Paws Foundation.
Older pedigree dogs with medical conditions like hip dysplasia, a common illness that affects larger dogs like German Shepherds, Labradors, retrievers and Rottweiler are the most common cases.
“We see about 20-25 cases of these fur babies being abandoned in the city every day. These dogs aren’t as resilient as our Indies. Being bought from breeders makes them even weaker as they are made from repeated breeding that cause many genetic illnesses,” observes Sundereshan Desiga, a part of Enablers United’s city branch.
“Every second person wants a fancy puppy and then as they get old and fragile, they are just thrown out. It is difficult to get them adopted too because of their age as well,” he added.
