HYDERABAD: Pet owners are an anguished lot over a lack of facilities to send off their four-legged companions through burials or cremations, despite there being one lakh pets and around four lakh strays in Hyderabad.
Neerlekha, a city resident, who lost her pet dog Snowy, said that while she was inconsolable over the death of her dog, she did not know what to do with the carcass. Most pet owners Deccan Chronicle spoke to said they faced a similar situation when they lost their pets.
Neerlekha said that after several enquiries, a watchman at the Government Veterinary Hospital in Narayanguda put her in contact with a team, which charged Rs.2,000 for burying the dog’s remains in Golnaka burial ground.
Govindan, a resident of Boduppal, who lost his 13-year-old German shepherd called Rudra, said: “I tried for any burial place or crematorium for the dogs, but finally ended up burying him in an open place near my house. When it comes to pets and stray dogs, civic authorities fail to provide proper information to citizens.”
City residents said that while Hyderabad is trying to gain a foothold globally by upgrading various aspects, it remains far behind international cities in providing facilities to send off pets. They said that most of the dead dogs, especially strays, end up in garbage dumps.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials, however, said that they have set up a dedicated animal crematorium at Fathullaguda near Nagole, and it is operated by Peoples for Animals.
This has been operational for the past few months, they said. GHMC’s chief veterinary officer Dr. Abdul Wakil said, “On average, three dogs are brought to Fathullaguda crematorium every day.
Looking at the need, GHMC is coming up with four more facilities, at Kukutpally’s Mahadevapuram, Serilingampally’s Nalagandla, Khairtabad’s Chudibazar and Rajendernagar’s Khatedan.”
