Kudos to citizens collaring strays to deter mishaps

Representational images. Pic/iStock

Students of a college in the western suburbs and a Non-Governmental Organisation working with animals and others have started a campaign to put reflective collars on stray dogs across Mumbai. They intend to collar 2,000 canines in the next six weeks with an aim to alert speeding vehicles to the presence of dogs on roads. This move will help prevent accidents.

This is a good initiative and one more step in resolving the stray animal and citizen conflict that we are seeing, reading or hearing more about in recent days. We have seen pitched battles go right to the courtroom when it comes to strays and the citizenry. While these may not just be about accidents on roads, many of these are about feeding strays, any initiative that makes the city safer is welcome.

This shows compassion, thought and responsibility. It is heartening that youngsters have taken up the onus of preventing accidents.

The collar drive will make our roads safer. Stray animals can get hit. Vehicles trying to avoid a stray, or startled drivers who spot a stray dog at the last minute may veer dangerously trying to avoid the animal. This also puts pedestrians at risk or may result in an accident of other vehicles if the driver ahead takes an unexpected turn or brakes very sharply and those behind cannot do so.

While the organisations say this is animal welfare, the larger effect of collaring these canines is beneficial all-round.

This is also a good example of involving ordinary citizens in city issues and making them stakeholders in improving Mumbai. We have those who criticise and complain, and we have action takers. We need more of the latter, whether it comes to cleaning drives, green initiatives, tackling pollution or even raising awareness. A thumbs up to participation and people power.