BANGALORE: Your lovely pooch might soon be in troubled waters if it does not have licence papers of its own. Wondering why? An old BBMP order has mandated that all pet dogs should be licensed with the civic body.If you already have a pet dog or if you yearn to get one home soon, better get it a licence before your fur ball is impounded. Looking at the increase in stray dog menace and number of rabies cases, the BBMP will soon be very strict about the rule that applies to all pet dogs in the city.According to the authorities, the procedure is hassle free and all you need to do is approach the local assistant director of Animal Husbandry, BBMP with the dog’s vaccination certificate and get your furry friend stamped safe.“The owners need to pay Rs10 for the application form and `100 for getting the licence.Later, a booklet and a metal badge is provide, certifying the dog,” said Dr Parviz Ahmed Diran, joint director, Animal Husbandry, BBMP.The licence would be valid for one year, after which the dog owners have to renew it.According to Dr Parviz, it will help in tracking people who are involved in illegal breeding. “Pet owners, specially of female dogs do not act responsible, and this adds to the stray dog menace.They leave the puppies on the streets after an accidental mating or a disease.Tracking such owners gets easy if the dog is licensed.But the process is more useful as far as putting a check on the number of rabies cases is concerned,” said Dr Parviz.But as matter of fact, less than 10 per cent of the total pet population in the city is licensed till date.According to the pet census 2007 (June-July), 1,43,522 pet dogs were recorded but only ten thousand of them have licence.“Response from public has been very poor and people do not act unless we get hold of their necks. Those who have the licence is the population that is troubled by the neighbours,” said Dr Parviz.But ask the common man and most of them either seem to be clueless about the process or are innocent as far as getting started with it is concerned.“I do not know about the pet licence, else I would have got one. I don’t think many pet owners know about it. Public should be educated and made aware about such good initiatives.Organisations like CUPA can come in handy here,” said Preeti R, a pet owner. Those who know about it and want to get their pooches licensed, fall victims to the hands of illegal breeders.“I got Scotch (pet dog) 11 years ago and always wanted to get a licence but it never happened. I could not get hold of the breeder after that.Once a person buys a dog, the breeder is responsible to hand over the papers. But I feel that licensing your pet is a wise step not only as per the rules but also otherwise.It becomes very difficult to breed a dog without proper papers in place,” said Karan Tadon, a pet owner.Most of the pet dog owners City Express spoke to were clueless about the rule and feel that BBMP should come up with measures to spread the awareness.Making the task more difficult and annoying is the fact that the owners are asked to visit the centre repeatedly, as at times, these centres fall short of the metal badges and other items required for licensing.“I visited one of the centres to get my pet dog licence only to find out that the centre did not have metal badges and I was asked to come back the next day,” said Sandhya Madappa, member trustee of CUPA.Although Sandhya feels, that the rule might prove beneficial if implemented properly.“It is very useful as far as controlling rabies is concerned.The process gets initiated only after the owner comes up with the vaccination certificate. It also can put a check on illegal breeders.But to make it successful, a lot more needs to be done on the part of the authorities.Coming up with licence issuing camps in every area separately might serve the purpose, as reaching out to the centres to get the licence makes the process deterrent.Moreover, there should be some concession for people with Below Poverty Line cards,” said Sandhya.
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