Editorials

Image: An elderly Sikh rescues a dog from the floods — courage, duty, and coexistence in one frame. 

Every stray is proof of what we took from the forests — and rescuing them, whether by cleaning wounds or pulling a pup from the floods, is not charity or spectacle, it is justice.

The Irony of Our Times

A lioness feeding her cubs evokes awe. Yet in our cities, where forests once stood, the beings left behind — the dogs and cats on our streets — are mocked, displaced, or brutalized. They are not intruders; they are survivors of the habitats we erased. To protect them is not charity but restitution.

The rescue photo above is a reminder that duty is physical and immediate. One hand extended in a flood is the same law we owe every day on dry land.

From Jungles to Jungles of Concrete

Urban India was carved out of forests, wetlands, and rivers. Where elephants roamed, we built highways. Where leopards stalked, we raised posh colonies. Their presence on our streets is the clearest reminder of our unpaid ecological debt.

The Protector’s Burden

Feeding a stray is an act of duty. These animals did not choose shrinking spaces or asphalt. Every bowl of food, every rescued paw, every protest against cruelty is a small repayment of a large debt.

There is no profit or glamour in cleaning wounds or sitting with a dying pup — this is service, not spectacle.

Common Accusations and Clear Answers

1) “Why don’t you adopt them and keep them inside your house?”
Adoption is noble, but no one can adopt hundreds. Feeding and caring in community spaces is practical compassion. Courts have upheld that street dogs have the right to food and shelter where they live. Community care is coexistence, not abandonment.

2) “They’re showing off, doing ‘seva’ for attention.”
True caregivers rarely advertise. They spend their own money, face hostility, and rescue at personal risk. This is responsibility, not self-promotion.

3) “They have nothing better to do.”
In reality, caregiving is time-intensive, resource-heavy, and emotionally hard. Idleness is mocking from the sidelines while doing nothing to heal the damage.

4) “Coexistence is impossible; the damage is too great.”
This is surrender disguised as realism. If impossibility were the rule, there would be no trees planted, no patients treated, no children educated. Progress has never required perfection, only persistence. Each sterilization, each shelter, each summer water bowl builds dignity and balance.

5) “If a dog or cat bites, the feeder is responsible.”
This is a myth. Under the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, municipalities — not private citizens — are responsible for vaccination and sterilization. Feeding is a lawful, protected act recognized by the Supreme Court; a community caregiver cannot be blamed for an animal’s natural behavior.

Legal Myth-Busting

• Harming animals is a crime: Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 (cruelty punishable); IPC 428 & 429 (killing/maiming animals — imprisonment up to 2–5 years).
• Compassion is a duty: Constitution Article 51A(g) — every citizen must show compassion to living creatures.
• Feeding is a right: Supreme Court & Delhi High Court have affirmed that community dogs cannot be relocated and may be fed in their territories; harassment of feeders is illegal.
• RWAs have no punitive powers: RWAs (registered under the Societies Registration Act) are not statutory authorities. They cannot fine pet owners, issue challans, seize pets, or ban feeding; only the municipal corporation has such powers. Defamation or harassment by RWAs (e.g., notices/WhatsApp shaming) is actionable under IPC 499–500. Collusion to target residents can be challenged as abuse of power.

A Thought Experiment in Justice

If honesty prevailed, we would return our colonies to the jungle and let the wild reclaim space. Since that is unlikely, the next-best justice is responsibility: one family, one adopted stray; one colony, one bird-and-green corner; one bungalow, one patch restored to nature. Those unwilling should at least contribute through taxes or care — luxury without restitution is debt prolonged.

The Cycle of Life Doesn’t Bend to Cynicism

Nature is not swayed by remarks — a sarcastic line cannot refill a lake or feed a hungry pup.

Coexistence as the Only Way Forward

The question is not whether strays should be protected, but whether we have the right not to. Every glass tower and colony stands on the bones of forests. Coexistence is not a luxury — it is survival. A city hostile to every other form of life will one day turn hostile to its own.

A Call to Conscience

The cubs in the wild live because their mother fights for them; the strays in our streets live because someone fights for them too. Let the rescue in the flood be our everyday law on land: hands that reach out, laws that protect, and citizens who stand up.

Bottom line: Coexistence isn’t charity. It is justice — legal, ecological, and human.