Chennai, Aug 21 (IANS) Well known film director Ram Gopal Varma, who has been very vocal on the issue of stray dog menace, has now come up with a list of suggestions which he thinks can help fix the issue.

.Taking to his X timeline on Thursday, Ram Gopal Varma penned lengthy posts on the issue, explaining why he thought that the measures suggested by dog lovers to deal with the issue would not work.

In one particular post, he went on to suggest a combination of both short term and long term measures that must be taken to address the issue.

He wrote,”The “stray dog menace” is one of those problems where emotions, public safety, law, and animal rights all collide. Solutions have to balance compassion with practicality, and they often will vary depending on both the existing infrastructure and local attitudes.

“I don’t pretend to be an expert but just using my common sense observations, I broadly think the solutions fall into short-term controls and long-term structural fixes.”

He then went on to suggest seven steps to deal with the problem. He wrote, “1. Stray dogs to be removed with immediate effect around schools , markets, residential streets and slums no matter the methods or consequences. 2. To create dog squads and make them accountable for tracking aggressive or diseased dogs and any aggressive, rabid, or attacking dogs should be culled immediately, unless some dog lover wants to take them home.”

As the third point, he wrote, “To seriously scale up Animal Birth Control squads like a war operation,and not just for the usual NGO photo-ops nonsense. The squad members can be rewarded based on the numbers they sterilised and vaccinated. 4.If dog lovers must feed, they should register and feed only at designated points after obtaining permission and also in the presence of a government observer.”

As the fifth point, he suggested, “Random roadside feeding should be made illegal and punishable. 6. Encourage adoption of dogs with tax breaks, housing incentives, or municipal fee waivers etc. 7. Initiate campaigns to morally look down upon those dog lovers who prefer foreign breeds (This won’t work because dog lovers won’t touch a ugly , dirty and probably diseased dog ).”

He then went on to put out a separate section titled “The Realistic Mix” under which he wrote, “Immediate capturing and killing the most dangerous, clear high-risk among them. Long term to sterilize and vaccinate systematically, zone by zone and keep a tight check and also massively publicise the progress. That’s the only way I think India can realistically attempt to get out of this stray dog nightmare.”

–IANS

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