ID Card for Stray Dog Carers

In an unprecedented move a Government agency in India (Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI)) is to issue identity cards to people who voluntarily feed or care for street dogs (full report here). The aim is to reduce or even eliminate the harrassment that such people get from those who want rid of the dogs. The ID card will not give the holder any rights but will instead state that they have the legal right to care and feed these animals and that the AWBI supports this right.

I could imagine some suspicions about the need for such carers to register personal details in order to get a card but the linked report indicates that reaction so far has been very positive (at least from animal rights groups). There is also scope for misunderstandings such as that carers require such an ID card, which is not the case.

Part of the reasoning for this ID card being a good thing is summed up with the quote: “Most people don’t realise that sterilisation and vaccination of stray dogs would be possible only through feeding and befriending dogs”. Organisers of any humanitarian stray dog management initiative will find that such local carers are absolutely invaluable.

Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer)