Thiruvananthapuram: Stray dogs have little to do with the tourism industry in normal times, but in the social media-influenced age, Kerala’s plan to cull the stray dogs that roam its streets is fuelling anti-Kerala feelings inside and outside the state.
Observers fear that Kerala’s tourism industry may be affected if the campaign on social media to boycott Kerala ends up denting the image of the state and reduces visitors to the state.
A spattering of animal lovers in Kerala has voiced concerns over the plan to cull stray dogs, but their voices have been mostly muted within the state.
Over the weekend, however, animal lovers and activists from around the country lent their support to the campaign in the state by holding rallies in different cities including Mumbai, Kolkata, Jammu and Bhubaneswar against the state’s dog-culling plans.
Some rallies were held outside India, too, putting Kerala in danger of being marked as one of the spots on the global map for animal cruelty. No official figures are available regarding the exact number of stray dogs killed by local authorities, but animal rights activists speculate that some 40,000 dogs may have been killed in the state.
More alarming for the state is the ‘Boycott Kerala’ tagline that the activists are using, to urge Kerala to be more sensitive to its dog population. Among those who raised concern for the lives of stray dogs in the state was popular compère, Ranjini Haridas.
In Bengalore, animal lovers rallied against Kerala’s decision and urged the government to adopt a collect-neuter-vaccinate-return method to deal with the stray dogs, instead of killing them. The protesters held a placard that tread, ‘Would you kill a homeless child?’
Officials in Kerala have said that their move was only intended to address the problem of rabies-infected stray dogs. Across the state, there are frequent incidences of children and even adults being attacked by stray dogs. However, online campaigners against the state’s move to cull stray dogs insist that they will not stop “until Kerala stops the mass slaughter”.
