Recently, a journalist called me over the phone and introduced himself as Anil from a news channel. The conversation was as below.
"Madam, don't you walk everyday on the Kowdiar Road?"
"Yes, I do"
"Have you ever been bitten by a pack of street dogs? Have you seen them attack anyone? Because yesterday a pack of unruly stray dogs attacked a pedestrian without any provocation and he was badly injured"
"That's surprising. Because I hardly see any dogs on the road these days. There used to be many dogs before. How do you know this?"
"We got a video."
"Can you please send it to me? I'll respond after seeing it."
"Actually, I do not have the video of dogs attacking the man, but of the man after the attack, bleeding profusely. His arteries got cut."
"Strange! I have seen men attack dogs..like stoning and hitting them with vehicles. I have never seen a dog bite a man without provocation, unless it is rabid."
"Please watch the 10 AM news."
I did. The news said a pack of dogs attacked this man and after they were chased away, they came back to attack him over and over again. Words such as 'he was dragged away', 'fallen man was attacked', 'came back again to attack', 'man was bleeding for hours' etc were used. The channel reporter further went on to speak about other people attacked by these viocious alien creatures called stray dogs and showed some visuals of crying children and skinny dogs on the streets.
Next day, the newspaper carried this news. Heading was- "No dogs will bite without provocation- says senior woman police officer." A distorted version of the conversation was given in which my name was left out. The report concluded-"People are aghast at the animal love of this officer in preference to human love!"
I wrote a letter to the editor mentioning that I was called by a journalist and my comments were asked. Then my comments were twisted out of proportions and published. I also protested in not publishing my name and distorting my views.
Result?
Another distorted and grossly edited version of my letter appeared in the next day's newspaper. It reiterated that the views of Sreelekha IPS was that dogs do not bite without provocation and invited people to respond to it. Naturally, the press selected the responses that were against my views and published those which said that street dogs do bite innocent by passers indiscriminately.
I traced out the man in the news channel. He confessed to me that he tripped on a sleeping dog and fell, his right leg went inside the dog's mouth and he kicked it away with his left leg. There were 3 small marks near the toes and one underneath. His shoe was undamaged but on the socks a little blood was there. Being a heart patient on medicines which thin the blood, he bled profusely from this injury. This proved that the report was highly exaggerated. Next day, the same newspaper published his photo and another distorted version- that he was hurt more by the remarks of ADGP than from the dog bite!!!
This media achieved its purpose! The Corporation of Trivandrum started catching dogs and killed over 55 of them in two days in violation of Supreme Court directions not to kill street dogs. The public started to poison, beat to death and hit with vehicles the dogs they accosted on the streets. People started walking on the streets with huge stones and sticks. Even in the assembly, the elected representatives united in their hatred of dogs.
In a program called "parayathe vayya", a sarcastic comment was made that the animal loving ADGP studied all the laws existing in India to protect stray dogs, failing which she wrote in defense of them!
A talk show by another channel on 'menace of stray dogs' silenced those who came in defense of sterilizing dogs and supported those who wanted to kill them.
KILL, KILL, KILL!!! Everyone is crying.
Humans are the most superior creation of God. All other beings are created for man's pleasure. No wonder Elephants are caught from forests, trained cruelly, tortured, paraded in grotesque attire on festivals, made to work hard by timber merchants and killed after it serves its purpose for claiming the insurance amount. No wonder most of the butcheries in the State are illegal. Pet shops do not have licences, they breed animals indiscriminately for profit, inbreed them and throw unwanted pups on the streets.
I do agree that humans are more important than animals. Rabid dogs should be put to sleep. Street dogs should be controlled. We should sterilize them so that their population will not increase. We should restrict indiscriminate breeding of dogs.
But is animal love such a big sin? Is it a worser sin than some media's insane love of 'rubber'?
N. K. Achary so rightly said once- "a journalist will address his neighbor's cock too 'sir', for it to leave the owner's cage and enter his!"
"Madam, don't you walk everyday on the Kowdiar Road?"
"Yes, I do"
"Have you ever been bitten by a pack of street dogs? Have you seen them attack anyone? Because yesterday a pack of unruly stray dogs attacked a pedestrian without any provocation and he was badly injured"
"That's surprising. Because I hardly see any dogs on the road these days. There used to be many dogs before. How do you know this?"
"We got a video."
"Can you please send it to me? I'll respond after seeing it."
"Actually, I do not have the video of dogs attacking the man, but of the man after the attack, bleeding profusely. His arteries got cut."
"Strange! I have seen men attack dogs..like stoning and hitting them with vehicles. I have never seen a dog bite a man without provocation, unless it is rabid."
"Please watch the 10 AM news."
I did. The news said a pack of dogs attacked this man and after they were chased away, they came back to attack him over and over again. Words such as 'he was dragged away', 'fallen man was attacked', 'came back again to attack', 'man was bleeding for hours' etc were used. The channel reporter further went on to speak about other people attacked by these viocious alien creatures called stray dogs and showed some visuals of crying children and skinny dogs on the streets.
Next day, the newspaper carried this news. Heading was- "No dogs will bite without provocation- says senior woman police officer." A distorted version of the conversation was given in which my name was left out. The report concluded-"People are aghast at the animal love of this officer in preference to human love!"
I wrote a letter to the editor mentioning that I was called by a journalist and my comments were asked. Then my comments were twisted out of proportions and published. I also protested in not publishing my name and distorting my views.
Result?
Another distorted and grossly edited version of my letter appeared in the next day's newspaper. It reiterated that the views of Sreelekha IPS was that dogs do not bite without provocation and invited people to respond to it. Naturally, the press selected the responses that were against my views and published those which said that street dogs do bite innocent by passers indiscriminately.
I traced out the man in the news channel. He confessed to me that he tripped on a sleeping dog and fell, his right leg went inside the dog's mouth and he kicked it away with his left leg. There were 3 small marks near the toes and one underneath. His shoe was undamaged but on the socks a little blood was there. Being a heart patient on medicines which thin the blood, he bled profusely from this injury. This proved that the report was highly exaggerated. Next day, the same newspaper published his photo and another distorted version- that he was hurt more by the remarks of ADGP than from the dog bite!!!
This media achieved its purpose! The Corporation of Trivandrum started catching dogs and killed over 55 of them in two days in violation of Supreme Court directions not to kill street dogs. The public started to poison, beat to death and hit with vehicles the dogs they accosted on the streets. People started walking on the streets with huge stones and sticks. Even in the assembly, the elected representatives united in their hatred of dogs.
In a program called "parayathe vayya", a sarcastic comment was made that the animal loving ADGP studied all the laws existing in India to protect stray dogs, failing which she wrote in defense of them!
A talk show by another channel on 'menace of stray dogs' silenced those who came in defense of sterilizing dogs and supported those who wanted to kill them.
KILL, KILL, KILL!!! Everyone is crying.
Humans are the most superior creation of God. All other beings are created for man's pleasure. No wonder Elephants are caught from forests, trained cruelly, tortured, paraded in grotesque attire on festivals, made to work hard by timber merchants and killed after it serves its purpose for claiming the insurance amount. No wonder most of the butcheries in the State are illegal. Pet shops do not have licences, they breed animals indiscriminately for profit, inbreed them and throw unwanted pups on the streets.
I do agree that humans are more important than animals. Rabid dogs should be put to sleep. Street dogs should be controlled. We should sterilize them so that their population will not increase. We should restrict indiscriminate breeding of dogs.
But is animal love such a big sin? Is it a worser sin than some media's insane love of 'rubber'?
N. K. Achary so rightly said once- "a journalist will address his neighbor's cock too 'sir', for it to leave the owner's cage and enter his!"
