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SOCIETY AND TRENDS: DOG IMPORT
Doggy Frauds
People pay big sums for foreign-bred dogs. Unscrupulous
traders, who flout all health and import laws in meeting this demand,
pass off animals of dubious origins as exotic ones.
By Methil Renuka
"We would like to buy a Neapolitan Mastiff."
"I can get you one in a month from my
person in Moscow."
"How much?"
"A female pup would cost Rs 45,000.
Exotic pets are cheaper in Moscow."
"Will it land directly in Delhi?"
"Delhi has become strict. We now have
to get the pups through Bangladesh and then through Kolkata."
"What about the quarantine and health
papers?"
"Who cares for quarantine? I can get
the health papers made for you here. There's such a demand for imported
dogs."
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Passed off as a Cocker Spaniel for Rs 3,000
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There has to be.
With dogs becoming status symbols, anyone aspiring to elegant living craves
a canine ornament. So what if they can't tell a spaniel from a cur or
a Boxer from a Great Dane. The trader in the conversation above, like
most others in his business, knows how to meet the demand. He operates
out of a pet shop in a posh diplomatic colony in Delhi and talks big money
and boasts of "high-society clients". The Mastiff he's peddling
for Rs 45,000 won't cost over Rs 15,000 locally. The "exotic pups"
are bought cheap from dog bazaars in Tashkent or Moscow by clandestine
agents-mostly Russian women-who fly in to Bangladesh, and then to Kolkata
and Delhi. The pups are checked in as hand-baggage, or packed surreptitiously
into cartons with tiny holes if more than two are brought in. The lucky
ones that survive get in without health certification. Those not so lucky
arrive asphyxiated, dehydrated, diseased, even dead.
It's a story animal activists love to hate.
A story, they say, is happening everyday. A press release from the Ministry
of Animal Welfare last month reflects the same: "Exotic dog breeds
are brought into the country for commercial purposes and not as bona fide
pets, and later sold at huge profits or given as gifts." The collective
ire is against the sometimes gruesome way in which these pets are transported,
and that some of them-even if they come through official channels-get
in without adequate duty or health checks at the time of arrival. This,
says Ashok Kumar, trustee, Wildlife Trust of India, "violates import
laws and hence invites uncommon diseases into the country, which are disastrous
for Indian breeds". The diseases include leptospirosis and Corona
virus.
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TRAVEL TAGS
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German
Shepherd: An Indian-bred German Shepherd Dog costs Rs 5,000,
an imported one around Rs 12,000
Bulldog: Indian:
Rs 15,000; Imported: Rs 45,000
Saint Bernard: Indian:
Rs 12,000; Imported: Rs 45,000
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A Neapolitan Mastiff brought from
Moscow (above) costs Rs 45,000, while a home-bred one would cost
only about Rs 15,000
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In February this year, a motley consignment of
about 52 pups of every conceivable "exotic" breed-Labradors,
German Shepherds, Poodles-arrived on a Russian passenger flight at Delhi's
Indira Gandhi International airport. The pups had been sedated and stuffed
into 10 boxes, the size of fruit cartons. The boxes were seized by custom
officials and the pups lodged in the animal quarantine facility at nearby
Kapashera.
It was the first time that such an operation
came into focus. Custom rules do not permit more than two "bona fide"
pets per passenger and these require health certificates from the country
of origin. But are these rules followed? While customs officials deny
lapses on their part, the February seizure only forced traders and importers
to look at alternative routes-through Bangladesh, for instance.
Traders import as many as 10 pups as "personal
pets" every month and manage to make a huge profit on at least half
of them. For them, it is "an honest living" that panders to
the urban craze for imported dogs as status symbols. On arrival, the animals
are allegedly thrown into kennels on motel rooftops, mostly in Delhi's
Paharganj. Dead or diseased ones are callously got rid of. The Delhi trader
says he has young men seeking exotic pups to gift their girlfriends. A
Saint Bernard puppy (Rs 45,000), wrapped in fancy ribbon, makes for an
unusual gift.
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"The pups are smuggled in through
remote airports. They have no health and quarantine records."
S. Madhok, President, Capital City Canine Club
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"Who cares for pedigree papers or whether
the dog has been inoculated?" asks S. Madhok, president of Delhi's
Capital City Canine Club. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (Transport
of Animal Rules, 1978) clearly says, "A valid health certificate
by a qualified veterinary surgeon that the dogs and cats are in a fit
condition to travel and are not showing any sign of disease, including
rabies, shall accompany each consignment." It also specifies length,
width, height and elbow size specifications of the type of crates for
transport. "But the pups are smuggled in inhuman conditions and land
up in remote airports like Amritsar. They have no health records. These
peddlers have established contacts in Moscow and advertise in Sunday classifieds,"
says Madhok.
"It's a commercial venture from the beginning
to the end," says Geetha Seshamani, vice-president of Frendicoes
Seca, an animal shelter in Delhi's Defence Colony. "They are playing
to our addiction for pedigree. These pups are of poor quality, reared
in horrendous puppy mills in Russia or Uzbekistan, and underfed. Coming
from cold climates, they can't adjust to temperatures here. By the time
they get here, at least 40 per cent of them are dead. The traders who
bring them don't care because they make profits anyway." The incidence
of disease is so high that Seshamani often gets anxious callers bringing
unhealthy pups to her shelter for treatment.
Through the right channels, animals can be brought
into the country as cargo or as baggage through four centres: Delhi, Mumbai,
Kolkata and Chennai. The government has categorically specified that import
of live animals, pets or otherwise, is to be allowed only with a valid
import licence from the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade. It also
requires clearance from animal quarantine authorities, who isolate the
imports for 21-30 days. "But do they quarantine?" asks animal
activist Iqbal Malik. Authorities argue that animals should not be let
off without a quarantine check, but invariably the necessary papers are
"never referred" to them. "Baggage rules need to be amended,"
says an official. "Who knows if the same passenger arrives with two
dogs every week?" The ministry release adds, "As customs officials
are generally not aware of the commercial value of these expensive breeds,
they release them after payment of minimum charges."
Fuelling the craze for exotic dogs is yet another
set of traders and breeders who palm off strays as foreign breeds. In
Delhi's Shadipur Depot slums and in the streets of Karol Bagh, pups of
stray dogs are fattened and passed on as "exotic breeds". One
eager trader in Patel Nagar was selling a "cocker spaniel pup"
for Rs 3,000. The unsuspecting customer can't tell the difference. Says
Madhok: "To roadside vendors, all dogs are Labrador Retrievers. Ask
them for pictures of parents of these breeds, and they will gawk."
"The only way to shield bona fide doglovers
from unscrupulous traders," suggests Seshamani, "is to get everyone
to pay heavily on duty and health." Man's best friend can only whimper
in agreement.
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