Several months prior to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was held in November 2013 in Colombo, a massive operation to make the city of Colombo look clean and attractive for the event, was implemented by the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development.
Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development
Part of this operation was to remove nearly 300 homeless dogs from the streets, and house them in temporary shelters. The organisation for Animal Rights and Welfare ‘Ahinsa Sri Lanka’ was told by the Colombo Municipality, that the dogs will be released in the areas they were taken from, soon after CHOGM ended.
This assurance was made public, through newspapers and websites prior to CHOGM. But at the latest news conference held in this regard, Animal Rights Activist and the Chairperson of the Animal Welfare Trust Iranganie de Silva,( wife of Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva) disclosed, that these dogs numbering 280, had been taken in vehicles belonging to the Armed Forces to Halavatha. ” we can assume that the dogs were killed as they have disappeared from the Dematagoda slaughterhouse without any trace and there was no transparency on the part of the CMC on what they did to the dogs” she said.
Iranganie De Silva claims that despite a Presidential order banning the killing of street dogs, the Colombo Municipality had totally disregarded it. Therefore, the killing of these innocent animals is totally illegal, she states.
Though the Colombo Municipal Commissioner Badrani Jayawardena promised ‘Ahinsa Sri Lanka’ to protect these dogs from any harm and to release them after CHOGM concludd, de Silva claims that they were hoodwinked and lied to.
Until the conclusion of CHOGM, these dogs were kept at the Dematagoda Slaughter House.
When Animal Rights Activist Sagarika Rajakarunanayake , President of ‘Sathva Mithra’ and Iranganie de Silva visited the Dematagoda Slaughter House to check on the welfare of the dogs being kept there, they found that the dogs had no food nor water. Further, the dogs were packed into confined spaces, cramped on top of each other.
When the owners of some of these dogs came to claim their pets, some of the workers and officers at the Slaughterhouse had demanded bribes.
When the Police was called to the scene, the Municipal Commissioner had claimed that arrangements had been made to take the dogs to Anuradhapura and release them there. It was assumed that the dogs would most probably be taken to the canine sanctuary maintained by the Anuraddhapura Municipality in Mihintale.
But upon checking with the Anuradhapura Municipality, it was found that no such arrangements had been made with them.
Animal Rights activists then demanded that the dogs be released in the areas they had been taken from and were familiar with. The Municipal Commissioner had promised to do so.
However what has happened today is something totally different, cruel and inhuman, says Iranganie de Silva. She claims that she assumed, since her husband Nimal Siripala de Silva was a senior Minister in the government, she would be able to save these dogs, but the Colombo Municipality couldn’t care less.
She further states, that according to information received by her organisation, the dogs in the custody of the Colombo Municipal Commissioner Badrani Jayawardena, had without her involvement, been taken away. “In order to do such things there has to be the backing of a very powerful person” she said.
gamini / December 30, 2013
Between Man and Dog, Dog has gratitude and Man has none. Why this society suffers is because it lacks gratitude.
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samuel / December 30, 2013
Earlier (3 or so decades ago) we had a society where we could see the average had learnt to pay gratitude. But today, those who teach about to have gratitude seem to be the major problem. Are there any law makers that would risk their life by going to teach others gratitude ? Cross section of lanken society today is more or less similar to a prison, where all range of prisoners are kept. Not weeks ago, Vasaudewa did not even dare to address the issue that his partner faced to that moment. He is said to be over 70 years – but how come the man and the ilk to have alzheimered all these human values.
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BBS Rep / December 30, 2013
Well well well, there is so much distorted caricaturising of BBS here; I am forced to add my two cents worth myself. I give here the authentic and final take on the issue as far as BBS is concerned.
The truth is,
Stray dogs are a menace as they could spread disease. They are a sore sight more often with mange and malnourishment. Their malodorous faeces are everywhere, trampled and spread over inside homes. I do not know of a single person in Sri Lanka who has not inadvertently stepped on dog poo. The stray dogs often engage in ferocious fighting on main roads and are known to attack people, especially children. Stray dogs are looked upon with suspicion and many people cross dangerous roads to avoid contact with them. Some of our Buddhist brethren beat stray dogs when their filthy shoes are carried away by the latter or when unguarded food is raided. Some of our dharmista Buddhist sisters are known to throw boiling water on mating dogs when the latter are locked in bulbus glandis. Young school girls die with embarrassment when the same spectacle is played out in front of many a bus stop.
And then again how often we see stray dogs run over by vehicles. If the Buddhists of Sri Lanka want more humane treatment of dogs I assure you it is not achieved by raising and encouraging stray dogs or for that matter breeding stray cats. More humane societies in the world do not permit stray animals to walk the streets. They are adopted by families or put down humanely.
All so often we shed false tears towards the plight of these hapless animals?
Rest assured whoever decided to do away with the 200 or so captured dogs did commit a broader humane act and a great favour to the public at large. I only hope it was done in a humane way.
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shankar / December 30, 2013
BBS Rep,Why can’t you look at the root cause of the problem.The stray dogs did not fall from the sky.There must have been a litter of puppies in somebody’s house and they would have thrown them out.So there should be a law that unless you want them to breed you should desex your dogs and it should be a offence to chuck puppies out when they litter.In the meantime let the present stray dogs be desexed and die a natural death.If you want to get rid of nuisances in life,what about humans with rotten DNA that give utmost trouble to others,much more than stray dogs.Are we to eradicate them too?Why have prisons and feed these people and spend so much on them.Why don’t we use the same principle you advocate and humanely get rid of them from our society.Why don’t the people do the same to some of our politicians and also army deserters and criminal underworld who have become a terrible nuisance?What is your argument that we should not use the same principle for them as dogs,instead of looking at the root causes of the decay in our society and eliminate them one by one and thus have a permanent solution to the problem.What you are advocating is a temporary solution only it seems to me though some of your points are valid.
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Upset_Buddhist / December 30, 2013
If they would and should do what you suggest – most of all, MR and the oligarchs are the first to be removed from the places where they are today. That will then be seen as – root causes of the problems have been addressed.
Then an admiinstration that would give the priority for rule of law and order will give a lead to the lost nation.
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shankar / December 30, 2013
“If they would and should do what you suggest” hey,i did not suggest.I merely asked BBS rep who suggested that dogs be got rid of because they are a nuisance,why does he not use same principle on humans too.His answer is “I am sure human society will be so much better off if we could humanely put down problem cases of our own.”Since gota is BBS patron saint and big boss,get ready for another round of dead bodies and missing persons.Upset Bhuddhist,do you think BBS Rep is right when he says that bhuddha lived in ancient times and mouthed off things that are not relevant today and BBS has to make the necessary modifications to his teachings to suit the present times?
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BBS Rep / December 30, 2013
Hehehe
You do raise a valid point Shankar. I am sure human society will be so much better off if we could humanely put down problem cases of our own. The problem is given that humans are endowed with a flawed gene, that is given to committing all kinds of crimes, the culling will go on until only one man or woman will be standing.
Imagine if it is you Shankar who will be the last man standing next to Aishwarya Rai the last woman standing, who will kill who, I wonder.
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shankar / December 30, 2013
“Imagine if it is you Shankar who will be the last man standing next to Aishwarya Rai the last woman standing, who will kill who, I wonder.” Death by fornication.The best way to go.Even better than veera maranam(heroic death).
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Palmsquirrell / December 31, 2013
BBS Rep
When one has killed off all others and is the last one standing, he will be driven insane by loneliness.
As much as some groups push ethnic homegenity, I don’t think they will cherish a world made up only of their kind, because that would be soo utterly boring and monotonous.
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Upset_Buddhist / December 30, 2013
To have killed those hundreds of collected dogs in a humane way ?
Animal protection laws are held very strict in Christianity dominated Europe. Western europeans in general voluntarily involve in saving the life of the stray dogs in Rumania, Bulgaria and the like countries. Those who involve in these missions are all volunteers. As my info are concerned- some have already come to SL too to help lanken dogs that are really in need (but I am not sure whether these volunteers would mix up more with 2-legged human dogs while going to find them there ?)
Killing animals in general is a sinn in compliance with buddhistic principles. Nevertheless to kill them brutally (I think it is the nature of buddhism practising in present day SL), not even taking time for making proper plans would not solve the matter easily. Lanka needs animal protection laws that hold very strict. Those who let their dogs to drop the excretions outside should be punished accordingly. Here in Europe, the dog owner will have to pay a fine if they would leave dog poo anywhere where it is not allowed.
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Palmsquirrell / December 30, 2013
All that typing for what is essentially an apologist take on the situation.
The Stray dogs could have been moved to sanctuaries or animal welfare shelters for adoption. Point is there was no need to just kill them all.
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Avb / December 30, 2013
BBS rep,
I didn’t even passed the second line in you opinion, I know you are talking bullsxxt.. But sadness is you represent large percentage Sinhalese…
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Alan / December 31, 2013
The Sinhala Buddhist reborn as dogs now…in future they will reborn as donkeys….
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Fathima Fukushima / December 30, 2013
Tigers must have the same fate as dogs! :)
Just imagine.
Beautiful!
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shankar / December 30, 2013
fartima,it has become monotonous and boring.Think of something different.Be innovative.
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Tamil from the north / December 30, 2013
good one Shankar. so tired of this little turd yapping it’s mouth.
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Tamil from the north / December 30, 2013
Then fatshitma you are going to have the same fate? correct since you are a stray dog?
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Spring Koha / December 30, 2013
Ho hum! It really is a dog’s life in the miracle of Asia.
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berty / December 30, 2013
Ministerial madam doesn’t know how innocent public suffer from stray dogs bite everyday and the state spends people’s haul of money to treat them. They just shed crocodile tears to publicity them they are kind heart innocent creature lovers not to kind human beings only pretending and lamenting all eyewash dramas. Hypocrites.Eating up poor public money in wrong way . Ill-gotten money laundering demon’s fairies.
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Satheesmohan / December 30, 2013
May rest in peace!!!!
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Gaje / December 30, 2013
Dog lover who tried to bring in a special breed of a dog on a Sri Lankan plane from Germany to Sri Lanka for the wifes’ s birthday! A man who loves elephants and raises one against regulations! In short he is an animal lover! Is he really so?
HE OFTEN SAYS “LET THE DOGS BARK,” does it applies to the minister’s wife?
Maybe a rare dog that costs tens of thousands of dollars has rights! What about the mongrels on the street especially those illegimate mongrels unlike the thoroughbred, (like the RRRR) need not have rights! I don’t understand what this squabble is about the downtrodden masses in society that need to have rights compared to the Royal thoroughbred mongrels? Ps the meaning of mongrel also applies to Ill claimed Royal blood!
Meanings of Mongrel.
1. An animal (or a plant) resulting from various interbreedings, especially a dog of mixed or undetermined breed.
2. A cross between different breeds, groups, or varieties, especially a mixture that is or appears to be incongruous.
One may claim ( attention : Fuck-a-shima, Jim Softy, Banda Hudda and others the lap top lap dogs) that all this mixing can result in dood genes!
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Mahadana Muththa (Jnr) / December 30, 2013
“……a Presidential order banning the killing of street dogs….”
But the ‘order’ is not valid for brother Gota.
The President pays lip service to “inter religious harmony” and “unity among the communities” at the drop of a hat, but brother Gota sets his army of saffron-robed skin-heads to ensure the exact opposite happens.
For what purpose and whose benefit is Mahinda Rajapaksa uttering such bilge?
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shankar / December 31, 2013
maybe mahinda is the politician mouthing all the right things that people want to hear and gota his hatchet man doing the opposite.
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Kalkirunu Bathalakotuwa / December 31, 2013
Not may be but it is the mere truth about his real politics.
Not only Gota, but some other ministers have been abused by him for such a long time. This the reason why he could not bring Mervin before the courts even if people in Kelaniya areas appealed him to give proper investigations on his money extortions openly carried out there.
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Diogenes / December 31, 2013
Stray dogs have become a grave social problem. We have to get rid of them somehow. My area is so infested with these dangerous creatures that my son, two other boys and a woman were bitten by them within a couple of weeks.Racing up and down the road in batches, chasing after bitches and shitting, pissing or coupling wherever they like and howling and yelling wildly like mad bloody yakkhos in the night, they are surely making life more difficult for us. If Ms Sagarika and Irangani and their Satva Mitrayas want to bestow their loving kindness to dogs and prefer them to humans, well… we do`t grudge their way of thinking and propensities. But we~d be thankful to them if they can come out with a practical solution to this problem. In this Dharmadweepa, a land of savagery where violation of human rights seem to have become a worldwide issue, it is absurd to find humans(?) agitating on animal rights!
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shankar / December 31, 2013
“howling and yelling wildly like mad bloody yakkhos”. er are you talking about our parliamentarians?These are elected representatives of our people,please give them the respect as such,call them honourable members of parliament and don’t villify them like this.
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shankar / January 1, 2014
“coupling wherever they like” They don’t have a nice airconditioned room like you to couple,diogenes.So they have to make do with whatever they have.They have every right to couple as much as you.It is a god given right to them to have a life even though it is a dog’s life.Humans are not the only living creatures on this planet,and besides we also evolved from animals.98% of our DNA matches with chimps.The 2% is the difference that evolved us into humans.That is why if we don’t have a room we also will couple anywhere we can find suitable.
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pontius P / December 31, 2013
300 dogs? Homeless?
Are we sure that these are not exaggerations? by Tamil liars?
Until Prof Michael Roberts examines these claims of the do-goodies, we will not know the truth.
But he will certainly get to the bottom of this too, very soon. All will be revealed with photographs and proper statistics and the innocence of the maligned Sec of Def. demonstrated.
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shankar / December 31, 2013
From the photograph i can see why gota slaughtered the dogs.He is having visions of dogs attacking and mauling him.It might be due to PTSD when he got out of the army after that tough battle to retake jaffna.
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Ball Prabakaran / January 1, 2014
Shankar aka Shakar
You are absolutely correct. Not only that Gota also eliminated the worst mad dog Podian Preba and his entire balu monkey army for the merits collected for last 30 odd years.
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Lalitha / January 1, 2014
To solve the problem we should create a new Minister of Dogs.( Balu Amathi)
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T Wickramaratna / January 1, 2014
This shows that the country has not gone to the dogs
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Lanka Liar / January 1, 2014
This is called a humanitarian operation sorry dogaitarian operation
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