An Indian labourer sits with a pair of dogs on a promenade on Mumbai's Marine Drive in 2007. US actress Pamela Anderson has appealed to the authorities in India's financial capital not to put down nuisance stray dogs, instead calling for them to be sterilised.
"It is well established that killing stray dogs is not a permanent solution to controlling their populations," the former "Baywatch" star said in a letter to the municipal commission of Greater Mumbai.
"Dogs cannot use condoms, but with the municipality's help, they can be 'fixed' -- painlessly, quickly and permanently," she added in the letter made public by activist group the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
There are thought to be some 70,000 stray dogs in India's financial and entertainment capital and there are widespread concerns about their role in spreading disease, including deadly rabies. Anderson's letter, which cited World Health Organisation and Animal Health Board of India support for mass sterilisation, comes after a legal ruling here to destroy nuisance dogs.
Expressing her concern at the court decision, the 41-year-old star called instead for civic authorities to promote a sterilisation programme for stray dogs as well as those adopted and bought from animal shelters and pet shops.
Anderson's stance was supported by the Mumbai-based charity Welfare of Stray Dogs, which has been carrying out mass sterilisation of stray dogs since 1989.
Its chief executive, Abodh Aras, told AFP: "It's not only Pamela Anderson but a lot of children have also been writing to the commission saying that one should have the policy of sterilisation rather than killing stray dogs.
"Killing has proved to be ineffective in terms of bringing down the stray dog population and human rabies death. It's not just from the dog point of view but also from the human point of view."
Mass killing of stray dogs was implemented by India's British colonial rulers in the 19th century. But by the early 1990s the policy was stopped as it was found to be ineffective in controlling the dog population and reducing human rabies deaths.
An attempt was made to revive the practice in 1998 but was rejected while the latest bid is currently subject to an Indian Supreme Court ruling due in the coming weeks.
India has so many dogs roaming its streets because of its high numbers of slum and street dwellers, who often keep the animals as pets, plus a large amount of garbage, which provides readily accessible food for scavenging mutts.
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