Morung Express News
Kohima | April 29
World Veterinary Day was held at Kohima on April 29 with Dr. Nicky Kire MLA gracing the inaugural function as the chief guest. Sharing his own experience with pets, Dr Nikcy Kire said, “If there is something new coming up, Nagas have the obsession of owning them,” however he stated how despite owning pets, rare and expensive breeds, many are not able to take care of the pets and sometimes leave them in poor living conditions. Kire noted that pets also need care like human beings and therefore hoped that through such events as the dog show, people will also be made aware of the need to take care of animals.
Delivering the keynote address, Dr. Capt. G.D J. Rao, Dean, College of Veterinary Sc. & A.H. CAU, Jalukie Nagaland highlighted the importance of training pets and disciplining them.
Like babies, puppies also need to be given great care while training them. Dr. Capt. Rao emphasized on the health care of the dogs where owners need to provide regular vaccination, deworming, check up to doctor apart from regular bath, grooming and brushing of teeth. The habit of kissing the dog lip to lip, was also cautioned, since the dog’s mouth contains 300 organisms which can cause diseases especially skin disease.
Dr. Rao also mentioned that home feed may not provide enough nutrients to the pets, therefore requested the pet owners to feed the commercially available food products which will enhance the performance of the animals.
Dr. Amenla Walling who spoke on behalf of KMC lauded the organizers for including all the stakeholders to participate such as the technocrats, the municipal/local bodies, pet owners etc. Walling mentioned that the technocrats can ‘open up the eyes of our people to have compassion’ and further spread awareness on giving care for animals. Further, Dr. Walling noted that the Municipal or local bodies have a role to play for better co-habitation and streamlining through regulations on issues of man-animal conflict and issues on public health hazards through disease transmitted from animals to human, bite incidences and chances of rabies transmission from animals to human, bite through deposition, predating on smaller animals, and very importantly for the welfare of the animals themselves to prevent injury.
“Without sensitization and an understanding of their own roles by the district administration, municipals, animal owners and the public in general, imposing rules and regulations alone would be futile,” stated Dr. Walling.
DEF Kohima Dog Squad
The Dog Squad, DEF Kohima also made a special appearance where tricks were performed by 4 years old Gaurav (a German Shepherd) with his handler Tek Bahadur Thakur, and 8 years old Hero (Labrador) with his handler Wochamo Lotha Naik.
Animal service, especially dogs, plays a very important role in the security forces, stated Sr. SP, Kohima Joseph Hesso. In Kohima, the dog unit is more than 25 years old where the unit keeps German Shepherds and Labradors as its Dog Squad with its full time trainers. Hesso mentioned that the dogs are well-maintained, with regular exercises and prescribed diets. The main purpose of the dog squad for the personnel forces are for sniffing and tracking. Sniffing is mostly carried out in the case of narcotics and explosives, while in tracking services, the dogs are used for tracking human criminals.
“We have found that Dogs have been very reliable. Some cases where scientific methods fail, they are successful. They will always be part of us,” said Hesso informing that a proposal has been submitted to the PHQ to enhance the number of dogs and provision of better breeds as well as provide advance training courses for dog handlers.
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