#PetRegistration – Welcome, But Don’t Restrict Number/House Say Animal Lovers

Own A Pet? Register Before It’s Too Late!

The Pune Municipal Corporation has ordered all pet owners to get their dogs and cats registered at the earliest, or face stringent action.

According to the data revealed by PMC, there are only 1,374 dogs which are registered under Pune Municipal Corporation. Although now, all the pet owners are bound to register their dogs, cats and other animals with PMC every year.

Pet parents and activists in the city welcome this initiative, but do not see merit in the number of pets/house restriction proposed by PMC

A city-based animal activist says, The rule was actually introduced in Pune a few years back, but due to the lack of awareness, not many pet parents registered their pets.

It is very important for pet parents to register their pet as per the guidelines. It will also work as an added advantage against all the animal haters in our city.

However, PMC can’t restrict people from having a particular number of pets in their houses. It is an individuals choice and against the law. By implementing such rules, the government is adding to the human-animal conflict issue.

The city has been a dog loving one for ages and many of us, foster-adopt stray dogs as well, therefore the rule of restricting the number of pets in the house should not be implemented. Some humans come up with unreasonable complains of barking without realising that just as humans can talk, dogs bark and nobody can restrict them from doing so.

The animal department of PMC should stand up for citizens who are harassed for keeping pets, instead of implementing restrictions which are unethical according to the animal welfare board. And if such rules are implemented in Pune, the department can be taken to the court.

Sudha Rajput, Housewife says, “ I have been having dogs for the past 10 years, and this rule was implemented in Pune few years ago. Every year the license needs to be renewed and the process is very simple.

It should be compulsory because, every pet owner has that cranky neighbour and society member, who bother them for silly reasons, be it the barking, or pet pooping in the society.

Rajput further adds, fixing a deadline is essential and the PMC has done an excellent job.

With this, the officials also need to act proactively when pet owners, activist and stray dogs are harassed. Moreover, they should also spread awareness about the same, as half the  pet owners are not aware of this rule. In fact, the deadline should be extended as the awareness is still low.

Even though i have had several dogs for ages, I wasn’t aware of the pet registration in Pune.

Strange that despite Pune being a dog-friendly city, PMC has not built awareness of this pet registration requirement, says recent migrant Deepika Bramha, a housewife.

Pratik Fanse, techie says, This is an important step by PMC to curb the animal human conflict. It is in the best interest of pet lovers and haters too!

Often people take their dog for a walk early morning but don’t clean up after that which really affects the surroundings of a society.

There are also those people who create a nuisance without any reason and it is true that pet owners in every society are harassed for some reason or the other. However with this registration, citizens get a license to keep a pet in their house, he added.

Pooja Gadre, Pet baker says, “The Pune Municipal Corporation doesn’t really care about the pets. Their department closes even before the time mentioned on their website and their online site is also difficult to get through.

We have registered our pets from the year 2015 and yet the harassment from society members continue, so there really is no point registering a pet if these issues are not prevented. 

The registration is only helpful when you go to a police station to complain about some issue or to report an issue. Our pets are not allowed to walk in the building despite us being responsible enough to clean up after them.

In my opinion, civic authorities should focus on animals laws rather than implementing such things, Gadre added.

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