From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI, Jan 2: Noted environmentalist and animal lover Maneka Gandhi on Sunday swung into action and urged the BSF top notches to take care of the puppies of Lalcy, its border sniffer dog, and sterilise her to prevent any future pregnancy as she apprehended about their lives.
Reacting to the news published in The Shillong Times, the former Union Environment minister and BJP leader intervened with the BSF top brass in Meghalaya. “I have spoken to the Commandant of BSF Meghalaya and asked him to see that the puppies are fed for two months by the mother and then adopted out and the mother is sterilized,” she said in a message.
BSF had ordered a court of inquiry after one of its sniffer dogs “Lalcy” in Meghalaya deployed on the India-Bangladesh international border gave birth to three puppies. The dogs attached to such crucial service are not supposed to breed or get pregnant as they are usually on duty in high-security zones.
Meanwhile, BSF sources said that the inquiry is under way and in the first place, it should not have happened and if it has happened, they are inquiring as to how this happened. The dog was posted with the 107 battalion of the BSF and posted at a Border Outpost (BOP) in Meghalaya.
According to sources in the BSF, dogs deployed to such crucial areas of high security zones are not allowed to breed. “Dogs under the BSF are constantly kept under strict vigil and something like this is very uncommon and prima facie, it looks like it was a mistake of the handler who did not take proper care of the dog and ensured that it did not engage in any activities that it was not allowed to,” a BSF officer said without being named.
Second to the Indian Army, which has its exclusive dog-training academy, BSF trains all dogs deployed into various wings of the Indian armed forces. Increasing anxieties about terrorism, insurgencies and cross border smuggling specially drugs have forced the Indian government to deploy trained sniffer dogs to keep any eye.
The National Training Centre for Dogs (NTCD) gives a wide range of training programmes including tracking, explosives detection, mob control, search and rescue, narcotics detection, mine detection and poisonous substance detection to the canines. BSF is India’s biggest paramilitary force guarding its vast and porous borders and deploys sniffer dogs for such work.