Chennai, Aug 19: Stating that relocation of stray dogs would not be a solution and that it was just an illusion, director Ram Gopal Varma has said that if dog lovers cared so much for stray dogs, they must open their guest rooms for the animals.
Taking to his X timeline to pen a lengthy post in response to the demand of dog lovers that the animals be relocated, director Ram Gopal Varma wrote, “Everyone keeps chanting “relocate the dogs, relocate the dogs” as if it’s some magic wand. But relocation is nothing but a polite word for dumping the problem from one street to another.”
He went on to say, “Clear one area and within days the vacuum sucks in new dogs, sometimes even worse than before. And where exactly are you planning to send lakhs of stray dogs ? At last count, there are nearly seven crore dogs and counting.”
“Relocation is not a solution—it’s an illusion. It’s the excuse of the ignorants to avoid hard choices,” the director wrote on a topic that has become a serious bone of contention between animal lovers and those worried about the safety of civilians. The director further went on to add, “And here’s the hypocrisy — dog lovers lecture from their air-conditioned homes with their imported breeds sitting on satin cushions, while the poor face the real menace on the streets.
If they care so much, let them open their guest rooms for the strays.” Ram Gopal Varma concluded the post saying,” Don’t preach relocation to the government while keeping your posh spaces stray dog free and your cute children dog bite free.”
The director has been vocal on this issue ever since it erupted. Prior to this post, the director had, in one of his earlier tweets, written, “With regard to the great poem we have all been taught at school ‘All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all.’ didn’t take into accounts of cockroaches who contaminate, rats who spread plague, snakes which inject poison, mosquitoes which create diseases and stray dogs who kill children(sic).”
IANS