Saturday, December 10, 2011

Abandoned to die, imported greyhound languishes in cage at Delhi's IGI Airport

NEW DELHI: After spending several hours inside the cargo hold area of an aircraft as it flew from Australia to India, a greyhound landed at Delhi's IGI Airport on November 1.

Almost 40 days later, the dog remains cooped up inside a wire cage at the airport's cargo terminal, refused an NOC by the Animal Quarantine and Certification Services (AQCS) and abandoned by his importer. He is finally expected to be taken in by the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital for animals on Saturday.

The animal, oblivious to the reasons of his isolated confinement, was the reason behind massive drama at the IGI Airport.

Alerted to his predicament, wildlife activist Maneka Gandhi reached the airport and had a massive showdown with authorities who have so far not been able to figure out what to do with the dog. She finally managed to convince officials to release the dog in her care but when volunteers of People For Animals went to pick up him at night, they refused to let the animal go till Monday. Volunteers reported that the dog had been confined to a small cage.

The dog arrived in Delhi as an 'imported pet' on November 1 but AQCS officials denied him an NOC as his ownership seemed suspect. In a letter to the deputy commissioner (cargo) IGI Airport on November 9, AQCS officials said that the dog, imported by a Jagmeet Singh Sidhu, appeared to have been imported for gifting or commercial purposes and his release could not be cleared. It also implicated Malaysian Airlines, the carrier which transported the animal to India, for connivance with the importers as it was aware of the rules but did not insist on an advance NOC before permitting the animal to travel.

The letter said that since the importer had not contacted AQCS till then, the dog should be sent back to the country of origin.

On November 22, the importers of the dog formally gave up on him in a letter they sent to DC (customs). Sidhu's brother Tejinder Pal Singh Brar, who had been authorized to collect the dog at the airport wrote to say that since the quarantine officials were not issuing the NOC for the dog, "I herby abandon the dog. It may be disposed off as per rules of customs".

Then followed a series of letters which went back and forth between customs, airlines and Celebi Delhi Cargo Terminal Management India Pvt Ltd with all agencies washing their hands off the dog and requesting that it be "disposed off as per customs rules".

Finally, on November 27, Clebi's import manager wrote to DC (customs) once more, pointing out that since his importers had stopped visiting the airport for several days, the health of the dog was in danger.

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