DR. OSCAR REBELLO'S REACTION ON DOG MENACE IN PANJIM by Freddy Agnelo Fernandes

Humans are God’s or nature’s prime creation, depending on what we believe, that is in God or in nature, and I have absolutely no doubt that any one of us, including Dr. Oscar and Dr Anjali for that matter, would not think twice of saving a human if it came to a definite choice between saving a human or an animal, not because we all hate animals but because we value human life more than any other form of life on this earth. Am I not right?

Now going back to Dr Oscar Rebello, I, more than any one else understand why he is being, once bitten twice shy of dogs. Most of us love dogs but at the same time fear them the most. As for me I would prefer tackling a snake than a dog any given day. Whenever I visit people, before I get off my bike or out of my car, I make sure that there are no dogs moving in the yard or compound, I have a phobia for other people’s dogs and especially stray dogs, the bigger the dog the more scared and terrified I am, even though I have always had a dog in my house, and it sure wasn’t for any social status, though there may be some who do it, like my dog is bigger and more ferocious than yours, the same like my house is bigger and better than yours, having said this, I would like to bring to the notice of Dr. Anjali, the reasons for the fear psychosis of being bitten by a dog.

If any dog growls, at any of us, it is enough to affect the smooth blood flow in our body and drench us in sweat and set our bones and joints rattling. I doubt any of us would be calm in a situation, where we have an unknown dog small or big with it’s mouth open, saliva dripping, displaying it’s canines in all it’s glory and making that dreaded sound “grrrrrr grrrrrr grrrrrr”. A sight like that could dry up anyone’s blood.

There are also some dogs that are dangerous enough, without ever displaying their emotions, they are the ones who will shake their tails till you are well within the range and than snap at you without any provocations, I would call them the smiling assassins. A dog bite is a dog bite no matter what, be it a pet or a stray and Dr. Anjali or anyone else should not be telling us that, fatality is a rarity even in a rabid dog bite. The affect of a dog bite is more mental, psychological and emotional rather than physical which makes it still worse.

I wonder how many rabid persons Dr. Anjali has seen or treated and that too in the latter stages. I have seen just one and that has blown my hackles to kingdom come. It’s a shattering image, once seen will never ever be forgotten, that every time you see a stray dog, it will come to the fore and shake you up to the core, I did have nightmares for the first few months and still have occasionally. People have seen and lot more have heard of the extreme effects of a rabid dog bite, and since it’s mostly impossible to tell if a dog is rabid or not, the fear psychosis and rightly so.

Would Dr. Anjali like to be a person who would like to follow the age old adage “prevention is better than cure”? Or let it happen to any one, if you survive you are lucky if not who cares, but dogs should not and must not, at any cost be targeted, isn’t this hypocrisy ?

There is one spot in the heart of Margao on the four road junction near Fatima Convent and the Police Station, with six schools and a college in that vicinity, can you imagine, only the number of children that go through that junction in a day ? With plenty of stray dogs there, it’s a disaster just waiting to happen. At night and early morning they chase bikes and cars, isn’t that scary? Would you risk your own children being bitten by stray dogs, rabid or not, I surely wouldn’t, and if it happened I would surely go on a shooting spree.

I know Dr. Anjali is fighting for a lot of social and environmental causes and admire her for it but her argument to justify that death is rare from rabid dog bite is both absurd and ridiculous. A dog bite especially from strays or pets that mix with other dogs should be prevented rather than looked to be treated; this should be our philosophy, if we are wise enough we should not be taking even a 1% chance that could prove fatal for any person loosing his or her precious life+ Vaccinations, sterilizations and medications are secondary which have to follow but the prime and primary objective should be the wellbeing of our fellow humans.

I don’t think even Dr. Anjali and her animal lovers would say otherwise. The preserve of human life should be our priority and to do that if animals especially strays have to become collateral damage, so be it. I too love animals and hope the endangered become populous at the earliest, but if they become a threat to human life they should go, and there should be no two ways about it. The sooner we understand it the better it will be.

I would like to ask Dr. Anjali, why humans who carry deadly infectious diseases are quarantined? If humans can be quarantined to safeguard other humans, why shouldn’t it be applied to dogs who carry deadly infectious diseases or even do away with them as preventive measures ? Isn’t our life worth more than a dog’s or is it?