Elliot’s beach might be losing its lustre thanks to stray dogs, crows and careless tourists

A browse of the newspapers, especially the “letters to editors” section will tell you how big a menace stray dogs can be.

Writes M. Venogopal of T M Maistry Street: “The stray dog menace is rampant in Elliot’s Beach, Ashtalakshmi temple and Velankanni Church. I am a regular walker to the beach in the mornings. I am 76 and at my age I don’t have the courage go on these walks without a torch and a stick for protection.

Many of my friends do the same thing. Some of these dogs nibble our ankles or jump and place their forelegs on our thighs. This is a nuisance we can do without. I request the Chennai Corporation to find a solution to this problem at the earliest, before someone dies of a heart attack.”

It is nature’s munificence at its best when the sun unfolds at the beach. The dark skies, golden sands, morning mist, roaring seas, with the waves dying down at the shore, all transform to the first daylight, as the sun comes up from under the sea.

Here come, over five hundred early morning walkers, from VI Avenue, the road parallel to the beach, where they stay. The pavement turns into a promenade as the residents descend down to take in some fresh air.

But on the other side of the coin is the equally appalling filth you will find here.The Chennai Corporation has allowed a lot of shops to come up near the beach – so you find a lot of structures jutting out. There are a lot of food stalls and they make for junk bins full of food leftovers. Thousands of crows swoop down the area. Then there are plastic wafers and mineral water bottles strewn all around.

Says Chris Castellino, “These crows are a bigger nuisance. They are so used to human company, they would attack you if you have anything edible for them.” His wife concurs, “Not a week passes without a crow’s leg scraping my head as they swoop down to a food refuse and I am in the way.” Chris, who is an architect, says, “It’s like that Joni Mitchell’s song: They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”

75-year-old Chris considers himself  a crusader for the beach’s cleanliness. The stray dog menace gets him seething, “More than the Corporation I blame some of the walkers. They offer biscuits and bread to the dogs and crows as if it would earn them a seat in heaven. I love dogs personally, but not on the beach where they have a free run and litter the place with their poop. The beautiful sunrise and morning mist is lost due to filth and squalor.”

It is indeed a sad sight to see over a dozen dogs crowding a football coach who feeds them daily. There are many who are scared of being knocked down by one of them.That’s when the sticks and torches come in handy.

Eliot’s beach is still beautiful, but for these stray dogs and crows. Chris’ wife says, “We used to come here for exercise but coming here is getting to be a health hazard. Nature has given us something beautiful, but we Indians only know how to deface and mar it.”

Also read:

India’s biggest clean up effort. How Chennai raised an army to fight the war against plastic

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