Ranjini Haridas’ stray dog love proves ill-timed; sets fire to Facebook ammunition

What do you do when a rabid stray dog is on the prowl? The natural reaction would be to hunt the animal down. Union Minister Maneka Gandhi may not approve of this. The minister now has company in the form of television anchor and actress Ranjini Haridas.

A social media favorite, more so because of her comments and attention-seeking gestures,  Ranjini is currently a trending topic on Facebook pages due to her outburst against the killing of stray dogs. In Kerala, the menace caused by stray dogs has been a topic of hot debates for quite some time now.

Even as the discussions and debates had been raging, there have been reports of stray dogs proving to be dangerous presence on many a city as well as rural street. Instances of attacks on people by street dogs have been many. Very recently, 20 people were attacked and injured by a pack of street dogs at Vypeen, in Kochi’s outskirts.

In this context, a meeting was called by the Ernakulam district panchayat this week to deliberate on the issue of the stray dog menace.  Among the people present was Ranjini, who represented the animal lovers. When a veterinary doctor at the meeting suggested the killing of rabid street dogs who posed a danger to people, Ranjini went ballistic.  And with that the meeting, which was supposed to be of major importance due to the increasing instance of dog attacks, ended in chaos.

The TV host and actress, accompanied by fellow animal lovers put up high resistance saying that killing the animals is uncalled for and the solution is sterilization. She went on to say that the reports about street dogs terrorizing people are being blown out of proportion.

When the vet suggested that if a case of a rabid dog is reported, it would be best to kill all stray dogs in the locality so that the people could walk safe, a visibly angry Ranjini retorted asking the doctor and the panchayat whether they would kill all elephants in a locality if one of them proved to be dangerous to human life!

She also warned that there would be strong resistance if authorities decide to kill all stray dogs if they find them dangerous. The social media went into hyper mode with users attacking Ranjini for her ignorance on the grave issue.

As many reports that spoke of the various incidents of stray dog attack had already come out, the people have been forced to think of killing dogs that prove to be a real menace.

Ranjini’s stance has irked netizens, who took to social media attacking her. While some said a celebrity who travels in closed , airconditioned vehicles and aeroplanes all the time wouldn’t know what it is like to walk along rabid dog infested streets, another suggested she should be made to experience what it would be like to walk along streets where stray dogs menacingly roam.

Another one even went on to pray that Ranjini should suffer a dog bite to know the real situation the common man faces when forced to love amidst rabid stray dogs.  There are more on her Facebook page!

Wonder Ranjini and her fellow animal lovers would give the social media reactions some serious attention!

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