{"id":148902,"date":"2025-04-03T16:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T23:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=148902"},"modified":"2025-04-03T16:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T23:32:10","slug":"sri-lankas-crackdown-on-street-dogs-for-india-pms-visit-sparks-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/04\/03\/sri-lankas-crackdown-on-street-dogs-for-india-pms-visit-sparks-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka\u2019s crackdown on street dogs for India PM\u2019s visit sparks protest"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Courtesy Adaderana<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Sri Lankan animal rights activists marched on Thursday to protest the round-up of stray dogs a day ahead of a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authorities in Colombo and the Buddhist pilgrim city of Anuradhapura have reportedly deployed dog catchers to impound hounds ahead of Modi\u2019s visit, which begins on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of Colombo\u2019s strays are beloved by their adopted neighbourhoods despite lacking formal owners &#8212; and are dubbed community\u201d canines rather than street dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Around a dozen protesters from the Rally for Animal Rights and Environment (RARE) waved placards outside President Anura Kumara Dissanayake\u2019s office in Colombo after submitting a petition to India\u2019s high commission.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stop the cruel removal of our community dogs,\u201d one placard read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Protesters said that many of the dogs in public parks had been vaccinated and neutered and were cared for by locals and animal welfare groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How can Sri Lanka promote tourism when we are a country known for animal cruelty?\u201d another placard read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Protesters urged New Delhi\u2019s intervention to prevent the cruel and unnecessary removal of these dogs\u201d, saying that the round-up of dogs would create displacement, suffering, and potential harm\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Modi is set to receive an official welcome at Colombo\u2019s Independence Square, where dog catchers are reported to have been busy in this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He is also set to visit Anuradhapura to pay homage to the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi Tree, a sacred bo tree grown from a cutting brought from the holy Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: AFP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>&#8211;Agencies&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lankan animal rights activists marched on Thursday to protest the round-up of stray dogs a day ahead of a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.&nbsp; Authorities in Colombo and the Buddhist pilgrim city of Anuradhapura have reportedly deployed dog catchers to impound hounds ahead of Modi\u2019s visit, which begins on Friday. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}