while the sight of over 500 citizens joining the peace march on sunday from alka talkies chowk to fergusson college as part of the india unites for animals movement against animal abuse was an encouraging one animals activists believe that the mission has only begun from the need for heavier fines and stricter laws to a greater call for sensitivity puneites hope sundays walk was the harbinger of changenomore50 time to changea major agenda of the movement also carried out in 58 indian cities and 24 cities internationally is to aim for the animal welfare bill to be passed in the parliament mohini sharma senior volunteer and animal welfare officer animal welfare board of india awbi says the prevention of cruelty to animals act 1960 is outdated and archaic when one can get away with crime against animals with a fine amount of rs 50 or negligible punishment theres little value that an animals life seems to have it falls short of addressing heinous crimes were witnessing against animals today drawn out by the awbi the bill was submitted to the ministry of environment forest and climate change proposing stringent laws and dearer fines it is yet to be passed the new bill is meant to serve as a deterrent to perpetuators of animal cruelty besides the need for it to be passed its implementation its just as important adds animal welfare volunteer sveta gang mohini adds that theres often a lack of knowledge and awareness among police about laws related to offences against animals going past this stage reluctance to cooperate and the fact that they are already overburdened with work are other challenges says mohinia need for awareness among puneitesjust based on the footfall to sundays march the movement garnered a positive response but theres a lack of awareness at large says animal welfare activist anson joseph when we spoke to the public we noticed a lack of awareness people want to support the cause but arent aware of recent offences against animals or the laws at large says anson one of the coordinators for the march but thats what the movement aims at raising awareness among the masses and appealing to the government this will continue till there is some discussion of the bill in question one can look forward to more such walks and demonstrations as part of the global movement adds ansonis adoption of strays a solutionconsidering that street animals in india commonly suffer atrocities one might ask if adoption especially of dogs is a possible solution if it is a question of getting as many dogs off the streets then what about those in the wilderness asks mohini she adds that such animals by nature might be untameable ideally adoption might be a good move but isnt foolproof systematic sterilisation is a more effective method says mohini on the flipside adopting an indian breed dog has benefits our indian breed animals are no different than the foreignbred ones in fact the indian breeds