kolkata every dog they say has its day and pet dogs in kolkata will soon have theirs across the city parks following a delhi high court order the animal welfare board of india has issued a directive lifting restrictions on the entry of pets into parks albeit with a few riders while petlovers rejoiced at the order which they felt would let animals enjoy their right to roam freely a section of morningwalkers felt threatened at the prospect of pets being let loose on themthe number of people keeping dogs as pets is increasing every year most dogowners live in apartments where there is no private space to exercise their dogs the entry of dogs into parks and being exercised in them will not be restricted if the dogs are duly leashed and are walked by adults said the order environment and animal rights activist bonani kakka said we on behalf of the ngo public have written to the kmc and kmda to ensure that the order is followed all pets have the right to enter parks under the supervision of their owners this will not endanger the security of other visitors if they are barred in parks pets will find it difficult to survive in the restrictive confines of apartments where they mostly livelawyer and animal rights activist meghna banerjee agreed entry of pets into parks has been a contentious issue over the last few years morningwalkers especially have been agitated about it but the fact remains that pets do no harm to anybody visiting parksthe order goes on to say that all dog owners are advised to assess the nature of their dogs and voluntarily muzzle them if they feel it is required it also advises owners to make sure that pet poop is duly cleared from parks we agree that parks need to be free of dog poop this is the rule everywhere in the world and india cant be any different so petowners could easily be asked to collect the poop if necessary felt kakkarthe order is binding on all authorities across the country pointed out bonani ghosh animal rights activist the animal welfare board is a statutory body so its order applies to the entire country it is a very appropriate direction dogs are peoples companions if they cant be taken for walks freely in parks then none will be able to have pets more importantly most of kolkatas parks are used for antisocial activities they are littered and illmaintained then why cant they be thrown open to dogs and other pets