Campaign aims to save Beagle dogs

The Techfest team of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) on Monday launched a campaign, ‘Save the Souls’ which is aimed at safeguarding and putting an end to tests that are being carried on the Beagle breed of dogs. Aiming to create awareness of false claims behind testing the dogs, the team has roped in celebrities to join the campaign.

According to Techfest 2016 media coordinator Karan Mehta, laws governing clinical trials and drug testing had been formulated 65 years ago wherein it was suggested to carry out tests on rodent and non-rodent species before being okayed for use by humans. “Most nations including the US, UK and EU have been doing the tests on either of these species because their genes are very close to those of humans,” said Mr Mehta.

He, however, added that over time it was found that the tests were not as effective to ascertain the toxicity of the drugs and the specimens had to undergo tremendous torture due to absence of clear post-trial norms. ““In order to stop the unwanted tests on the beagles, Techfest has started the initiative named Save the Souls. Under this initiative, Techfest will curb the killing of dogs by making people sign a petition for the same. A total of 1,00,000 petitions will be signed, which will then be submitted to the government to take legal actions against this prevailing evil.”

The campaign launched at the IIT-B campus at Powai on Monday saw celebrities like Gul Panag register the first signature to launch the programme. It was followed by the launch of ‘magic collar’ by television personality Cyrus Broacha and People For Cattle in India (PFCI), Chennai. The collar illuminates in the dark and is aimed at safeguarding the strays from road accidents, due to which hundreds of dogs die every year.