Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Nov 4: There has been a steady increase in the number of people opting to raise domesticated pet animals of the foreign breeds i including dogs, cats, birds, chameleons etc in the state. Some people who run pet stores, who understand the craze of the people for the foreign breed pets, have been selling animals by falsely claiming them to belong to foreign breeds. In coastal Karnataka too, there have been cases in which police complaints have been registered.
With a steady increase in the number of pet animal lovers, the city has been witnessing an increase in the number of pet shops. Dogs belonging to breeds like Labrador, pug, German shepherd, Golden retriever, Doberman, Pomeranian etc are sold. Cats of the Persian, Abyssinian and Australian Mist are also sold.
It is said that some of the shops are selling mixed breed pets because of high demand, by claiming they belong to foreign breeds. Foreign breed pets are cross bred with local animals and the puppies obtained are sold as foreign breed ones. About a year back, cases had been registered against a minor boy in Shaktinagar on these charges. Customers who lack authentic information about the breeds, often fall prey to the communication and convincing skills of the pet shop owners.
Some complaints have reached the police stations. Some of these complaints have come from the jurisdiction of Kadri police station. As most of these shops accept only cash, the customers many a time are not left with any records with them. A person looking after a dog, Joel Manjeshwar, says that normally an agreement is entered into between the owner and the customer of an animal to return the animal if they find it to be cross bred in which case the owner replaces it with another animal. However in coastal Karnataka mostly the animals are sold without such agreements, it is said.
A home maker said that they bought a Persian cat after the child insisted on it during the visit to the pet shop. However they later realised that it was of mixed breed. After they came to know the truth through the veterinarian, the pet shop owner has been giving one reason or the other and therefore they have filed a police complaint, she said.