BANGALORE: Sometimes it is a dog's life to be an animal lover. The culling of street dogs has divided our city in the wake of the mauling to death of two children by feral canines.

Emotions ran high at a press conference organised by Beedi Nayigala Hitarakshana Vedike (Forum for Welfare of Street Dogs) here on Saturday with the organisers literally weeping over what they said was the inhumane treatment being meted out to the animals by the BBMP.

Forum convenor C. Ramakrishna, popularly known as Shwanapriya Ramakrishna, thanks to his love for street dogs, wept while addressing the issue. Tears rolling down his cheeks, Mr. Ramakrishna said dogs, long associates of human beings, did not deserve such treatment. His associates, who were besides him, too were in tears.

Journalists, pressed for deadlines and tapping their pens impatiently, finally put an end to such unsolicited public display of emotions. They gave the sobbing dog lovers an option: either address the conference or to continue to weep, not both.

At this juncture, a scribe asked the vedike members whose life was more valuable, dog or human being.

Another invited the dog lovers to join him on his weary ride home midnight accompanied by multitudes of snapping canine teeth. At this, Mr. Ramakrishna had his own logic. Anybody can drop dead either due to a falling branch, traffic accident and so on. "Is it sensible to cut all the trees or to remove all vehicles from roads just because people die because of them?"

Now, the fur really flew with arguments and counter-arguments. Unperturbed and with dry eyes, Mr. Ramakrishna said the BBMP should adopt scientific control of the stray dog numbers even as the NGOs undertaking the exercise be made more accountable.

There are laws to protect these animals too and the BBMP should not violate them, was his argument.

Street dog supporters would take out a "peace march" on Sunday to protest against the culling, the vedike said. While actor Leelavathi has agreed to lead the vedike, the former High Court judge M.F. Saldanha, Adichunchanagiri Math seer Balagangadharanatha Swamiji and various religious leaders have expressed their solidarity with its initiatives, Mr. Ramakrishna added.

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