The Stray Dog Issue: Why Are Dogs Alone Being Held Accountable?
The past few weeks have seen a lot of voices raised about the ＆stray dog issue.＊ People have been quick to label it a ＆menace,＊ a ＆crisis＊ and some have used even more incendiary terms that further polarise public opinion against stray dogs.
The past few weeks have seen a lot of voices raised about the ＆stray dog issue.＊ People have been quick to label it a ＆menace,＊ a ＆crisis＊ and some have used even more incendiary terms that further polarise public opinion against stray dogs.
At its heart, the issue is our collective inability to manage the stray dog population at a stable level. Several entities need to jump in and create the funding, the infrastructure, and the skills to pull this off. All this requires political will, and civil society cooperation.
BCCL/Representational Image
In 2016, in response to a question in the Lok Sabha, the then Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr Kiren Rijju, said: ※The increasing population of stray dogs is due to ineffective implementation of the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001 by the local bodies in the country.§ Mr Rijju＊s response gets to the root of the issue.
He adds, ※Stability in dog population is achieved when 70% of their population is sterilised. Rabies could be wiped out and man-dog conflict controlled if the ABC Rules are followed in letter and spirit. The cities of Chennai, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kalimpong, Ooty and the entire State of Sikkim have achieved very good results by intensively sterilising and vaccinating the street dogs.§
There is enough evidence to show that when a well-funded Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme is consistently implemented, the population of stray dogs reduces. The Animal Welfare Board of India, in its module on Street Dog Population Management, Rabies Eradication, and Reducing Man-Dog Conflict, clearly outlines how this works.
BCCL/Representational Image
In an ABC programme, street dogs from a locality are picked up, sterilised and immunised, and put back in the same territory. Putting stray dogs back in the same territory is important, because any locality left free of stray dogs will not remain dog free. Rather, other strays (possibly non-sterilised and non-immunised) will move in to occupy that space. But when sterilised and vaccinated strays are put back into the same territory, new dogs will not enter.
Sterilised dogs do not breed, so the number of puppies goes down. Sterilisation brings down the natural aggression that some dogs might possess, thus reducing fights between dogs and accidental bites to humans. Over time, the dog population becomes stable, rabies free, with a decrease in numbers due to natural deaths.
Take Vadodara. In 2014, only 17% of the stray dog population was sterilised. In 2017, the Humane Society International/ India launched an ABC programme along with the Vadodara Municipal Corporation. Together, they had sterilised 86 per cent of the stray dog population by the end of 2022. Between 2021 and 2022, Vadodara saw a 160% reduction in complaints against stray dogs.
ABC programmes, paired with robust vaccination programmes, demonstrably reduce rabies. In 2014, Goa had 17 cases of human rabies, and 24 cases of dog rabies. The Goa government, with Mission Rabies, started an anti-rabies vaccination programme focused on vaccinating dogs, rabies surveillance, and educating people. Between 2018 and 2022, Goa has not had a single case of human rabies.
When a proven, legal solution exists, our focus needs to be on ensuring that we ramp up funding, infrastructure, and skills, to implement the programme. Instead, unscientific 每 not to mention illegal 每 calls for culling dogs are making headlines.
BCCL/Representational Image
Studies have repeatedly made the point that mass culling as a response to dog bites or rabies is misguided, as this has had zero impact in Ecuador, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. ※When modelled in realistic scenarios, culling is not as effective as sterilization programs at reducing population size in the long term. This is because culling does not address the source of new or replacement animals and has only a temporary effect on population size. Furthermore, rapid dog replacement rates have been documented in some areas following culling, leading to a younger population of generally rabies-susceptible dogs.§
We also need to get serious about garbage management. When stray dogs are fed as specified by the law 每 at designated points away from walking paths and cleaned after feeding 每 there is no catalyst for fights to erupt over food. Garbage 每 which in India means food waste dumped at street corners 每 upsets the game. If our civic bodies and citizens cannot muster up the will to dispose of garbage in a sanitary manner, why blame dogs?
Human beings must be accountable for problems they have seeded. Many companion dogs are not sterilised, due to lack of awareness and irresponsible attitudes by pet parents. Every week in my area there are abandoned dogs 每 adopted on a whim and then dumped when caring for the dog becomes ＆inconvenient＊. Dogs dumped on the roads are seldom vaccinated or sterilised. They add to the population. The humans who do the dumping go scot-free.
The solution to reducing the population of stray dogs, controlling rabies, and reducing the incidence of dog bites, requires a rational, scientific, and multi-pronged approach. A large part of the problem can be addressed by rigorous implementation of ABC. But ABC must be backed by campaigns to change hearts 每 so that dogs are not dumped on the streets when they become inconvenient 每 or have outlived their use.
Calling for the ※removal§ or culling of stray dogs is backed neither by science, nor by the law, nor indeed by any measure of civilised society.
About the author: Bharati Ramachandran is the CEO of the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO). All views/opinions expressed in the article are of the author.
