Humanity vs Safety: India's Mission to Solve Stray Dog Problem
10:13 23.07.2023 (Updated: 18:11 25.07.2023)
© AP Photo / Rajesh Kumar Singh
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In 2022, the Supreme Court said it aimed "to strike a balance between the humane act of feeding strays and protecting innocent people from stray dog attacks." A judge stated that it needs to be accepted that there is a problem but added: "Dogs may become ferocious due to lack of food or they may get an infection."
While animal rights activists accuse people of negligence in relation to our smaller partners, many people perceive stray dogs as a significant threat to their safety.
Some people even develop phobia which forces them to change their lifestyle due to the threat of attacks: be it staying indoors, avoiding neighborhood strolls, not leaving the kids alone in parks, studying at dawn or simply spending weekends far away from their localities for peace - many people seem to have resigned themselves to this new reality - dog menace.
Sputnik spoke to dog attack victims and animal activists to find out what solutions exist in India.
One's Pet Is Another's Phobia
Prakash Chander Yadav of Chandigarh's Zirakpur in Punjab state cannot forget the day when a roadside puppy suddenly bit him on the leg. He was heading to the vegetable market but ended up in hospital.
"The doctor asked me to take the mandatory six injections for the dog bite. I was expected to come after a few days. Overall, the whole process of being there so many times felt exhausting."
Dogs stand at a deserted Jakhau Port in Kutch district, India, Wednesday, June 14, 2023
© AP Photo / Ajit Solanki
Talking to Sputnik, the 79-year-old pensioner further shared that it didn't matter whether it was a vaccinated puppy or not. "But the incident and its consequences developed a permanent scare in my mind."
Previously, dogs never frightened Yadav, "but since that day, the dogs' scare accompanies me so much that I always carry a stick for my safety."
For 76-year-old Naresh Datta of Delhi's Uttam Nagar, it feels quite cumbersome to live amid a constant threat of dogs. The retired man has started avoiding usual solitary walks across a lane or by-lane, and prefers not to visit any relative for the same fear.
He says things never felt so frightening till a few years ago."But it's not so anymore." “Whenever we read or watch some dog mauling some child or anyone, it just mounts our existing fears,” he shared with Sputnik.
He believes that these street dogs attack only the vulnerable aged person or lone children. "The dogs have become such a scare that I think twice even to visit my doctor. I make sure that the auto-rickshaw or cab picks me from our doorstep. Since ours is a congested locality, there is always a chance of coming across a stray dog," he stated.
Stray dogs sleep under the benches at the Fort Kochi beach on the Arabian Sea coast in Kochi
© AP Photo / R S Iyer
Sputnik also talked to a housewife from Delhi's Karol Bagh area, Neelam, a mother of three kids, with the youngest being 4-year-old, as she was spending a long weekend in Rishikesh city in the Himalayan foothills.
Narrating her experience with dogs, she shared that even markets or gardens don't feel safe nowadays. "So many people bring their pets even inside the gardens. Dog-walking in parks may be a joy for the owner but it could be a scaring nuisance for many others."
She said in her locality, the constant barking at any time of the day makes it difficult to sleep or for kids to study. "Even our guests can't enter the street if they are on a motorbike or a scooter. The unknown person gets attacked."
Make a Beginning for Coexistence of Dogs and Humans
According to Kaveri Rana Bhardwaj, an animal rights activist from Greater Noida, there's a need to remember that these same dogs were actually being fed by the community.
She said today there's a necessity to protect these stray dogs since killing, culling or throwing them off or relocating them is not a solution.
Stray dogs sleep on a handcart
© AP Photo / Mukhtar Khan
"They are the first barrier between wildlife and thieves or robbers. You remove dogs, you'll get bombarded by monkeys that you would forget what dogs were. And I am talking about ecological balance because you cannot destroy it."
About the callous people who abandon their pets on roads, she said: "There is a Section. They need to be sent to jail. I rescue so many abandoned pet dogs every other day but the problem lies in finding out their actual owners. Tagging pets can be a help in such cases."
"In my opinion, if someone is leaving their dog on the road, shelter or shying away from taking care of it, that person needs to be sent to jail for inflicting cruelty on the animal willingly under various existing sections of the law, and being negligent to other humans and other animal lovers' lives under IPC 289," said Bhardwaj, who also runs SMART sanctuary, a center for abandoned animals in Uttarakhand state.
Stray Dogs in India
© Sputnik
To those who are scared of dogs, the activist said: "I always suggest being friends with the dogs can be helpful to anyone. Instead of using a stick to scare the street dogs, try offering a five rupee biscuit packet. The same dog will never bark on you."
"Most of us won't spend five rupees on feeding a street dog but create so much hue and cry that it's not a dog but a dinosaur. Maybe some of us love to create melodrama rather than showing the much-needed gesture toward those helpless souls."
Govt Measures for Better Animal-Human Co-existence
While recently amending the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules 2023, India's Ministry for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, clarified: In the case of pet animals – dogs owned and kept indoors by individuals -- the owner shall be responsible for deworming, immunization, and sterilization.
And for street dogs or community-owned Indian dogs or abandoned pedigreed dogs which are homeless, surviving on streets, or within a gated campus -- the local authority is responsible for the same.
For the animal birth control drive, this authority should carry it out through their own veterinary officers, or can involve a duly recognized Animal Welfare Organization.
Dogs sleep in a prayer room under a portrait of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama next to a large prayer wheel in Dharmsala, India
© AP Photo / Ashwini Bhatia
How Civic Authorities Help Out on Dog Complaints
"Generally, wherever we get any dogs-related complaint, we send our vehicle to attend it. Also, we have a system of roaster-wise visiting different localities. This process involves picking up uncastrated dogs and submitting them to our mpanelled NGOs," said a senior Municipal Corporation of Delhi official requesting anonymity.
The official shared that the entire process of collecting the dogs from any particular location is done with the help of the civic agency's app MCD311.
The official shared that the entire process of collecting the dogs from any particular location is done with the help of the civic agency's app MCD311.
Municipal employees catch stray dogs at a newly renovated market ahead of a visit by G20 delegates in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir
© AP Photo / Mukhtar Khan
"After the dogs are picked up, they are neutered. But three to four days later, the dogs are returned to the same place as per the existing rules and regulations."
Asked how civic authorities help out the complainants without meting out unfair treatment to the stray dogs, the official said:
"We are mandated by the Delhi High Court only to sterilize the dogs. Plus, once sterilized, the same dog cannot be picked up again."
