Street Dogs Issue is Real — but Calling it a Menace is Sensationalism

Many years back we at the Rotary Club invited a few good samaritans to speak about their work on street dog rescue, well-being, and shelter. What was expected to be a pleasant discourse soon turned acrimonious, with some accusing the speakers of encouraging street dogs by feeding them, and others vehemently arguing that any living being needed our care.

I was more on the “street dogs a menace” side then and was both amused and astounded by the illogical behavior of the dog lovers.

Fast forward almost a decade. A little over seven years back, around her 11th birthday, our daughter started a satyagraha asking for a dog. She even started skipping meals, so she had to scurry around and find Holly, a 45-day-old Indie girl. And since then she has grown on us. During the journey, Holly is joined by Bolt, a six-and-a-half-year-old Labrador, who came to our home three years before.

If today I am part of the same discussions at the Rotary club on street dogs, I will be on the side of the dog lovers — and will jealously guard their rights on the streets.

Why so? How did dogs become “menace” to “kids” for me, sharing the bed?

Well because we adopted them, and discovered their souls. But we also moved into a social strata, where the street dogs do not reach us unless we reach them to cuddle. This last point is critical in the entire “street dog menace” debate, but most times we the “privileged” dog lovers forget.

And I will explain why. Every plumber electrician delivery person or postman comes to our home, I ask them whether they are comfortable with dogs. And in nine out of ten cases, they are not. And while many have the phobia for no reason, many have experiences of being chased or bitten by dogs. Some even more than once. The entire experience along with the rabies vaccination (if they have taken it) has left a very poor experience in their mind.

So when the privileged get into the street dog debate, in most cases they don’t even have an idea what it means to be chased by a pack of dogs when you walking or traveling on a two-wheeler or a cycle in the dead of the night or early morning. But that is a daily reality of many — the milk delivery person, the newspaper distributor, the security guard coming or going from duty, the restaurant worker, the hawker, the small tea stall owner, the list is very long.

Or families who live in the slums and shanties or roadside, where dogs are also the neighbors who stay among. Yes the relationship between them is cordial, but on rare occasions when a rabid dog goes berserk the entire landscape changes.

Unfortunately the privileged, who have the void, most times do not understand the challenges faced by the underprivileged, who can’t shoo away the street dogs at the gates, or travel in the luxury of a car. And that is why the dog debate almost always boils down to an emotional exchange of ones who love dogs, and ones who can’t stand them.

The street dog issue is real, though there can be debate whether the “menace” is the creation of the media. India has by some estimates 6.2 crores of street dogs and 3.1 crores of pet ones. And there had been 1.74 crore cases of dog attacks last year. And out of recorded 59,000 rabies deaths globally last year, 36% are in India.

If we accept that the problem is real, if we understand the voice of the potential but silent victims and the numbers, the next question will be — how to solve it? And the best way to start will be to look at the boundary conditions:

1. First things first — dogs are here to stay. The value of Mans’s Best Friend can’t be overstated by any stretch. They need to stay on the streets too, and most dog lovers can’t afford to keep them as pets. And yes, if cows and bulls can roam free, why not the dogs too?

2. At the same time, we have to accept the hard reality that a significant number of people are suffering from dog bites, and many are dying too. We need to find a solution that works.

3. The law is strict and it protects the dogs comprehensively. And there is a huge and passionate dog-loving community that will ensure that crude solutions like violence will work.

4. We now have run a significant risk of multiple instances of social conflagration, where dog lovers and ones who do not fancy street dogs come into active confrontations.

5. The healthcare infrastructure of India is not equipped to handle the number of dog bite cases. The vaccination is expensive and is to be administered over some time. The availability is also limited. The government hospitals that have the stocks to administer it are limited in number. And add to that the ignorance of the victims and their relatives.

The next question is, why do dogs attack? Experts identify three reasons:

a. A male dog in heat enters the territory of other dogs and gets into a fight, and people get caught in the middle.

b. A mother dog who has lost her puppies.

c. A dog who is sick, including trauma, and diseases including rabies.

Given that the number of street dogs is already high, and each unneutered dog can create a progeny army of 67,000 in just six years, the solution is arresting the numbers, and getting all the ones vaccinated.

The responsibility of neutering (for male dogs) and spraying (for female ones) rests with the local government — the municipalities or the panchayat. This done well will reduce the street dog population over time, and hopefully bring them to a manageable level. The local authorities are also responsible for the vaccination of the dogs, which ensures that even in the unfortunate case of dog bites, rabies is not a possibility.

This solution is on all agree, at in letter and spirit. And this has court sanctions also, no there is no violation. But there is a catch.

All dogs, including the street dogs, are attached to their territories and the associated ecosystem. So if a dog has to be vaccinated or neutered/ sprayed, it has to be picked up by the local authorities, in a human manner and has to be returned to the same location after the procedure and the recovery. And the local volunteers who are involved in the upkeep of the dog have to be kept in the loop about the entire process.

So now we come to the core issue. If all these have to be done for all the 62 million street dogs in India, it needs huge investments. And the local governments are always broke and don’t even have enough budget to repair the roads. So management of the street dogs always falls by the wayside. Take the case of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), one of the richest municipalities in India. Its budget for Animal Birth Control (ABC) is around INR 7 crores.

Add to this the capacity constraints, inefficiencies, and other challenges.

So where does all these leave us? Will we get to see a solution? Or the conflict and associated angst will continue.

I am personally hopeful, though I don’t foresee miracles to happen.

The best thing that has happened is we have started talking about the problem. Every life is precious, and the last thing we should have is an untimely, painful death. For anyone.

I also find that the broad contours of the solution have been identified, and now all understand that local authorities are incapable of addressing the issue by themselves, and they need to support of the civil society. So a partnership model is to be built — between the animal rights activists, civic authorities, and the members in the margins who are typically the victims.

The limited budget available with the local authorities has to be augmented by the contribution from the civic society, spearheaded by the dog-loving community. A targeted, zonal neutering/ spraying and vaccination plan has to be drawn, and executed. And the visible signs of success have to be showcased.

This needs to be augmented by a massive communication campaign about the need for the coexistence of dogs and humans, and its sustained value. This needs to be spearheaded by the civil society. This will help ease the stress, and help buy time for the solution.

I believe that dogs are the purest form of living being we can come across in our lives. I wish we all understand the same, and work towards ensuring that they remain active partners in our lives journeys.