India needs to solve its street dog issue
I was extremely annoyed by the street dogs around me. They are everywhere — every city, town, village, and highway. I used to feel that this is not a healthy situation. I had friends who fed them, but at the same time, I had seen people around me beat them. On top of it, almost no country in the world has the density and number of street dogs we have. India would take pride in this by calling itself an animal cruelty-free country since we protect and let animals live on the streets. But is letting them survive on their own, unattended not ‘animal cruelty’? Let’s take a deep dive into this problem.
The Indian street dog is a pure breed known as ‘indie’. As we know, humans created dogs through selective breeding to depend on humans for food in exchange for hunting or being home pets. In no way are they supposed to live by themself on the streets. Yet, every single street in India has these dogs.
The situation of indie dogs in India is pathetic. A study says the average lifespan of these dogs on streets is barely 3 years, while their natural lifespan is 15 years. They reproduce in huge numbers and have untreated health issues. Garbage is their food source. Deadly diseases are transmitted through them to other dogs as well as humans. Some humans feed them. Some think of them as lowly animals, and some even abuse them for entertainment.
Humans suffer too. India has the highest cases of rabies in the world. Every year in India,20000 people die due to rabies. Children are at increased risk for dog attacks, which can end up being fatal. These attacks have happened very frequently in the past.
In 2001, the government passed a very controversial law, called the Animal Birth Control laws. Due to this law, street dogs(except rabid) cannot be removed from their area by any person or authority. This law poses a severe inconvenience to locals and perpetuates the street dog problem.
The government should be either rehabilitating these dogs into shelters and homes or euthanizing them. But, it rather believes that their place is on the street.
Vaccination and sterilization of all street dogs is the government’s main plan of action. As we all know the government isn’t great at executing its plans. We as citizens need to take this issue into our hands. Together, we should take some solid steps that would reduce the suffering of both dogs and humans.
Here are some straight action statements you can execute:-
- Vaccinate all street dogs of your locality for rabies. Vaccinating works near 100% for preventing rabies infection. In one study, merely 4.9% of cases of rabid dogs had a history of prior rabies vaccination.
This simple step of just vaccinating these dogs will prevent the huge problem of rabies in India. The deaths of humans due to rabies transmission will end. You just need to contact the veterinary doctor of your locality. Also, contact any dog welfare NGO. They can help to capture the dogs and release them back.
2. Similarly, carry out sterilization of the dogs. This prevents any further breeding. Thus hopefully, we can see their population decrease with time.
3. If you are capable, adopt them. If tamed from their puppyhood, they are capable to perform every function any western breed can perform — being a therapy dog, a police dog, doing tricks, being home pets, anything at all.
Thus I hope we work as a community and take this problem seriously. You can read news articles, visit NGO websites to know more about this issue. Do let me know any insights in the comment section.
