Stray Dog Menace and How to Control it
By Adite Banerjie
The problem of stray dogs in our towns and cities has reached a crisis situation. As stray dog population continues to grow unfettered, there is a huge risk of people being bitten by diseased animals and therefore being exposed to health hazards.
However, it is also a humane problem. Dogs have a right to life as much as any other species, including human beings. So, killing of stray dogs is not only wrong ethically but it also does not address the safety issue.
Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that “stray dogs have a right to live” in response to a submission that stray canines should be destroyed completely. When one of the petitioners told the apex court that he wanted to “totally destroy” stray dogs across India, the bench said, “nobody can destroy stray dogs in entirety. They also have a right to live”. The apex court has been hearing a batch of petitions on issues relating to orders passed by various civic bodies on culling of stray dogs which have become a menace, especially in Kerala and Mumbai.
The only way to address this problem is to organise regular sterilisation of female stray dogs in the neighbourhoods. NGOs such as Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals can conduct sterilization camps for stray dogs. The RWAs of each sector could facilitate these camps on a regular basis.
The female dogs have to be rounded up and taken away for sterilization. After the operation and post-surgery care (the dogs are housed in their shelter at Noida during this period), the sterilized dogs are returned to the same neighbourhoods from which they are taken. This ensures that during the next mating season when male stray canines come into the neighbourhood, the proportion of births will be reduced if there are many sterilized female dogs. Holding such sterilization camps on a regular basis will go a long way in keeping human beings safe and treating canines with compassion and sensitivity.
The upside of a regulated stray dog population is that neighbourhoods with cared for stray dogs make for excellent security. Often, such dogs chase away miscreants and thieves and keep the entire neighbourhood safe.
