Life of Dignity – The Stray Dog Connection

I was in my hometown on a short vacation. It was time to catch up with friends and relatives.

One Sunday afternoon I was heading to meet a friend living in the heart of the town but in a narrow by-lane. I was walking my way as I entered the by-lane; my friend’s house barely three hundred meters away. It was unusual calm there compared to the hustle and bustle of the lane. As I moved towards his house, I found two stray dogs following me. Slowly more strays joined them emerging out from behind parked two-wheelers and boundary walls. Within minutes, there were about a dozen stray dogs walking around me as they were trying to evaluate my presence in their turf. I began to feel claustrophobic while a few unusual moves by a large dog enhanced my perception of threat. I started walking faster and unwittingly triggered their aggression. I was almost in front of the large gate leading to my friend’s house, when a dog came charging towards me from inside. Soon the other dogs started barking terrorizing me to the core. Luckily, my friend came out just in the nick of time on hearing the commotion and made the dogs retreat just by waving his hands with authority. The dogs were quiet like obedient pets and started to retreat although there were few who still kept their gaze on me.

My friend comforted me patronizingly insisting that those dogs were harmless. He seemed to have given a name to each dog and knew each one’s unique attitude and preferences, as he was trying to sort of introduce me to them. Apparently, the by-lane was free from theft and burglary due to these strays, as no stranger could enter the place unnoticed. I was amazed to discover the ardent animal lover in my friend. But the sheer number of stray dogs and the aggression in them left me wonder if the problem was getting out of hands. Never before did I feel the presence of street dogs to be so intimidating!

Dog bites are indeed common in India. Children in slums routinely get bitten by stray dogs and take it as a part of their day-to-day life. I doubt if their parents even notice these dog bites, leave alone seeking medical treatment. No wonder, India accounts for 18,000 to 20,000 cases of rabies a year and about 36% of the world’s deaths from the disease (Bulletin of World Health Organization – Vol 92: April 2014). What is significant, however, is the increasing incidence of fatal attacks by packs of dogs, threatening human life. With the rise in the population of dogs on the streets, parents can no more afford their children to walk unescorted while the old and the sick can no more venture out. People are afraid to move freely in their own locality. The threat perception is far higher than a simple occasional dog bite; it may be a fierce attack by a pack of dogs! Can anybody imagine we have lost our freedom to stray dogs in this modern world!!

Let not anyone dismiss this as an exaggerated narrative by an animal-hater! We must realize that the stray dogs and human beings are encroaching upon each other’s lives and resources and the conflict is inevitably getting nastier by the day. The brutal killing of stray dogs in certain parts of Kerala (and elsewhere) is simply a reflection of angry reaction of victims, who are frustrated at the lack of tangible solutions to the menace. I am not justifying killing of dogs by the mob, but before showing the law book to these men and branding them as criminals, we must address the underlying provocation that may have driven them.

It is perhaps impractical to think that stray dogs would ever get completely eliminated from the streets. But is there no method by which we can bring down their number? I know indiscriminate mass killing of stray dogs is not only illegal but also gross cruelty. The best solution is perhaps mass sterilization of stray dogs – Ovario-hysterectomy performed on females and castration on the males. The sterilized dogs are non-breeding and supposed to be less aggressive.

But this solution (mass sterilization) is not seen to be working. The Canadian Medical Association Journal (Feb 26, 2008) says, ‘The success of this program (animal birth control) hinges on the sterilization of 70% of the strays in a given geographic area within 6 months, before the next reproductive cycle begins, otherwise the entire effort is negated.’ The pace of stray dog sterilization is dismally low in the country (just 31,341 sterilizations in 2014-15 as reported by the central government to the Parliament) and is not considered reliable enough. The number of dogs is far too many (1.71 crore as per the only all-India stray dog census carried out in 2012) and resources hardly match the requirement. An effective solution through sterilization of stray dogs is an impractical, rather impossible idea at this stage.

Instead of recognizing the urgent need to seek a tangible solution to the stray dog menace, we find that the civic society is divided on the following issue: should we protect animal rights to the extent that we put human life / freedom to risk?

‘Compassion should be shown towards stray dogs but in the meantime, these animals cannot be allowed to become a menace to the society. A balance needs to be created for dealing with such situation.’ This is what the Supreme Court sated in September 2015 while dealing with a petition on the problem of stray dogs. In another order the Supreme Court has further stated, ‘There can be no trace of doubt that there has to be compassion for dogs and they should not be killed in an indiscriminate manner, but indubitably the lives of the human beings are to be saved and one should not suffer due to dog bite because of administrative lapse.’ The Court is still hearing the petitions.

The only effective solution at this stage is to ‘put to rest’ the lives of the unwanted, surplus dogs. I am referring to euthanasia – mercy killing. Usually, euthanasia is applied when a stray dog is suffering untold pain from an irretrievable disease. Suggesting euthanasia for the so called surplus dogs may seem to be cruel to the dogs. The counter argument could also be that the dogs have a right to live. These arguments are valid – but in normal times. We are dealing with an abnormal situation of overwhelming stray dog population. The civic authorities are unable to cope with the situation through the animal birth control (ABC) programme and we need to strike a balance as the Supreme Court’s comment above suggests.

I am afraid, the animal rights activists would be up in arms to hear this suggestion. I would like to draw their attention to what the PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) says – ‘Until dog and cat overpopulation is brought under control through spaying and neutering, we must prevent the suffering of unwanted animals in the most responsible and humane way possible. Euthanasia, performed properly, is often the most compassionate option’ (refer PETA website).

A prominent animal rights activist has argued in a column (Firstpost: February 28, 2017) as follows: ‘The dog is nature’s city scavenger and predator. If you remove it, apart from the piling up of huge quantities of garbage, the cat and rat population will get out of hand, and from that, the natural bird population will die out.’ The perverse argument amuses me as the columnist believes that a) stray dogs help clear a city’s garbage, and b) the most effective method to control the population of cats and rats in a city is to depend upon the predatory stray dogs. Laughable indeed!

The menace of stray dogs must be taken seriously with all its dimensions. The Government must carry out effective sterilization and vaccination of dogs on a mission mode, with adequate budgetary resources. However, in the meantime there should be no hesitation to euthanize surplus dogs by engaging veterinarians and trained professionals and by adopting the most compassionate methods of euthanasia. Contrary to what animal rights activists may routinely like to believe, a well administered, calibrated euthanasia of the kind discussed above would provide a life of dignity to the stray dogs.

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Author: Manoranjan Mishra

Interested in creative expressions. View all posts by Manoranjan Mishra