Unfriended Companions

SC's order to remove stray dogs from Delhi's streets aims to safeguard public health and streamline urban life, but the court might be ticking the wrong boxes to fix the right problems

- SHAVETA GAGNEJA

George Orwell's quote from 'Animal Farm' can be applied to dogs, highlighting that not all dogs are equal. Purebred dogs are highly valued and often live pampered lives, while street dogs are seen as less desirable and rarely welcomed into homes. India has over 60 million stray dogs, leading to a dog bite every 10 seconds, totaling over 3 million bites annually, with about 5,000 being fatal. Stray dogs pose various issues, including direct injuries to humans and animals, road accidents, disease transmission, pollution, and noise.

On the other hand, street dogs reside in cities and have unique histories and behaviors, and are considered part of urban life. While some of us call them 'stray animals', he or she will have a name—the most common of which are, Tommy, Tiger, Moti, Sheeru, Kaalu, Raja, Rani—and give the community companionship, love and the security of belonging to people, who have very little themselves but need that source of support especially in metropolitan cities. Numerous stories exist of dogs safeguarding children, such as a baby discovered in a Kolkata garbage heap with the help of a local street dog, and two dogs in Chennai that assisted in capturing criminals who had just committed a stabbing.

The primary concern for people in India is the risk of rabies. Stray dog issues often pressure municipalities to resort to inhumane solutions like mass slaughter, including methods such as poisoning and drowning, under the guise of cost-effectiveness. However, these methods are ineffective for controlling dog populations or rabies, as highlighted by the World Health Organization's 2004 recommendations, which state that dog removal alone does not significantly impact rabies spread. Instead, humane removal of unvaccinated, ownerless dogs should be a supplementary measure to mass vaccination.