Woman Harassed For Feeding Stray Dogs

–‘Man’s best friend’ is under attack – and in most cases, it’s by man himself’

- Sandra Branger

In India, a country with a population of 1.25 billion, there is one stray dog for every 25 people. Long an ongoing debate, stray dogs are not all loved, or even tolerated by many in society.

While there are people who dislike stray dogs and try every possible means to get rid of them, there are others who fight against what they view as animal cruelty, putting themselves at serious risk economically and socially, Meenu Singh is one of the kind, “I understand that everyone cannot love animals, especially when they are the cause of rabies,” says Singh, who herself has three stray dogs she adopted as pets. “I also understand their fear, but I just want people to understand that they are not at all a threat, all the time.”

There are approximately 30 million street dogs in India, which is almost the population of countries like Ghana, Malaysia, Peru and Nepal. They are a common sight in every corner of the country. The World Health Organisation estimates that 20,000 people die in India every year from rabies, accounting for 36 percent of rabies deaths worldwide. Despite these numbers, animal lovers believe that stray dogs are part of the community and should be equally allowed to exist just as humans do.