Strays in your hood
Ignorance is bliss, but not in India. With 1.4B of the world population, India is home to a rich and ancient cultural heritage. Being home to the largest democracy in the world, unfortunately, India is also home to a lot of ignorance, fear, and superstition. This is all in the good spirit of acknowledging that there is a problem to solve.
At a very high level, we estimate the population of stray dogs in India to be around 35-40 million.
A strays population of 35-40 million could mean roughly 1 stray dog for every 30 to 40 people. No country is perfect when it comes to dealing with the population of strays. We see even the developed countries of the world struggling with the problem of stray dogs. These strays are abandoned by their owners at some point in life. Compared to India, they may be only slightly more adequate in handling strays. They do have adequate animal shelters and robust state-level government-funded programs to take care of the stray population but at the same time, ownerless dogs that remain unclaimed for a longer period of time are later put down in animal shelters. That's so unfortunate but that is what has been happening - poor innocent lives are lost because of abandonment.
But the strays in the Indian neighborhoods are resilient.
For a country like India, every problem is magnified at a much bigger scale because of the population density. The sad reality is millions of stray dogs roam on the streets of India living unfed, malnourished, fragile, and vulnerable. But don't waste your pity on Indian stray dogs yet, these dogs may be the most resilient of their kind. This breed of Indian dog has a fighter spirit and has learned to survive the harsh Indian weather conditions with little or no care.
Next, we discuss why the number of stray dogs in India is growing and should be of concern and What can we do at an individual level about this problem.
The growing population of strays in India
Too much of anything is bad. Prior to the 1980s, the population of strays in India was kept under control through brutal euthanizing of ownerless dogs. As ruthless as it sounds, this measure was harsh and inhumane. In the 80s, with more awareness about global measures, the Animal Rights movement caught up in India too, putting an end to euthanizing of stray dogs. This led to the formation of Animal Birth Control Rules (ABC), which implemented a scheme to spay and neuter stray dogs to keep the population in check. Sadly though ABC rules have come down to just good intentions and not good measures, as the implementation has greatly lacked even after decades of it coming into being.
Spaying, neutering, vaccinating the strays should be an integral part of our Animal welfare program, and we are so far behind in this race. You may ask, so what? Rabies. Rabies is one of the deadliest infectious diseases and is one of the major public health hazards. We believe rabies takes nearly 35000 lives in India each year, most of them being children. But the real numbers may be highly understated, as Rabies is not a notifiable disease in India i.e., it is currently not mandatory to report rabies cases to the Government of India. Making it a notifiable disease would be a good forcing function for the government to start paying attention to it.
But the problem is not that rabid dog bites can be dangerous, the real problem is ignorance. When bit by a stray dog, a lot of people go about their lives without seeking any medical attention and resorting to homemade remedies, which for a greater part has lost any science behind the superstition in India. Like every other problem, solving this also comes down to mindset. Because people generally don't seek medical attention in case of dog bites, local nursing homes and hospitals don't maintain adequate supplies. But thinking just about the problem can make us feel helpless. The first step towards solving a problem is creating awareness about it.
Measures to consider curbing this problem
Not every dog bite carries rabies. It depends whether the dog had rabies in its blood or not, which is not possible to say by judging from the looks of the dog.
If you do get bit by a dog, watch out for these medical conditions and seek professional help immediately and assess the following:
- 1. Is the wound deep and painful?
- 2. Is the wound continuously bleeding?
- 3. Do you feel feverish?
- 4. Have you had a tetanus shot in the last 5 years?
- 5. Do you have any underlying disease or illness?
Now, addressing the root of the problem. Why would a stray dog bite? In India, nature and humans live in harmony with each other, at least for the most part. Sometimes this harmony is broken. To be fair, street dogs have learned to live with humans but at times they can get aggressive if they sense danger for themselves. For example, road accidents are so common in India, stray dogs also fall victim to them. Hence, when strays see a vehicle approaching them at a fast speed they feel frightened and react to it. If you are on the receiving end of it, our suggestion is to not speed up but rather slow down to gesture to the dog that you are not a danger. Speeding bike or car is a trigger for them to feel threatened.
Our philosophy is to let them live in peace. Try to befriend one, only if the dog approaches you. Dogs have a way of sensing human intentions, if you have empathy for dogs they will seek you out for your love. Try not to be territorial with these dogs, after all, it isn’t their fault they are left abandoned and no good measures are executed to keep the population under control.
We have big commitments in our lives. Adopting a stray pup could be one of them. But if you are not ready to make such a big commitment it's totally understandable. Look out for strays in your hood, and try to provide for them at your very best. Feeding poor hungry strays is noble and fulfilling. These dogs are resilient and they do well with very little care, so provide them with water, rice, milk, biscuits, etc whatever you can. They depend on humans for survival, not just for food but love and care. Do your best!
Avoiding the friendship of those who resemble elephants,
Seek the companionship of those who are like dogs;
For an elephant will kill his mahout whom it has known for a long time,
But a dog will wag its tail even as the spear thrown at it, is still in its body. .
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