Unleashing the dog terror

Despite currently living overseas, it is difficult not to feel touched by the poignant and heartbreaking pictures of our children mutilated by the stray dogs. People are expressing helplessness to this dog terror and are incensed by the pervasive neglect by our comatose state machinery. Ever since the period of decadence began in our society two decades ago, people have been subjected to humiliations, abuses and violation of basic human rights in the form of massacres, rapes, disappearances, cold blooded murders, arrests and mass graves.  They haven’t seen a willing hand helping them come out of their despair and darkness. Their quest for a peaceful and secure daily living is being defeated by the very authorities meant to provide them a sense of security. It is astonishing and nauseating to witness sheer apathy of the State regarding the sufferings of our children due to dog terror particularly when the Indian External minister and Prime minister recently issued regular statements about the custody of an Indian child in Norway entangled in a family dispute, even though the child was being looked after by the Norwegian Government!
Estimates show the number of stray dogs in Kashmir to have crossed a one million mark. State government has confirmed the presence of about 100,000 dogs in Srinagar city alone. Dog terror has become a threat to the people and is having a significant impact on physical, social and psychological well being of the whole population. Various factors contributing to the abundance of stray dogs include war or civil conflicts, migration, urban decay, easy availability of food for dogs to sustain on and absence of official methods of control. Media has reported that civil society has threatened to undertake dog culling themselves if the government fails to protect people and control this menace.

Media reports confirm more than 10,000 dog bite cases registered in Srinagar city alone during the last couple of years. and at least 25 to 30 dog bites, mostly school children, are being received and treated only at the SMHS hospital daily. Some of the canine attacks have even resulted in deaths of the victims. People are incensed due to contentment of rulers with their power and silence of city authorities over this issue. Besides physical injuries, there are psychological implications including development of phobias, anxiety and PTSD in victims and potential victims. People are living in constant fear for their safety and welfare which is having an impact on their routine social chores, including attending prayers in the early hours of the morning. 

Psychologically people of Kashmir have been struggling at the bottom of the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs for last two decades. Maslow's theory suggests that the most basic level of needs (food, shelter and safety) must be fulfilled before the individual will strongly desire (or focus to achieve) the higher level needs like community work, lack of prejudice, respect for others and self-actualisation to reach their full potential as a human being.

I did some research on the topic and also liaised with Dog Trust, a UK based charity, for their advice. Controlling population of stray dogs is important for both human and animal welfare. Dog welfare is likely to be poor if their population is not controlled. Spread of diseases to local population is a particular problem where high densities of dogs and humans live in close association and rabies is a major concern. Almost all human cases of this fatal disease (99%) are transmitted in the saliva of infected dog bites. Additional ethical problems can arise if it is decided that intervention is necessary. The most fundamental is whether numbers should be controlled by killing or birth control. In many cities around the world, killing of the dogs has been seen as the intervention of choice.

However, I was surprised to find out that The World Health Organization (WHO) now recognizes that culling of dogs often produces only a short term effect and even maximal catching rates (up to 24% of dog population per year) make no significant impact. Studies show that this method doesn’t work as a long term strategy for dog population control because it is not possible to eliminate all the dogs, and that other dogs soon re-populate cleared areas, worsening the spread of diseases such as rabies.

Studies advocate habitat control and control of the birth rate by surgical neutering. Animal Birth Control (ABC) programs have been promoted as a humane method of stabilizing the dog population and rabies control. To be effective in that, the work has to be intensive – 70% of the dogs should be neutered during one breeding cycle, that is during six months. Scientific studies have demonstrated success of ABC program in controlling the stray dog population in India (Totton et al, 2010; Reece and Chawla, 2006).

According to experts, street dogs are not reproductively capable of maintaining their population density unless food and harbourage is provided by man. Responsible civic attitudes and behaviours by public and timely garbage collection by municipality will go a long way in reducing available food for survival of these stray dogs. In the west stray dogs would not survive on the roads on their own because there are no open garbage bins!

In the UK, charities like Dog Trust have built hundreds of centres to look after stray dogs abandoned by their owners where they are neutered, vaccinated and then re-homed. Dog Trust UK is also currently funding a training centre in Ooty (Tamil Nadu) for vets to learn about dog population control and  are also holding a conference in Chennai later this year (September or December) to promote dog safety in India which our concerned authorities can also attend to learn lessons from. 

​With so much talk about India’s economic progress, why can’t our state and national governments promote setting up similar NGOs, which will not only make our streets safe for humans to venture out but also improve welfare of animals? In any civilized society, it is the responsibility of the State to provide safe atmosphere to its people as well as to animals in its jurisdiction. Our authorities are failing in both of these obligations. Over the centuries, human race progressed so that it does not have to worry about beasts while performing daily activities, but unfortunately it does not apply to our Kashmir.

​( This article was originally published in Greater Kashmir India)