Stray dogs have long been the topic of much debate and discussion in the city of Kochi and in the state as a whole. So how do you put an end to the problem? Here’s a professional approach on the matter
Text: Dr. Kishorekumar K Janardhanan Images: Various sources
Stray dog menace is a troubling public health concern in many areas of Kerala. Although we are aware of the fact that there is only one-way we could control them legally: to follow ABC (Dogs) rules 2001,2011, many solutions have been recommended.
- Mass -culling
- Shelter
- ABC-ARV.
- Dog meat production.
Most of the recommendations in this issue are biased or due to lack of awareness about the issue. Everybody has freedom to express what required to be done, however, all of them may not be correct. Explaining this issue professionally from a veterinary public health perspective is important, because this issue is far deeper than what we think we know.
The number of stray dogs in an area is determined by food and shelter that area can offer. Let us take Kochi as an example, and suppose we have 10000 stray dogs here. That means Kochi has food and shelter for 10000 dogs and this number is called “Carrying Capacity of Kochi”. This number fluctuates with the amount of food available out there.
In Kerala, this food is available in the form of garbage dumped in to the streets. Dogs are seen near garbage piles, near slaughterhouses and fish markets. Suppose from tomorrow we have food for only 5000 dogs in Kochi, gradually birth rate and livability will decrease, and dearth rate increases and the population will come down to 5000 in short period of time. In reality our people are feeding stray dogs with irresponsible dumping of edible waste.
What is unscientific about killing, is that even though there are unofficial reports of massing dog culling from many areas of Kerala, there still isn’t a fall in population.So why is that?
Dog capture rate is the buzzword here. Dog catching is a difficult and dangerous job. It doesn’t matter whether you catch to kill, shelter, or neutering, there is limit for capture. It varies from 30% of the population in humane methods to 50 % in most heinous type of catching in a year. Suppose in Kochi we killed 5000 dogs in a year how many dogs have we left in Kochi? 5000? No it will be a number between 8500-9500. As we kill dogs from an area, puppies are born in this dynamic population, and it will come to the Carrying Capacity in a short time. A dog can give birth to 10 -12 dogs in 64 days, and can whelp minimum 2 times a year, and these puppies will become adults in 8 months. Here we are underestimating the survival strategy of an intelligent animal by hoping we could exterminate them. If livability of pups were 20% before killing it can shoot up to 60-80% in when we kill dogs as they have space and less competition. Most of our cities are not planned and Carrying capacity may only rise over the time, adding more number to the population. In addition, we can’t predict migration among dogs when dogs are killed in an area, and fighting will be more among dogs trying to establish the new territory, which will lead to more cases of rabies.
Sheltering or making large dog pound is another solution mooted by many; this is the least feasible of all the solutions. Firstly we have to sterilize them all before sheltering them. Secondly the dogs need to be fed on a daily basis, and the amount required would be enormous. Furthermore, most importantly as we catch dogs from a particular area (since you can’t catch all the dogs in a day or a week), this area will be repopulated in 6 months to one year by dogs in the near by, and the vacuum created is filled. Interestingly, we have a bonus population in captivity. In other words, if we had caught 3000 dogs for captive care, in one year the population of Kochi would be 13,000.
ABC-ARV is significant in here. As per above example we catch 3000 dogs humanely, do neutering, vaccination and release them back to where they belong. Here more dogs are only added with respect to the death rate of the present population. This is only way we can make sure vaccination in stray dogs. Also studies have proved that there will be reduction in aggression in majority of the neutered dogs. It will take at least 5-8 years in bringing down the population to a level where human-animal conflict will be minimal. We can’t exterminate stray with ABC-ARV program. It’s the best scientific method to stabilize and bring down population, till the issue of garbage disposal is addressed. ABC-ARV is a continuous program considering the present situations in our country, and if it is stopped at an area all the progress made will vanish in one-year time. ABC-ARV will not eradicate stray dog menace, and it’s a continuous public health program.
Responsible dog ownership comes prior to ABC-ARV in checking stray dog menace. It is the responsibility of the owner to vaccinate the animals against rabies, and other prevailing diseases, to license and look after the pet when it has disease conditions. Only bellow 40 dogs have been licensed in the 12,000 owned dogs in Kochi in 2014. Some of the stray dogs in Kochi are abandoned dogs. Dogs are allowed to roam in the night, which is one of the major reasons for misalliance in dogs. Puppies from such dogs are abandoned in the streets. We need to educate pet owners to perform neutering in their pets in the early days. Kochi Municipal Corporation for the first time in India is going to make a database for owned dogs using microchip. Abandoned dogs or lost dogs can be traced back to their owners, and penalized for doing so.
Another grueling issue is indiscriminate mating in dogs by dog breeders. It’s difficult to recognize genuine pedigree dogs when they are young. Dogs with inferior qualities are breed, and when they grow up their breed characters may change, and the owner can easily loose their interest in such dogs and are abandoned to the streets. Add issue of dermatitis
Recommendations like stray dog can be killed for meat production, is due to utter lack of knowledge in quality meat production, and definition of dog as a companion animal in India. Another area is lack of reputed animal welfare organization/ NGOs in Kerala.
Effective town planning that incorporates humans, plants, and animal is a requisite for not repeating these events in the future. Unplanned cities tend to create garbage issue, and increase the carrying capacity which in turn increases the stray dog menace. If we start now we can bring in radical changes in a decade.
- We cant solve stray dog menace without proper waste management in place
- Responsible dog ownership should be enforced.
- Implement ABC-ARV program. Dog control cell can be formed to review the project
Lessons learned
NGOs, Government, and Veterinary Health Care Sector role in stray dog menace.
We are in a paradox when we discuss about the roles of various sectors in stray dog menace. Each segment has its own strengths and weaknesses. Roles of NGOs and Local Self Governments are described in the ABC Rules. Performing surgery utilizing veterinary professional is the role of NGOs, and the burden of infrastructure is on Local Self Governments (LSGDs can do ABC of there own at pressing times). Most of the NGOs are paid at an amount / Surgery, and when the capture rate comes down it would be under tremendous financial constraints, and eventually forced to stop the program. The only advantage with NGOs is ease in implementation because less paper work is required compared to government departments. In addition, we may not be able to find many NGOs in India who are professionally competent to perform mass volume ABC surgeries with out fault. The advantage in government sector is that emolument usually is not a constraint as the capture rate (number of surgeries per day) not necessarily affects the program as most of the payments are monthly based. Finally the Veterinary Health care in the country focuses mainly on the production sector, and veterinary schools in the country teach Veterinary graduates to treat animals of the marginalized sector to improve lively hood. When we need to launch a veterinary public health projects like ABC we need capacity building among veterinarians, and need to deploy more veterinarians apart from the veterinarians working the production sector.
Animal Activism in India, and Need for transformation
Activism by its very definition will get attention, at anywhere in the world. However the question how productive it is in terms of its mission, vision. Dogs are protected in India under the law, and the question is how would you rate the welfare these dogs received in the street, because the survival rate of puppies in the street would be close to 10-20%. Its high time the activism should focus on pet dogs too. That the only way we could bring down the number of dogs in the street. Street is definitely not a place for dogs , because dogs are bound to live with humans, and its an association that have been witnessed from time immemorial. There is a limit up to which we could protect them with laws, animal rights are violated everywhere in our country, so its imperative that activism should focus on pet animal welfare too.
Permanent solution for stray dog menace
Although we have a rule for stray dogs, and another draft is in line to become rule to contain irresponsible and illegal breeding, we don’t have a policy for pets at home. Licensing has to be enforced with traceability using microchip, and neutering has to become an order of the day as a responsibility of the pet parent to the society, as a measure to avoid misalliance among dogs. Although it seems ambitious, it could be made into a practice with continuous awareness programs. Furthermore government can promote neutering in household pets in the beginning by paying for the surgery (economically this would be feasible compared to ABC-ARV even if paid Rs1500 to the pet parent), and there by breaking the supply line of stray dog population (these stray dogs are not coming from the wild, they are result of misalliance, and unwanted pregnancies among dogs). This initiative will improve pet parenting, and the concept of easy companionship at the expense of public health will gradually disappear, and will improve, and challenge the veterinary health care sector.
(The author is the a veterinary surgeon and the principal investigator of Kochi Corporation’s Animal Birth Control for Dogs (ABCD) – stray dog sterilization program)