Canines’ child victims

A little boy in Nabha, a girl in Sangrur—these children are the latest casualties attributed to stray dogs. Indeed the menace of feral canines is one that is largely unrecorded, only in case of deaths or vicious attacks on humans do they hit occasional headlines. Could such deaths have been avoided? Are they  preventable? While individual cases would call for a particular examination of the details of the incident, there is no doubt that overall the answer has to be yes. 

While there is no definitive figure about the number of stray dogs in the country, an estimate of 30 lakh is widely cited, with the number of rabies deaths at 20,000 per annum. Naturally, reported numbers are only a fraction of the actual incidents. The practice of culling stray dogs has been banned since 2001. However, measures that are required to keep their population down have not been undertaken. A large number of dogs are not sterilised, and thus the breeding cycle continues unabated. Jaipur once showed how effective such a campaign could be, but most cities have not allocated the required resources. As for the rural areas, the less said the better. Packs of dogs killed 14 children between January and May this year in Sitapur district of UP.  

Even as many stray dogs are “adopted” in some form by people who care for them, the civic authorities cannot wash their hands of the issue. There is no reason why street dogs should not be sterilised. Pack dogs can be a menace. If the civic authorities fail to take necessary action, it is inevitable that the people will take measures that they deem necessary—like killing stray dogs with  lathis and poison in Sitapur after the tragic deaths. Man-animal conflicts are inevitable, but the damage to both can be minimised by proper management. This is sorely lacking and people are losing lives as a consequence.