Improper waste disposal, half-hearted sterilisation lead to spike in conflicts

Dogs settled and got easy food from labourers. They get aggressive if that source of food is threatened is any way.

GAURAV KUMAR SETH, resident, Logix Blossom County

One cannot solve stray dog problem until one solves the local garbage issue. Animal Birth Control must be prioritised.

SACON STUDY,

2015

In 2015, a study conducted in 10 Indian metro cities found a strong link between human population and the amount of municipal and food waste generated, overall and per capita, with the number of stray dogs in the cities.

Monday’s incident in Noida’s Sector 100, where a seven-month infant died after being mauled by a stray dog inside the compound of an apartment complex, brings back the spotlight on the key reasons behind such conflicts that have little to do with the nature of the animals, but more with how these populations arise.

Experts say there are largely two reasons why a region may have a large street dog population: access to food, and abandonment by pet owners.

In the case of Noida, now a rapidly expanding city that till three decades ago was little more than vast swathes of farmlands, both factors play a significant role, especially the first.

“I live in Sector 137, one of the newly developed areas of the city. There were just farmlands till about 15 years ago. So where did the dogs come from?” said Gaurav Kumar Seth, a resident of Logix Blossom County in Noida.

According to experts, a city mostly under construction fulfils the factors that the 2015 study first established as reasons for a growth in dog population. “Such cities have several construction projects and other vacant areas where people feed dogs and leave the mess around roads. When there is easy food available, there is no need for foraging and the dog population tends to grow in these areas with the easy availability of food,” said Dr Roumi Deb, director, Amity Institute of Anthropology, Amity University.

Seth concurred, saying that the dogs often are looked after the daily wage workers, but those families eventually move out when their employment ends. “In this period, the dogs settled and got easy food from labourers. They get aggressive if that source of food is threatened in any way,” he said.

The second source that leads to an increase in dog population is when they are abandoned after being taken in, often after purchase, by families. In some cases, the pet parents abandon them. “Nearly 5-6 cases of dogs being abandoned come to them every month,” said Pawan Kumar, who helps runs a dog shelter close to PVR Anupam in Delhi’s Saket area.

Overtime, these dogs breed and the population multiplies.

This has meant that many people in India’s cities report hearing about stray dog bite cases. According to an online survey by Localcircles, a private agency based in Noida, six in 10 Indians said attacks by stray dogs were common in their areas. The survey over the past two-and-a-half months included 31,000 respondents from 303 districts across the country, the agency said.

The main strategy to deal with the problem at present hinges on what is known as the animal birth control (ABC) programme through which civic agencies are meant to trap, sterilise and release dogs. But this process has been lacking, with few civic agencies carrying this exercise out as frequently as they need to in order to slow down the dog population.

Chetna Joshi, member of Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), Haryana, said that dog lovers and other residents can come to an understanding by discussing the issue rather than fighting over it. “AWBI certainly does not say that one can feed dogs in front of someone else’s home or balcony. Common areas can be used when there are less people around like late in the night. In areas where common space is less, people can pick spots where few people visit. All residents can sit together and decide on these locations,” said Joshi.

The Noida authority on Tuesday said it has come up with a pilot project in four sectors where the authority will provide land for shelter for stray dogs. “The RWAS of Sectors 50, 34, 93 and 135 have volunteered to set up these shelters that can keep around 50 dogs. They will manage these shelters with the help of local feeders and we will provide help whenever needed. If these pilots work, we will establish more such shelters across the city,” said Indu Prakash, OSD, Noida authority.

But this alone might not solve the issue. “Garbage breeds stray animals, vermin and vectors. One cannot solve stray dog problem until one solves the local garbage issue. The local municipalities and corporations and other concerned agencies must give priority to Animal Birth Control (ABC) - Anti Rabies (AR), municipal solid waste management, providing identity number to each dog and common facilities such as pounds,” said the 2015 study, which was carried out in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Surat and Thiruvananthapuram by researchers from the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Coimbatore.