DC Edit | Dogmatic Solution to Strays May Not Work
The intention behind the three-judge Supreme Court bench’s decision to remove stray people from hospitals, bus stops, warehouses, railway stations, educational institutions and sports complexes is admirable. As a country that suffers a large number of deaths due to rabid dog bites, something must be done not only to stop the deaths but also to eliminate the fear among ordinary citizens who pass through the streets every day.
However, the scope of the decision is so broad that it prescribes a task that will be almost impossible to fulfill. Cleaning Augean stables can be considered a slightly simpler task compared to rounding up stray animals, even in areas considered dog-proof. There’s no denying that hospitals need to get rid of stray people, but trying to keep them away from what are essentially open spaces, such as bus depots and train stations, will be extremely difficult.
Any place selling food, snacks or just biscuits is a place where stray dogs congregate. Catching them all, vaccinating and neutering them, and placing them in shelters to be run by a competent municipal body or authority, which are now almost non-existent, is a task that will first require large numbers of dog catchers with mobility and the infrastructure to support them. So where can shelters emerge, especially in urban centres, where dogs can be fed regularly and released when it becomes safer for humans?
The three-judge panel, after a single judge made an even more extreme decision, re-examined this huge problem of strays and ordered that strays from everywhere be rounded up and kept in pounds. Animal lovers were outraged by such a cruel practice, and the high court ruled that it was appropriate to create this larger bench to create an acceptable order that could kick-start the country’s quest to contain a menace that has spiraled out of control and that stray breeding has run into the millions.
It is known that places such as institutions and sports complexes take care to provide vaccination, ‘disinfestation’ and nutrition to stray animals. These are not places where rabid dogs usually bite people. Its incidence is higher in more open public areas, such as streets and railway platforms, over which it would be difficult to maintain any control. But the fear of straying is understandable.
By one count, 3.7 million dog bite cases will be reported in 2024, while 54 reported deaths due to dog bites appear to be underdetected. The thought of innocent children walking to school feeling threatened by dogs approaching them and two-wheeled bikers being attacked by a stray group is frightening. A way must be found to control the stray dog population.
Where to start is a good question. Perhaps the idea of rounding up stray animals and releasing them into areas where they are not taken with birth control measures in place would be a good start. Meanwhile, institutions with large open spaces may be tasked with ensuring they do not pose a threat to students, faculty and staff. Many people have a role to play in the broader national effort to ‘chain’ this threat. Citizens’ fundamental right to life and security is sacred. However, restraining millions of dogs is a very complex task and cannot be achieved by being dogmatic about it.
