WHERE DO STRAY DOGS COME FROM?
The Origin
Most free-roaming dogs belong to an ancient canine race known as the Pariah Dog, which has existed all over Asia and Africa ever since human beings started living in settlements. They are, and have always been, scavengers–that is, they live on garbage created by humans. In India the breed has existed for perhaps 14,000 years or more. In addition to scavenging, they are widely kept as pets by rural and urban slum households
Much of the urban street dog population consists of mongrels or mix-breeds–descended from pure-breed dogs who have been allowed by their owners to interbreed with pariahs
The size of street dog populations always corresponds to the size and character of the human population of the area. Urban India has two features which create and sustain street dog populations:
Large amounts of exposed garbage, which provide an abundant source of food
A huge population of slum and street-dwellers, who often keep the dogs as free-roaming pets.
Mumbai has over 12 million human residents, of whom over half are slum-dwellers. At least 500 tonnes of garbage remain uncollected daily. Therefore conditions are perfect for supporting a particularly large population of street dogs
WHAT ARE SOME ISSUES CAUSED BY STREET DOGS?
Haphazard urban planning and human overpopulation have led to a correspondingly huge population of street dogs in most Indian cities. They cause the following problems:
Rabies – a fatal disease which can be transmitted to humans. Although all warm-blooded animals can get and transmit rabies, dogs are the most common carrier. India has the highest number of human rabies deaths in the world (estimated at 35,000 per annum)
Dog bites - Most occur when dogs are trying to mate and fighting among themselves–pedestrians and other humans in the vicinity often get bitten accidentally. Females with pups to protect may also be aggressive and bite people who approach their litter
Barking and howling – an accompaniment to dog fights which invariably take place over mating
WHY REMOVAL OF DOGS DOESN'T WORK
Most Indian civic bodies have been killing street dogs for decades, some since the last century. The concept was directly imported from the developed countries without any understanding of the very different urban conditions in the third world. In developing countries such as India, where exposed garbage and slums encourage the existence of street dogs, killing or removing street dogs has proved completely ineffective in controlling rabies or the dog population. This is because dogs removed are easily replaced.
Dogs have extremely high breeding rates. According to one estimate, two dogs can multiply to over 300 (over a few generations) in three years. They are also highly territorial, with each dog having its fixed niche.
Here is what happens when they are taken away...
1
Their territories become vacant and dogs from neighbouring areas move in to occupy them
2
The dogs who escape the catching squads also continue to multiply, so the territorial vacuums are soon filled again
3
Dog fights increase, since every time a new dog enters a territory he is attacked by the dogs already in the neighbourhood
4
Dog fights continue to take place over mating
5
Dog bites also increase, as during dog fights many humans get accidentally bitten.
6
Rabies continues to spread to humans, since none of the dogs is vaccinated.
7
Rabies continues to spread because the dog-catchers are reluctant to pick up a rabid dog–so only healthy dogs get killed.
As long as exposed garbage and slums continue to exist, dog-killing programmes cannot work. They only create an unstable, constantly changing, rapidly multiplying and rabies-carrying dog population.
In Mumbai in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were about 50 human rabies deaths every year in spite of a large scale dog-killing programme.
Government sources claim that over half of human rabies deaths are caused by unvaccinated pets, so the killing of street dogs had no impact on human rabies.
THE EFFECTIVE SOLUTION
Sterilisation-cum-vaccination
For decades the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai used to kill up to 50,000 street dogs annually. The method used was electrocution. In 1994, in response to demands made by our organisation and others, dog-killing was replaced by mass sterilisation and immunisation of street dogs.
Under this programme, street dogs are surgically neutered and then replaced in their own area. They are also vaccinated against rabies.
Since territories are not left vacant, new dogs cannot enter.
Mating and breeding also cease.
With no mating or crossing of territories, dog fights reduce dramatically.
Since fighting reduces, bites to humans also become rare.
The dogs are immunised, so they do not spread rabies.
Over time, as the dogs die natural deaths, their numbers dwindle.
The dog population becomes stable, non-breeding, non-aggressive and rabies-free, and it gradually decreases over a period of time.