Do-it-Yourself (DIY) Series-4: A Dossier of Indian Street Dog related laws and court rulings- Read, Print and Share widely

To all those who feed and take care of their neighbourhood street dogs in India, we have one request. Don’t feel weak. The laws are on your side and also in favour of the street dogs you care for.

In this post, we are sharing with you one comprehensive document that compiles all the laws, news-clippings and court orders/rulings, pertaining to street dogs

Please download this document by clicking here: A Dossier of Indian Street Dog related laws and court rulings

Save it, take print-outs and read it well.

These are updated laws, rules, orders pertaining to DOGS, their feeding and other rights. Most dog lovers don’t bother to read them and end up getting harassed while the law is strong and clear. Please keep a copy ready and if possible submit one copy in your local police station and the RWA, so unfortunate encounters can be averted beforehand. 

A point wise synopsis is also written in the beginning of this document.

We thank Citizens for Animal Rights for their effort in compiling this document and sharing the same with us. By posting it here, we are sharing it further and hope you all will share it widely too and feel empowered.

Remember: Your responsibility however doesn’t end with just feeding them, please also ensure that these dogs you care for are sterilized and vaccinated…since you are friendly with them, can touch them, it is much easier for you to collaborate with the NGO run Animal Hospital (that runs the local Municipality supported ‘Animal Birth Control’ Programme for street dogs) near your home to help undertake the sterilization of these dogs, it is just a one time exercise and will prevent you the agony of seeing pups dying (of illnesses and car accidents) in front of your eyes ever so frequently.

The story of ‘Magic’ and his rescue

‘Magic’ is another of our rescued dog stories, for the story of his rescue and recovery is nothing but ‘magical’.

Last year when the Commonwealth Games 2010 ended, it was time to release the street dogs back into the games venue areas where they were picked up from and kept in at shelters for the period of the games.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s SSCBC (Society for Stray Canine Birth Control) decided then that to ensure transparency, the release of all dogs back into their respective areas will be photographed and video-graphed as evidence to comfort all that ‘no dog was dislocated from its original territories’ in conformation with the Animal Birth Control Rules 2001 (drafted under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960).

On one such Dog-release exercises happening in South Delhi, I had volunteered to be part of the Release Team and photograph/videograph the release of the dogs as per the details we had of their respective areas at the time of picking them up.

As we were releasing some dogs in the area of R.K Puram, a middle-aged lady came up to me and pointed to a dog that had taken shelter in a shop of his rag-dealer husband. She told me ‘Take him, he has lost his eye’. I asked what happened and went close by, only to see something that I had not imagined. The left side of this male dog’s face was completely chewn apart by maggots and so was his left eye and we all could literally peep into his jaw, see his tongue and it was to say the least, a painful sight.

I requested the MCD Dog Catchers who were accompanying me in the Release vehicle to help catch that dog, but this was not a rescue for the faint-hearted and they couldn’t catch him and he ran far far away.

MCD’s dog catcher tries to catch the maggot infested dog ‘Magic’ but he resists the catching attempt and runs away -Image Copyright: Jaagruti

Next day morning, we at ‘Jaagruti’ decided to make another trip to that area as that lady had shared with me that the maggot-infested dog stays in and around their shop only.

After a few minutes of searching for him, we were able to locate this dog, but now came the big challenge of how to win this dog’s confidence and pick him up to keep him in our car…we had done this before, but this time around we needed some help and help did come to us in the form of the rag-dealer husband of that lady, who was friendly with that dog and helped pick him up and place him in our car. We had used the tried and tested trick of covering his eyes with a cloth and tying a leash around his neck…but then mayhem was to follow as this dog kept running up and down in our car and was scratching his face with the windowpanes, visibly in pain with the maggots tearing into his flesh, oozing blood all over.

We then called upon the ambulance from the Animal Hospital we at ‘Jaagruti’ support through monetary and in-kind contributions and requested them to help us with this rescue case. To our good fortune, their ambulance was nearby…and then we were successfully able to transfer this dog from our car into the ambulance and off he was sent to the hospital.

‘Magic’ after being put in the Animal Ambulance- Image Copyright: ‘Jaagruti’

In the case of any other animal hospital in any part of Delhi or the world, such a severe case of maggot infested dog would have perhaps been euthanized or as they say’ peacefully put to sleep’ and we at ‘Jaagruti’ were prepared to hear that from our trusted vet too, but that wasn’t to be as the docs decided to give it a shot and then began the ‘magical’ treatment of this dog, whom we chose to name ‘Magic’…perhaps because his recovery was magical news for us and also because the name of the dreaded maggots who made this dog’s life hell started that way as well!

As ‘Magic’ underwent treatment, on day 1 his maggots and wound were cleared, on day 2 he was put on drips because with all the maggot clearing medicines going into his mouth, he had stopped eating food through his mouth…the glucose drips continued till day 4 and then came the good news, that Magic had started taking his food himself..

‘Magic’ on the road to recovery at the Animal Hospital – Image Copyright: ‘Jaagruti’

Another month of treatment and recovery followed and on Day 40, he was released back into his area where he was welcomed back by the area residents, all astonished and pleased that he had recovered and so were we!

‘Magic’ in the ambulance post recovery and before being released back into his area -Day 40 (Image Copyright: ‘Jaagruti’)

The ABC of stray dogs

Animal Birth Control: Its as easy as ABC (Image Courtesy PETA)

Animal Birth Control/ABC Programm involves sterilizing street dogs, vaccinating them against rabies and releasing them back into the areas where they were picked up from.

The article below is kind courtesy of  The Pioneer Newspaper, penned by noted senior journalist Mr. Hiranmay Karlekar who is also the author of a book titled ‘Savage Humans and Stray Dogs’, the article sheds light on the ‘ABC’ of Delhi’s Animal Birth Control/ABC Programme, comes in the wake of the Commonwealth Games recently organised in Delhi in which many street canines (sterilized as well as non-sterilized) were temporarily (for the period of these games) relocated to Animal shelters across Delhi and Noida from many games venues, stadia, hotels, all of whom have now been released back into the areas where they were picked up from (and those canines that were not sterilized were also sterilized in the process and vaccinated against Rabies at the shelters/hospitals they were housed at prior to being released back to their homes). There is a whole scientific basis and reasoning behind doing so and that is what Mr. Karlekar enlightens us all on below. If you still have doubts, drop in a comment underneath or mail us at contact@jaagruti.org

The Pioneer EDITS | Saturday, October 23, 2010, By Hiranmay Karlekar

It’s a fallacy to believe that killing street dogs will bring down their numbers. But sterilising them helps in reducing and stabilising their population

According to a report, the Mayor of Delhi has said in an interview to a news channel that the national capital’s stray dogs, which had been removed from their habitats for the duration of the Commonwealth Games, should be killed or kept where they had been taken. He, however, has also reportedly said on television that it was inhuman to kill dogs. I have neither heard either statement nor talked to him. I will, therefore, not go into what he did or did not say. Nor will I criticise him on that account. Instead, I would focus on the issues in question.

Animal Birth Control (Dog) Rules, notified in December 2001 under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (1960), prohibits the killing of stray dogs except in special cases, as when they are rabid or terminally ill. In these too, prescribed procedures have to be followed. Besides, the Rules provide that stray dogs can only be removed from their habitats for neutering and immunisation against rabies. Both done, they have to be returned to places from which they had been taken.

The Rules prescribe the only scientific — and also humane — way of controlling stray dog populations. Killing or removal has not helped anywhere. Dr K Vogel, Chief Veterinary, Public Health, Division of Communicable Diseases, World Health Organisation, and Mr John Hoyt, then President, World Society for the Protection of Animals, made this clear in their joint preface to the Guidelines for Dog Population Management, released by the WHO and WSPA in May 1990. They stated, “All too often, authorities confronted by problems caused by these (stray) dogs have turned to mass destruction in the hope of finding a quick solution, only to find that the destruction had to continue year after year, with no end in sight.”

In its Eighth Report (WHO Technical Report Series 824), WHO’s Expert Committee on Rabies, which met in Geneva from September 24 to 30, stated, “There is no evidence that the removal of dogs has ever had a significant impact on dog population densities and the spread of rabies. The population turnover of dogs may be so high that even the highest recorded removal rates (about 15 per cent of the dog population) are easily compensated by survival rates.” This has been conclusively established in Delhi. In his “Dogs and Dog Control in Developing Countries”, published in The State of Animals 2005, Dr JF Reese writes, “In Delhi, a concerted effort (pre-Animal Birth Control, or ABC) at dog removal killed a third of the straying dogs with no reduction in dog population.”

It has been the same experience everywhere. In his paper, “ABC responsible for decline in human rabies cases”, Dr Chinny Krishna, co-founder and chairman of the Blue Cross Society of India, cites the instance of Madras Corporation’s catch-and-kill programme that began in 1860. He quotes Mr Theodore Bhaskaran, a retired Post Master-General, as stating in an article, “In the 1970s the number of stray dogs destroyed by the corporation was so high that the Central Leather Institute, Madras, designed products —such as neckties and wallets — from dog skins.” Dr Krishna has pointed out elsewhere that the number of dogs killed by the corporation had gone up to 30,000 per year by 1995. Yet the city’s stray dog population and the incidence of rabies continued to increase.

Why does killing or removal not help? According to the Guidelines for Dog Population Management, each habitat has “a specific carrying capacity for each species”, which “essentially depends on the availability, quality and distribution of the resources (shelter, food, water) for the species concerned. The density of population for higher vertebrates (including dogs) is almost always near the carrying capacity of the environment. Any reduction in the population density through additional mortality is rapidly compensated by better reproduction and survival.”

The argument that such a situation will not arise if all stray dogs in a city or country are killed at one go, holds little water. Nowhere has such a venture succeeded. Besides, dogs are territorial. Dogs from one area do not allow those from other areas to enter their areas. Dogs from other areas will occupy any area in which all stray dogs have been massacred. This territorial character of dogs lies at the heart of the ABC programme. With sterilised and vaccinated dogs keeping un-sterilised and un-vaccinated dogs away from their areas, those implementing the programme can concentrate on progressing area by area until a whole city is covered. Otherwise, they will have to keep returning to areas where they had already been with the stray dog population continuing to grow elsewhere.

Significantly, WHO’s Expert Consultation on Rabies, held in Geneva from October 5 to 8, 2004, had stated (WHO: Technical Report Series 824), “Since the 1960s, ABC programmes coupled with rabies vaccination have been advocated as a method to control urban street male and female dog populations and ultimately human rabies in Asia The rationale is to reduce the dog population turnover as well as the number of dogs susceptible to rabies in Asia and limit aspects of male dog behaviour (such as dispersal and fighting) that facilitate the spread of rabies.”

Delhi has had a reasonably successful ABC programme since 2003. Between 40 and 50 per cent of the dogs removed from the Commonwealth Games sites to the care of NGOs were found neutered. At this rate the target of 70 per cent, required to stabilise and then gradually bring down stray dog populations, should be reached in the next few years. Meanwhile, one needs to congratulate the Government and Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the New Delhi Municipal Council and NGOs like Friendicoes, Cure & Care, Sonadi, PAWS and Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre and SPCA NOIDA for the manner in which they temporarily relocated and looked after around 700 dogs. The glitches that occurred were perhaps inevitable in an exercise of the magnitude undertaken. While Mr Rakesh Mehta, Chief Secretary of Delhi, and Mr KS Mehra, Commissioner of MCD, cut through all bureaucratic red tape to promptly take the big decisions, Dr RBS Tyagi and Dr Alok Agarwal of MCD and Dr Dinesh Yadav of NDMC worked tirelessly, almost round-the-clock. Animal lovers throughout India need to warmly applaud all of them.

Commonwealth Games and Street Dogs- Part 2

For a background or part 1 of this story on Commonwealth Games (Delhi, 2010) and street dogs, kindly click here and then read on below

On 5th October, 2010, the Animal Welfare Board of India wrote to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to apprise them of the fact that the  Continued (temporary) removal of stray dogs by the municipal agencies from Commonwealth Games venues is turning out to be ‘COUNTER PRODUCTIVE’.

To understand how random displacement of street dogs can turn counter-productive, please read the letter from AWBI mentioned above by clicking on the image below:

Following this letter, a website ‘www.cwgdogs.in‘ has been launched to help find your missing/caught street Dogs during the Commonwealth Games ‘dog catching’ spree.

If you are one of those missing your friendly neighbourhood canine on the street – please identify them from the photographs posted on this website, contact these shelters and get them back to their homes for that is where they belong.

Commonwealth Games and Street Dogs

 

(Courtesy: Associated Press, http://oneclick.indiatimes.com)

 

After the news of the report submitted by Commonwealth Games Federation President and CEO was made public by the electronic media early this week,  it was apparently qouted and shown in the photographs submitted by the committee that, “there were pug marks of street dogs on the mattresses in the apartments of the games villages that are due to host the athletes as well as their faeces littered in the Games village”.

Since people in foriegn countries are not used to co-existing with dogs the way we Indians are, the CWG commitee had expressed their concern regarding the presence of street dogs in the Games village and asked for their removal.

But as per the Indian Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960, Delhi High Court orders and orders of the Supreme Court, the street dogs from any area can be removed only for sterilization and vaccination purposes and then they have to be released back into the same area from where they were picked up.

Thus, due to the timely intervention of Major General (Retd) Dr. R.M Kharb, Chairperson, Animal Welfare Board of India and Mr. Hiranmay Karlekar, Member, Animal Welfare Board of India and the pro-active humane outlook adopted by the Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Mr. K.S Mehra, IAS and the Chief Secretary, Government of Delhi Government, Mr. Rakesh Mehta, IAS- the street dogs living in and around the venues earmarked for the Commonwealth Games, 2010- have got a reprieve and in the process India has set an example in front of the other countries of the world with regard to humane treatment of street animals and has also in the process respected its own laws and India’s constitution.

Now the task of picking them up and looking after them till the period of the Games has been entrusted into the hands of SPCA Noida, Cure n Care, Sonadi Animal Care Hospital Friendicoes SECA, an NGO based out of South Delhi, who will be housing them at their South Delhi, Ghazipur and Gurgaon centres where each dog will be given a token with details of the area from where it was picked up.

Volunteers and food are invited by all these NGOs to help in tagging and feeding of the dogs coming in every day and also for helping release them back into their respective territories after the games get over. However, please remember to contact these respective shelters prior to going in there (The contact numbers of all these shelters can be accessed here).

In the interim period, if these dogs will are sterilized and vaccinated by the NGO, then that would be an added bonus for these dogs and the city.

Click on the thumbnails below to read the communication issued by Animal Welfare Board of India’s Chairperson to the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD):

Below is the news in today’s Times of India with regard to this initiative and here is the link to today’s online news on this subject.

यह गली के कुत्ते

street-dogs

नौकरशाह जब रिटायर होता है तो अपने अनुभव को आधार बनाकर मुख्य रूप से तीन बातों पर अपना ध्यान केन्द्रित करता है. पहला, किसी गैर सरकारी एजंसी में अपनी नियुक्ति को सबसे अधिक प्राथमिकता देता है. दूसरा, अखबारों में लेख लिखता है और उन सिद्धांतों की व्याख्या करना शुरू करते हैं जिनके बारे में वे खुद ठीक से कुछ नहीं जानते और तीसरा, जहां वे रहते हैं उस कालोनी या घेरेबन्द इलाके का मुखिया होने की कोशिश करते हैं. इन घेरेबंद कालोनियों की रेसिडेन्ट वेलफेयर एसोसिएशनों के मुखिया बनते ही उनका पहला और पसंदीदा कार्य होता है कालोनियों में विचरण करनेवाले गली के कुत्तों के खिलाफ अभियान.

दिल्ली में ऐसा ही होता है. नौकरशाहों के स्वर्ग इस शहर में हाल में ही दिल्ली में ऐसे ही लोगों के एक समूह ने उनके ‘पागल, पीड़ित पड़ोसियों’ से उन्हें बचाने के लिए उच्च न्यायालय में एक अर्जी पेश की है। इन नौकरशाहों के असभ्य जाहिल और गरीब पड़ोसी गली के आवारा कुत्तों को रोटी खिलाते हैं और उससे भी बड़ा अपराध ये कि उन्हें प्यार भी करते हैं. कालोनी निवासियों के हर घर में भले ही एक डॉगी डींगे भर रहा हो लेकिन इन निवासियों को यह मंजूर नहीं है कि सड़क पर रहनेवाले लोग सड़क पर विचरनेवाले कुत्तों को प्यार करें या उनका संरक्षण करें. इन सब लोगों के लिए अब यही एक आखिरी सहारा है अपने लिए न्याय और मन की शान्ति पाने का क्योंकि बहुत समय तक इन दिल्लीवासियों को अपने पड़ोसियों का उपहास, धमकियाँ, गालियाँ और ब्लैकमेलिंग का िशकार बनना पड़ा है क्योंकि वह अपनी गली के कुत्तो की परवाह करने का रोज `अपराध´ करते हैं।  सवाल यह है कि क्या अपनी गली के कुत्तो को पुचकारना या उन्हें खाना खिलाना एक `गलती´ है?

कोर्ट का निर्णय एक तरफ और सरकार द्वारा ऐसे आवारा कुत्तों की नसबंदी का प्रयास भी एक तरफ लेकिन हमारी सड़कों पर घूमने वाले आवारा कुत्तों के बारे में हमें भी ठीक से जानने की जरूरत है। देश के कई शहरों में सरकारी एजेिन्सयाँ गैर सरकारी संघटनों के साथ मिलकर पशु जन्म नियंत्रण और टीकाकरण कार्यक्रम संचालित करती हैं। लेकिन हम भूल जाते हैं कि भारत के सड़क पर रहने वाल आवारा कुत्ते बेहद ही बुद्धिमान प्रजाति है जो दुनिया की सबसे पुरानी कुत्तों की नस्लों में से एक है।  यह प्रजाति एिशया और अफ्रीका में स्थापित पहली मनुश्य बस्तियों से इन्सानों के साथ खुशी-खुशी मौजूद रही हैं  वास्तव मेें शहरी बस्तियों में इन कुत्तों का प्राथमिक उद्देश्य मनुश्य की रक्षा करना और बची खुची खाद्य वस्तुओं का सेवन करके सफाई रखने में है।  यह ही वजह है कि आज भी गरीबों की बस्तियों में कुत्तों को ज्यादातर स्थानीय निवासी खाना खिलाते हैं।

पशु नसबंदी टीकाकरण और उन्हें पुन: अपने मूल क्षेत्र में छोड़ने का कार्यक्रम वैज्ञानिकों द्वारा इसका औचित्य सिद्ध करने में विश्व स्वास्थ्य संगठन को कई साल लगे हैं।  दुनिया भर की न्यायपालिकाओं, नागरिक संगठनों ने इस कार्यक्रम को अपनाया है और इसकी सफल्ता की कहानियाँ आज की तारीख में दुनिया के कई शहरों से सुनने को मिलती है, जिनकी शुरूआत अमरीका से हुई थी।  कुत्तों की नसबंदी करने की अवधारणा अमेरिका की सैन मात्तियो नामक काउन्टी के नागरिक अधिकारियों के दिमाग में तब आई जब उन्होंने देखा कि कुत्तों को मारने के उनका कार्यक्रम से उनकी आबादी में कोई गिरावट नहीं हो रही थी।  इसके बाद सैन मात्तियो काउन्टी ने कुत्तों का नसबंदीकरण कराने के प्रस्ताव को स्वीकृति दी जो कि एक महान सफलता साबित हुई।  आज अमेरिका और कनाड़ा के विभिन्न भागों में इसका सफलतापूर्वक संचालन किया जा रहा है।

नसबंदीकृत कुत्तों को उनके मूल निवास क्षेत्र पर बहाल करने के पीछे वैज्ञानिक सोच हैं कुत्ते प्रादेिशक जानवर हैं।  वे भोजन की उपलब्धि के आधार पर अपने प्रदेश को अंकित करते है। और बाहरी कुत्तों को अपने क्षेत्र में नहीं आने दते।  जब कुत्तों को अपने क्षेत्र से हटाया जाता है तो बाहर से दूसरे कुत्ते इस खाली क्षेत्र पर कब्जा कर लेंगे क्योंकि वहाँ भोजन स्त्रोत अभी भी उपलब्ध हैं  जब कोई बाहर का कुत्ता किसी कुत्ते के क्षेत्र में घुसता है तो उनके बीच में लड़ाइयाँ बढ़ती है और नसबन्धिकृत ना होने के कारण यह बच्चे पैदा करते रहते हैं और उस क्षेत्र में कुत्तों की संख्या बढ़ती रहती है।   इन बाहरी कुत्तों के नसबन्धिकृत और रेबीज के विरूद्ध टीकाकरण ना होने का कारण उस क्षेत्र के निवासियों के लिए खतरा बना रहता है।  एक नसबंधीकृत कुत्ते को रेबीज के विरूद्ध टीकाकरण भी किया जाता है, वह प्रजनंन नहीं करते, शान्त रहते हैं, अपने क्षेत्र को सुरक्षित  करते है औरी ना ही आपस में लड़ते-भौंकते है। एक नसबंधीकृत कुत्तों को उसके एक आधे-कटे कान से पहचाना जा सकता है।  पशु जन्म नियंत्रण दिल्ली में पिछले कई वर्षों से संचालित है – इन वर्षों में रेबीज के किस्सों में भी कमी आई है जो कि सरकारी और गैर-सरकारी संगंठनों की एक उल्लेखनीय उपलब्धि है।

विश्व स्वास्थ्य संगठन और भारतीय पशु कल्याण बोर्ड द्वारा किए गए अध्ययनों से पता चलता है कि कुत्तों की जनसंख्या पर नियंत्रण पाने के लिए जो कार्यक्रम विकसित देशों में काम करते है वह विकासशील देशों में असफल रहे हैं क्योंकि वहाँ पर शहरी स्थितियाँ हमारे यहाँ से बहुत अलग है।  भारत के शहरी पर्यावरण में ऐसी दो विशेषताएँ है जो आवारा जानवरों की आबादी में वृद्धि को प्रोत्साहित करती हैं :-  मलिन बिस्त्याँ और उजागर कचरा, जो कि विकसित देशों में मौजूद नहीं है।  विकसित देशों में आवारा कुत्तों का सड़क पर जीवित रहना असंभव है क्योंकि उन्हें सड़कों पर कुछ खाने को नहीं मिलता, इसलिए उन्हें पकड़ कर आश्रयघरों में ले जाया जाता है जहाँ उनकी नसबंदी करके उनका पुनर्वास करवाने का प्रयत्न किया जाता है।

कुत्तों की जनसंख्या को नियंत्रित रखने के लिए उन्हें `पकड़ने और मारने´ का कार्यक्रम अंग्रेजों  ने 19वीं सदी में शुरु किया था।  आजादी पाने के बाद भी भारत की नगरपालिकाओं ने इस कार्यक्रम को जारी रखा।  दिल्ली नगर निगम द्वारा किए गये एक अध्ययन के अनुसार 1980-1990 के दौरान 8 लाख कुत्तों का कत्लेआम करने के बावजूद दिल्ली में कुत्तों की संख्या 1.5 लाख ही रही और उसमें तिनके भर की कमी नहीं हुई। 1993 में नगर निगम ने स्वीकार किया कि कुत्तों को `पकड़ने और मारने´ की यह योजना पूरी तरह से रेबीज और कुत्तों की जनसंख्या को नियंत्रण करने में `असफल´ नही है।  इसलिए सन् 1994 में न्यायपालिका ने आदेश दिया कि कुत्तों की हत्या करनी बन्द करी जाए और उनकी `नसबंदी और टीकाकरण´ कार्यक्रम शुरू किया जाए जिससे पशु-जन्म नियंत्रण का कार्यक्रम भी कहा जाता है।  मुंबई, कोलकता, चेन्नई, जयपुर और हैदराबाद की उच्च न्यायालयों के भी ऐसे आदेश जारी करने के बाद इन शहरों में भी `पशु-जन्म नियंत्रण के लिए कुत्तों की नसबन्दीकरण और टीकाकरण कार्यक्रम शुरू किए गए।  इस कार्यक्रम के तुरन्त अच्छे नतीजे देखने के बाद भारत सरकार ने 2001 में देश भर में इस कार्यक्रम को शुरू करने के आदेश दिए।

एक आश्चर्यजनक सत्य यह है कि जिस बात के लिए गली के कुत्ते बदनाम है वह हरकत वे बहुत कम करते हैं. कुत्तों के काटने की जो घटनाएँ होती हैं इनमें से बहुत कम आवारा कुत्तों की वजह से होती हैं।  अध्ययनों से पता चला है कि 90 प्रतिशत से भी अधिक कुत्तों के काटने की घटनाएँ पालतू कुत्तों की वजह से होती है जो कि अपने घर और क्षेत्र की सुरक्षा करते हुए आक्रमक हो जाते हैं।  हर साल पालतु कुत्तों की संख्या में वृद्धि हाती है और साथ ही कुत्तों के काट-खाने की घटनाओं में भी।  सिर्फ 5 प्रतिशत घटनाएँ आवारा कुत्तों की वजह से होती है जो या तो कुत्तों को कॉलोनी निवासियों द्वारा पीटे जाने या मादा कुत्तिया द्वारा उसके बच्चे को नुकसान पहुंचाए जाने के कारण इंसान पर हमला कर बैठती हैं।
गली के कुत्ते प्रकृति में शहर के कूड़े-करकट को साफ रखने का एक माध्यम है।  वह शहर में चूहों और अन्य कृतंक कीटों की संख्या को नियंत्रण में रखते हैं, जिनको नियंत्रण में रखना मानव के लिए मुिश्कल है।  यदि इन कुत्तों को भारत के शहरों से पूरी तरह हटा दिया जाए तो नाकि कूड़ा भारी मात्रा में जमा हो जाएगा बल्कि चूहों की संख्या भी हाथ से निकल जाएगी।  आज, जब भारत के कई शहर डेंगू और चिकुनगुन्या जैसी बीमारियों से अपनी मैली नागरिक स्थितियों के कारण जूझ रहे हैं, उस समय यह गली के कुत्ते ही है जो शहरों में चूहों की आबादी को जाँच में रखते है – चूहे `ब्युबोनिक प्लेग´ जैसी घातक बीमारी के वाहक हैं।  चूहों की एक जोड़ी पैदा होने के छ: सप्ताह के भीतर प्रजनन के लिए तैयार हो जाती है।  इस दर पर चूहो की एक जोड़ी प्रत्येक वर्ष के अंत तक 35000 चूहों में बदल जाती है।  आज की तारीख तक किसी भी नगर निगम ने चूहों का विनाश करने के लिए किसी भी योजना में एक पैसा भी आवंटित नहीं किया है। 1980 में गुजरात के सूरत शहर का भयानक प्लेग बीमारी से संक्रमित होने का एक कारण यह भी था कि स्थानीय नगरपालिका ने सूरत शहर की सड़कों पर रहने वाले कुत्तों को बेरहमी से मार डाला था।

भारत जैसे देश में सारे सड़क के कुत्तों को एकाग्रता िशविरों या डॉग-पाउण्ड में ठूस देना व्यावहारिक रूप से असंभव है।  ऐसे कार्य को करने के लिए जगह, समय और संसाधन सरकार कहाँ से पैदा करेगी। जब झुग्गी बस्तियों में रहने वालों या आवासीय क्षेत्रों से वाणििज्यक प्रतिष्ठनों को बाहर निकालने के लिए तो कोई जगह है नहीं। इसलिए समझदारी तो बस इसमें है कि सड़क के कुत्तों को उनकी जगह पर रहने दिया जाए। असल में हर जिम्मेदार और मानवीय निवासी कल्याण संघ को इस कार्यक्रम का भागीदार बनना चाहिए और अपने शहर में काम करने वाली नगर पालिकाओें द्वारा संचालित पशु-जन्म नियन्त्रण कार्यक्रम के अन्तर्गत अपने क्षेत्र के आवारा कुत्तों का नसबंदीकरण और नियमित टीकाकरण कराना चाहिए।  पशुओं के मामले में स्वामित्व का सवाल तो उठता ही नहीं है, जब हम आज आदिवासियों को उस वन भूमि पर रहने का अधिकार देने वाले बिल को पारित करने की बात करते है जहाँ यह आदिवासी सदियों से जी रहे है तो पशुओें के मामले में उनका जन्मसिद्ध अधिकार उसी जगह पर रहने का है जहाँ वो पैदा हुए हैं।

कुत्तों की हत्या करके रेबीज पर नियंत्रण पाने के कार्यक्रम कई विकासशील  देशों में जैसे कि – पाकिस्तन, इरान, इराक, साउदी अरब, उत्तर कोरिया, अफगानिस्तान, जार्डन, सीरिया, यमन, बांगलादेश, नेपाल, यूक्रेन, उज्बेकिस्तान – हर जगह ही `नाकाम´ रहे हैं।  कुत्ता आदमी का सबसे ईमानदार और वफादार दोस्त है और हम में से कई लोगों को जरा सा भी नुकसान नहीं होगा अगर हम अपने गली में रह रहे एक कुत्ते को दिन में एक बार अगर कुछ खिला या पिला दिया करें।  अगर हम यह करें तो मैं दावे के साथ यह कह सकती हूँ कि आपको अपने घर के दरवाजे पर हमेशा अपनी पूंछ फड़फड़ाता एक साथी नज़र आएगा जो रोज शाम आपके थकान भरे दिन के बाद आपका दिल खोलकर स्वागत करेगा। इस बेहद स्वार्थी दुनिया में बिना शर्त प्यार और सम्मान की लालसा हम सब करते है और शायद इस लालसा की पूर्ति करने के लिए आपका बेहतरीन साथी आपकी गली का कुत्ता है।

This article was first published here

{The above  Video was made for a group by the name of ‘People for Animals’, we are sharing and embedding it here on Jaagruti because it beautifully communicates the story of the Indian Street Dog}

The Indian Street Dog

Bureaucrats who retire do one of three things: they lobby to be appointed to some government body so that they can retain their houses; and more often than not they stand for Residents Welfare Associations so that they can bully someone or they write article for the newspapers and the less they know , the more they expound their theories…and more often than not for most RWAs across Delhi and NCR, their favourite subject is ‘Dogs in their colonies’…this article comes at a time when a group of people in Delhi have moved to the High Court with a plea to ’save them from their rabid neighbours’. This is perhaps their last resort to seek justice and peace of mind, because for far too long, many of these Delhiites had been ridiculed and abused, threatened and blackmailed by their (‘rabid’) neighbours for a ‘crime’ of theirs; the fault being that these group of people ‘loved and cared for the street dogs, their much friendlier neighbourhood denizen’.

This article is a humble attempt to enlighten you all about our friendly neighbourhood street dog and clear the facts about the utility of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) and Vaccination Programme run by the Delhi Government (MCD and NDMC) through about 7 partner NGOs in Delhi for these canines.

India has been home to the highly intelligent Pariah dog, one of the world’s oldest canine breeds, existing in Asia and Africa since human beings first started living in settlements. They co-exist happily with humans, in fact their primary aim in urban settlements is to protect humans and to act as scavengers. It is not for no reason that each dog is fed by local residents and occupies pride of place in poor settlements.

The rationale of the animal sterilization, vaccination and re-release to its original area is a scientifically worked out programme which took years to evolve by WHO, civic authorities the judiciary, backed by success stories round the world starting from America. The concept of sterilization of dogs itself came from San Mateo in the United States, when civic authorities realized that killing dogs had not lead to any decrease in the dog-population. The County of San Mateo passed the resolution to sterilize and this was a great success. This programme is being followed successfully in various parts of America and Canada and many other developed as well as developing nations.

There is scientific thought behind restoring a sterilized dog to his original habitat. Dogs are territorial animals. They mark out their territories based on the food available and they do not let outsiders come in. When these local dogs are removed from their territory, other dogs move in to occupy them. These may not be sterilized so the problem continues for that locality. Dog fights increase as any new dog entering a territory is attacked by the dogs already in that area and non-sterilized dogs continue to mate and produce litters. Rabies continues to spread as none of the dogs in that area are vaccinated against it. The new dogs are hostile to the residents so problems of safety continue. A sterilized and vaccinated dog doesn’t breed, they guard their territory from intruders and new dogs, they become docile and don’t fight with other dogs during the mating season. You can identify a sterilized and a vaccinated dog by a triangular notch on one of its ears.

The ABC programme has been in place for many years now – and noticeably the rabies incidences have reduced, which is a remarkable achievement by the civic authorities and the NGOs.

Studies by the World Health Organization and the Animal Welfare Board of India show that dog-population control measures which work in developed countries are unsuccessful in developing countries like ours since urban conditions are very different over here. The urban environment in India has two features that encourage stray animal populations-exposed garbage and slums-neither of which exists in developed countries. Stray dogs in developed countries are unable to survive or breed on city streets since they can find nothing to eat. Hence, over there, they are captured, housed in animal shelters, neutered and re-homed.

The ‘catch and kill’ concept of controlling dog-population was started by the British in the 19th Century. It was continued on a large scale after Independence by the municipal authorities all over India with the aims of eradicating rabies and controlling street dog populations. Statistics in a study done by the MCD from 1980 to 1990 showed that even after the slaughtering of 8 lakh dogs during the 10-year period, the estimated dog population in Delhi remained 1.5 lakhs. – MCD could not reduce the population even by one. By 1993, the ‘catch and kill’ method was admitted to be a complete failure since rabies deaths had actually increased and the dog population was also perceptibly growing. Thus, in 1994, the courts ordered the dog-sterilization-cum-vaccination programme (popularly known as the “Animal Birth Control” or ABC programme) to replace the killing. Similar programmes were started in Mumbai, Kolkatta, Chennai, Jaipur, and Hyderabad after the High Courts in these cities passed similar orders. Finally, seeing the immediate success of the programme, in 2001, the Government of India has ordered this all over India with the Animal Birth Control (for Dogs) Rules being notified in 2001 under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960.

Dog-bites are very rarely due to stray dogs. Studies show that over 90% of the dog bites are from pet dogs that are aggressive when it comes to defending their territory or repelling intruders to their homes. Every year the numbers of pet-dogs increase and so do the bites. The 5 % of bites which are due to strays are from dogs that have been hurt by colony residents or bitches whose puppies were being attacked.

Dog is nature’s city scavenger. Its specific purpose is to keep garbage, city rats and other non-rodent pests that do not respond to human control in check. If it is removed then, apart from the piling up of huge quantities of garbage, the rat population will also go out of hand. With many cities in India suffering from Dengue and Chikugunya due to unhygienic civic conditions, it is dogs that are responsible for keeping the city’s rat population under check. Rats are the carriers of the deadly bubonic plague disease. One pair of rats is ready for breeding within six weeks of being born. Each pair turns into 35,000 rats by the end of each year. No municipal corporation has till date allocated a single-paisa for the destruction of rats. In 1980, one of the reasons why Surat in Gujarat was infected with plague was the decimation of the city’s street dogs by the local municipality.

It is practically impossible in a country like ours to dump all street dogs into concentration camps or dog pounds. Where is the space, time and resources to carry out this exercise when there is no space to shift commercial establishments out of residential areas or rehabilitate the slum dwellers?

It makes more sense to let the dog live where it belongs. In fact every responsible and humane RWA should contribute and become a partner in getting their dogs sterilized and vaccinated at any of the animal hospitals set up in Delhi for this purpose.

The question of ownership doesn’t arise in this case at all. We talk of passing bills that would give tribals the right to live on forest lands on which they have been living for ages. In case of animals, the place where they are born is the place to which they belong.

The killing method has failed to control rabies in developing countries -including Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, North Korea, Afghanistan, Jordan, Syria, Yemen, Bangladesh, Nepal, Ukraine, Uzbekistan. Most of these countries have now adopted the Indian method of ABC.

Dogs are a man’s best friend…and it won’t harm many of us if we were to feed the dog in our street once a day, and we can be sure that we would have a friend by our doorstep delightful to see us every time we step out or come home after a long tiring day…and in this selfish world, it is unconditional love and respect that we all crave for and our very own street dog is perhaps our best bet!

To read this article in Hindi language, please click here यह गली के कुत्ते.

If you have some time to spare and few thoughts to spare as well, watch the Videos below, may be you will end up changing your mind and be kind the next time you see our very own Indian Dog on the street.

{The above  Video was made for a group by the name of ‘People for Animals’, we are sharing and embedding it here on Jaagruti because it beautifully communicates the story of the Indian Street Dog}