Euthanasia of street dogs & other issues

History
The British were the first to adopt mass killing of dogs as a solution to control their population in the 19th Century. As a measure to eradicate human rabies deaths and curb dog population, up to 50,000 dogs were killed every year even after Independence by the municipal authorities all over India.

According to The Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD), by 1993, the programme was admitted to be a complete failure as human rabies deaths had actually increased, and the dog population was also growing. Studies by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Animal Welfare Board of India (Ministry of Environment & Forests) show that dog population control measures which work in developed countries are unsuccessful in third world developing countries, since urban conditions are very different. The urban environment here encourages breeding of stray dogs, so no matter how many dogs were killed, they were quickly replaced by more. That’s why in January 1994, the killing programme was replaced by mass sterilisation of stray dogs.

General guidelines
In 1990, the WHO and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) issued Guidelines for Dog Population Management, which urged:
1. Registration and identification of all dogs
2. Annual re-immunisation of a minimum of 85% of the total dog population
3. Low-cost/free neutering of owned dogs, especially in low-income group areas
4. Controlling markets, street food vendors and clearing up rubbish to control the carrying capacity of the environment of free roaming dogs
5. Encouraging responsible pet ownership to reduce abandonment
6. Adoption of humane methods of euthanasia
7. Elimination of ownerless dogs (‘Elimination’ does not mean just killing but includes adoption, re-homing and permanent sheltering

Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001
The local authority shall provide for:
(a)    Establishment of a sufficient number of dogs pounds including animal kennels/ shelters which may be managed by animal welfare organisations
(b)    Requisite number of dog vans with ramps for the capture and transportation of street dogs
(c)    One driver and two trained dog catchers to be provided for each dog van
(d)    An ambulance cum clinical van to be provided as mobile centre for sterilisation and immunisation;
(e)    Incinerators to be installed by the local authority for disposal of carcasses.
(f)    Periodic repair of shelter or pound.

For furious or dumb rabid dogs
(1)    On the receipt of complaints from the public to the Dog Control Cell of the Local Authority or on its own, the dog squad of the Local Authority would catch such dogs, suspected to be rabid.
(2)    The caught dog would then be taken to the pound where it would be isolated in an isolation ward.
(3)    The suspected rabid dog would then be subjected to inspection by a panel of two persons: a veterinary surgeon appointed by the Local Authority and a representative from an Animal Welfare Organisation
(4)    If the dog is found to have a high probability of having rabies it would be isolated till it dies a natural death. Death normally occurs within 10 days of contracting rabies. Premature killing of suspected rabid dogs therefore prevents the true incidence of rabies from being known and appropriate action being taken.
(5)    If the dog is found not to have rabies but some other disease it would be handed over to the AWOs who will take the necessary action to cure and rehabilitate the dog.

What’s being done in Bangalore
Dilip Bafna, who heads Animal Rights Fund, one of the eight NGOs that work along with BBMP to curb stray dog menace, says 85% of the dog population in Bangalore has been sterilised. “We follow the four step ABC programme: catch, neuter, vaccinate and release (CNVR). Compared to other Indian cities, Bangalore has been most successful in controlling dog population,” Bafna said. “While Ahmedabad has around 6,00,000 stray dogs, Pune 4,00,000, Mumbai 7,00,000, Bangalore has about 1,50,000 only,” he added.

Scene in India
Here, a centrally sponsored scheme was started in 1984 to control rabies. The measures were:
1.    Prophylactic vaccination of pet dogs
2.    Post-bite vaccinations to animals bitten by dogs
3.    Elimination of ownerless dogs
Dogs caught by municipal authorities were held at dog pounds for three days to allow owners to reclaim their wards. Unclaimed dogs were killed by poisoning or electrocution. Following a suit filed by Maneka Gandhi, the measures were modified. Government adopted the programme, which involves the capture, sterilisation, immunisation etc.

Euthanasia of street dogs
Incurably ill and mortally wounded dogs as diagnosed by a qualified veterinarian appointed by the committee shall be euthanised during specified hours in a humane manner by administering sodium pentathol for adult dogs and Thiopental Introperitoneal for puppies by a qualified veterinarian or euthanised in any other humane manner approved by Animal Welfare Board of India.  No dog shall be euthanised in the presence of another dog. The person responsible for euthanising shall make sure that the animal is dead, before disposal.

Dogs elsewhere
Kashmir
A hospital in Kashmir is gearing up to operate upon 50,000 stray dogs in a bid to bring down the disproportionate canine population in the state. According to official figures, Srinagar alone has from official figures of 91,000 dogs.  In a desperate bid to get the governments attention to the problem, taking the matter in his own hands, independent MLA Abdul Rasheed made an unsuccessful attempt to take hundreds of stray dogs inside Srinagar Secretariat. Unhappy with the rising attacks by stray dogs in his constituency, Rasheed lashed at the government for not taking suitable action. He threatened to put stray dogs in the courtyards of the chief minister, other ministers and bureaucrats.

Kolkata
With complaints against stray dogs menace pouring in from across the city, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC)  authorities have opened a designated control room at the civic headquarters. This control room is linked to the main control room of the civic body. Apart from this, the corporation  has purchased four vehicles for carrying stray dogs. According to an estimate of KMC health department officials, there are around 65,000 dogs in the city. It has also changed the method of catching stray dogs after animal activists and pet lovers expressed their reservations against catching of stray dogs with a tong. Now, dog catchers use net to catch dogs in the city.

Chennai
Chennai is one of the few cities in India where dog menace has been tackled in a sensitive way. An NGO, called Blue Cross of India asks volunteers to collect a baseline data. Volunteers are asked to sit in hospitals, where they are asked to keep a tab on from where the dogbite incidents are reported. The team then hands over the data to doctors who carry out sterilisation.

Hyderabad
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has been making it to the news for all the wrong reasons. It has come to the fore for active cruelty being inflicted in the shelters it runs in the region. Around seven dogs are crammed into cages meant for two dogs, they are not supplied with adequate food or water. As a result the strongest dog gets all the food (served in a single bowl for all the dogs) while the mothers and pups end up starving. In one instance a pup which died due to starvation was eaten by a male dog in the cage.  

Kerala
Alappuzha municipality in Kerala has taken an aggressive step by killing stray dogs. After over a thousand deaths from dog bites were reported in 2011, the Kerala state animal husbandry department said state hospitals were not equipped to carry out the ABC programme. But after the Supreme Court banned killing of stray dogs, municipal corporations have been forced to revert to the ABC programme to tackle stray menace.

Punjab
Approximately 15,000 cases of attacks by stray dogs are reported annually in Punjab. While ruling Shiromani Akali Dal legislator DS Cheema suggested scientific methods for controlling dog population in the state by using advanced techniques such as sterilising, one MLA Ajit Singh Mofar took a less politically correct approach by saying, “We can make arrangements to catch the dogs, put them in jungle or zoos or maybe send them to China, Nagaland and Mizoram where they are more needed.”