Don’t kill strays,vaccinate them
A canine problem dogs Kerala. The sudden spurt in dog bite cases and rabies deaths has turned the focus on the growing number of community dogs in the state. Official records say there have been nearly one lakh dog bite incidents this year alone. Unofficially, the number is pegged close to two lakh. There have been 22 rabies deaths so far this year; alarmingly, five of those were despite the victims being administered the anti-rabies vaccines.
According to a 2019 survey, Kerala had about 2.89 lakh community dogs, and their numbers are said to have since grown exponentially. The rise in dog attacks and the media frenzy around them have created an atmosphere of fear, with many voices calling for eliminating the animals to protect people. The animosity towards dogs, though understandable, is not justified because the problem results from a combination of factors for which dogs aren’t responsible; authorities and people are.
The rise in stray dog numbers could directly be attributed to the total neglect of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme in the last two years. Vaccination of dogs, too, was ignored. People adopting and abandoning dogs at will is another reason. They are also responsible for the unregulated dumping of meat and poultry waste these community dogs feed and thrive on. There is also an argument that feeding on meat waste is turning dogs ferocious.
With the Supreme Court and Kerala High Court stepping in, the state government will have to act fast and put an end to the dog attacks. As the HC rightly pointed out, the government must protect people from dogs and, at the same time, ensure that they don’t take the law into their hands. Waking up rather late, the Kerala government has embarked on a mass vaccination and ABC drive. It has also identified 170 hot spots across the state—recording ten dog bite incidents on average every month—for immediate action.
While that’s commendable, what’s not is its decision to seek permission to kill “ferocious” dogs. With there being no criteria to identify dangerous dogs, this could lead to mass culling. As a solution, killing is cruel and temporary at best. The government should instead look at measures like strengthening ABC and vaccination programmes, rehabilitating dogs, and cracking down on waste dumping.