Does India have a stray dog ​​epidemic? | health

In early August, the Indian Supreme Court issued a dramatic matter calling for the removal of all stray dogs from the streets of the national capital, which prompted anger from animal rights activists.

A few days later, the country’s Supreme Court amended this after it considered a larger seat of the judges in the case, which allowed the municipal authorities actually to return to most of the neighborhoods they picked up after sterilizing and vaccinating them.

But while the revised matter calmed down some of the emotions that erupted on the initial ruling, the court’s interventions have also started a broader discussion in India about dogs in the streets of the country, the danger that it puts and the best way to deal with them.

What revolves around the orders of the court, what is the trigger, and how much is the problem of stray dogs in India – and how many of these dogs do the country in the first place?

What was the order of the Supreme Court?

On August 11, the Supreme Court bodies of JB Pardiwala and R Mahdevan directed the government of Delhi and the local bodies immediately to remove stray dogs from all areas in the national capital area – including New Delhi City and its cities on the outskirts of Nuwaida, Ghazabad, Jurujram.

The court orders asked the authorities to “start picking up stray dogs from all regions” and “transferring these dogs to custom shelters/pounds”, with the condition that they were not released again to public places again.

The ruling has caused criticism from animal rights activists who wondered whether local governments have the infrastructure and resources necessary to implement the matter, amid fears that it may lead to cruelty actions towards dogs.

Some experts also indicated that the Supreme Court order may violate the rules of birth control in India, presented in 2023. These rules were framing to control the inhabitants of stray dogs, through the policy of capturing, sterilizing, vaccinating them, and then launching them. However, August 11 ordered their release in the streets of Delhi.

In the end, amid the protests, a new seat of three judges heard the case again, on August 22 and adjusted the previous matter. The court said: “The dogs that were captured must be sterilized, get rid of wealth, were vaccinated, and launched to the same area from which it was captured,” the court said, corresponding to the rules of birth control.

However, the court explained that the release after capturing will not “apply to dogs with acid or suspects of combating rabies, and those that offer aggressive behavior.”

Moreover, the court ordered the creation of feeding spaces for stray dogs in each municipal wing, showing that the feeding of dogs in the streets will be prohibited now.

The court asked the other states and regions that the Federal Union also ruled to join the case as parties – in fact, which paves the way for this matter, currently registered on the capital and the surrounding areas, to become a law at the country level.

Does India have a dog bite crisis?

The Supreme Court has taken the case due to concerns about an increasing number of dog bite cases in the country.

According to the Ministry of Federal Health Data, the country recorded 2,189,909 cases of dog bite in 2022, a number to 3,052,521 cases in 2023, and 3,715,713 cases in 2024.

Dog bites can be transmitted, similar to bites from other animals, rabies virus to humans. When leaving it without treatment, either angry or paralyzed dog disease appears, both of which are always fatal as soon as the symptoms develop. In India, dog bites represent 99 percent of deaths.

Federal Ministry of Health data show that India has recorded 21, 50 and 54 human deaths caused by rabies, respectively, in the past three years. But experts question these numbers.

While federal data indicates that the southern state of Kerala recorded 0.1 and 3 deaths caused by rabies in 2022, 2023 and 2024, the health authorities in the same state say that Kerala state has 15, 17 and 22 deaths, respectively, in those years. A recent study of Lancet 5,726 was estimated at the death of human dog disease that occurs annually in India.

This is also a portfolio, according to Omish Bahriti, Deputy Director and Epidemiologist at the Ministry of Health in the northern state of Hemachal Pradesh. “I think it is closer to the 10,000 mark,” said Baharti. He added: “In the past ten years, the dog bite has increased 10 times. At the same time, deaths also decreased,” due to the increased spread of rabies and immunoglobulin vaccine, which provides immediate protection in the short term from rabies after possible exposure.

India contributes 36 percent of global dog disease deaths, according to the World Health Organization (World Health Organization).

Do India suffer from a problem in allocating dogs?

Nishant Kumar, President of ThinkPaws, a New Delhi research center that focuses his research on interaction between people, animals and waste systems, said stray dogs constitute regional packages.

He said: “The worshipers learn to distinguish between familiar nutrients and uncommon strangers, which leads to a strategic aggression such as barking or chasing to guard their streets.”

He added: “The issue arises when humans are modified with dogs from one part of the city, who meet dogs in new locations, such as tightening vehicles and children in delivery.”

But the questions remain whether Delhi and India have an accurate number of stray dog ​​groups.

The 2019 livestock statistics conducted by the Indian government’s animal and dairy department – the latest number of stray dogs in the country – found that India includes 15 million reckless dogs, as Delhi represents 55462 of them.

But private government data also showed that Delhi recorded 45,052 bite cases in 2019 – a very large number of sting cases when compared to the inhabited population, raising doubts about the quality of the data concerned.

Meanwhile, an unpublished study conducted by ThinkPaws evaluated the density of dogs in the national capital area of ​​about 550 dogs per square kilometer. Upon straining through Delhi, this indicates an estimated 825313 reckless dog – approximately 15 times the 2019 census data.

It was expected that the livestock census 2024 was expected to be completed on March 31, but was delayed.

How did Bhutan achieve sterilization by 100 percent?

It also prompted the decision of the Supreme Court in India to questions about whether all stray dogs can be sterilized realistically. While it is a small country compared, Bhutan has shown that it can be done.

In 2023, the Himalayas nation, which is located between India and China, became the first country in the world to achieve 100 percent of the inhabitants of stray dogs. The country has also vaccinated 90 percent of the 10.10 thousand stray dogs in just two years-and this is more than the level of vaccination of the 70 percent required to maintain the herd immunity in the case of diseases such as rabies.

Kenley Durgi, the veterinary supervisor of the National Hospital, Bhutan, who also led these efforts, said that what succeeded was the “complete nation” approach and the nature associated with the program, which was paid by the king of the country.

“Because the matter came from our king, everyone cooperated. Not only was left to the Ministry of Livestock or the Municipality. Every person from the armed forces and volunteers from De-Suung (the National Service Program in Bhutan) participated to farmers,” Darji said.

The program was implemented in three stages. “The sterilization took place only two weeks,” Dorji said.

The team used oral anesthesia, besieged and gift. Only in densely populated Thimphu, they had to create separate shelters for the problematic dogs that bite people. All other dogs were launched to the same area from which they were captured.

The program, which started in August 2021, was closed in October 2023, as soon as the country achieved 100 percent stray dog ​​sterilization. Bhutan spent 305 million Ngolterom ($ 3.5 million) and employed 13,000 people during the program.

How does the future look like to manage stray dogs in India?

Experts say India, in comparison, has a long way.

Baharti, the epidemic scientist at Hemachal Pradesh, who deals with the victims of the dog bite, says that the Supreme Court ruling highlights the failure of local governments and non -profit organizations throughout the country.

“They failed to protect citizens, and they failed to sterilize and fortify these dogs,” he said.

Meghanna Unel, director of the Humam Foundation for Persons and Animals, a non -profit organization, welcomed the latest directives from the country’s Supreme Court. “We have waited for two years for this,” said Unive. “General feeding is now banned, and the biting dogs are removed from the streets.”

Kumar of ThinkPaws said that concerns about human conflict will not disappear in India any time soon.

He said that what is required is a long -term plan, including the shelter -based quarantine for dogs that are known to carry diseases or that bite, vaccinate dogs, and adopt messages and mechanisms to reduce the practice of dogs that they eat from open garbage dumps.

He said anything less, “is misleading sympathy.”