Stray Dog Menace: How Big Is The Problem In India As Bites Cases Are On Rise

According to Indian government data, between 2019 to 2022, India reported over 1.5 crore cases of dog bites incidents.

New Delhi: Parag Desai, the executor director of Wagh Bakri Tea Group, died on Sunday, a week after he got injured outside his home in Ahmedabad while trying to ward off street dogs that attacked him. The director suffered severe head injuries after the fall and died on Sunday at a hospital in Ahmedabad due to a brain haemorrhage. This is not the first time that stray dogs have killed or led to the deaths of people including vulnerable sections like children and senior citizens. Many such incidents of pets attacking humans have also made it to the news in recent years.

Over the past few months, videos of canine-human conflict have flooded the Indian internet. They represent battles being fought between people worried about their safety when confronted with dogs and animal rights activists. Even as this debate rages on, however, both sides agree on one thing: the Indian state must take action to reduce the country’s massive street dog population.

How Big is the Stray Dogs Problem in India?

1. According to a Lancet study, every year almost 59 thousand people are killed by dog attacks. Officially, India has over 60 million stray dogs.
2. According to Indian government data, between 2019 to 2022, India reported over 1.5 crore cases of dog bites incidents.
3. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), India accounts for 36% of the global deaths due to rabies and 65% of the deaths due to rabies in the South-East Asia region.
4. In 2022, Delhi alone reported 5559 cases of dog bites.
5. According to a report, Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital and Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital, have seen 29,698 and 18,183 dog bite cases respectively in the last six months.
6. The National Rabies Control Program reported 6,644 clinically suspected cases and deaths of human rabies between 2012 and 2022.
7. As of November 2022, the number of infected dogs in Kerala has doubled in the past five years with 168/300 samples (56%) found to be positive for rabies, compared to 32% in a similar study conducted in 2016.
8. 6/12 rabies deaths in Kerala took place despite the victims having taken an anti-rabies vaccine.
9. Between January-October 2022, Kerala and Punjab reported over 10,000 cases of dog bites each, while Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Kashmir reported between 1,000-10,000 cases, according to a report by The Lancet.

Dog Bites Incidents in India

A 8-year-old girl, attacked by stray dogs in Bah block of Uttar Pradesh’s Agra district about two weeks ago, succumbed to the injuries on Oct 24. The incident took place when the girl was going to a nearby grocery shop.

In 2023, nine women were killed by man-eater dogs in Begusarai, Bihar. February 19, 2023, a tragic incident occurred in Hyderabad when a 4-year-old boy was fatally attacked by three stray dogs on a deserted street, with graphic footage circulating on social media.

What needs to be done to solve the problem?

• Government needs to also implement sterilization programs, vaccination drives, and effective enforcement of laws against abandoning pets and stray dog control.
• Mass cullings are not a long-term solution and considered unethical by many parties.
• The government needs to work with animal welfare organizations to provide proper healthcare and housing to strays.
• Individuals also have a role to play in solving this problem. They should take responsibility for their pets and not abandon them or allow them to roam freely without a leash.
• Many people buy a dog without understanding normal dog behaviour. For instance, a puppy normally undergoes teething and nipping and many owners, due to lack of knowledge, think that the dog is aggressive or biting them.
• Many cage their dogs in India’s hot climates for hours at a time without giving them attention or care.
• Many completely shave off the fur of a dog’s coat in the summer time versus trimming it professionally, unaware that a dog’s coat of hair helps the animal cope with heat and uneasiness. Shaving a coat completely also makes the dog vulnerable to serious diseases.
• Citizens must start to report stray dogs to animal welfare organizations.