And the nuisance continues...

The stray dog problem is still a big nuisance in the City, with cases of attacks being reported regularly. In case one wishes to take action in a specific area, there is no dearth of helplines to report the issue — Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA), People For Animals (PFA), Voice of Stray Dogs and many other organisations have their own numbers and are diligently fighting for the cause. And these don’t exist just for the namesake; actual work is being done by them.

Most of these implement the ABC (Animal Birth Control) process instead of killing the dogs. CUPA, for example, only carries out sterilisation and vaccination. “When we get a complaint from a citizen or the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) control room, we take down the caller’s number and address and visit the area to sterilise or vaccinate the dog(s). The catching and releasing happens simultaneously because it’s best for them to go back to their own territory. We have no business relocating them because they would probably not survive in new areas,” informs John, the field officer for CUPA. The helpline number for the same is 22947302.

Residents of various areas in the City have been complaining about dogs barking through the night, not being able to walk around freely even in the day without spotting some growling strays nearby and of course, the commonly-sighted danger of dogs chasing bikes. The garbage crisis that the BBMP has not yet tackled has only made matters worse and often one can see groups of dogs rummaging for food near heaps of trash.

Citizens, even if they have not personally been attacked, are bound to be afraid. “In the area that I live, there was a couple who started feeding a group of around ten street dogs when they were puppies. They had the bad habit of locking these puppies in their house when they left for work. As the dogs grew bigger, they were probably not getting sufficient food because they would keep barking and growling till the couple returned, which used to irritate the neighbours,” recalls Aditi Arakali, a resident of Jayanagar.

“After the residents complained, the couple started leaving the dogs out in the day too. The dogs got angry because they weren’t getting proper food and started barking and attacking almost every passerby on the street. Nobody could walk around without being afraid and this wasn’t tolerated by the residents. We had to call the BBMP to get rid of the dogs, after which there has been peace around here,” she adds. On the part of the government, they are working around their limitation of human resource and the ten vans plying in the City are doing the best they can. According to BBMP joint director (animal husbandry), Parviz Ahmed Piran, things are under control. “We act upon complaints as well as carry out our general routine checks on a daily basis. After the sterilisation is carried out, we leave the dogs where they were caught. Last year, we had 93,447 dogs sterilised, 1,64,892 vaccinated against rabies and 1,420 euthanised. Till February end this year, we’ve already sterilised 57, 051 dogs, vaccinated 1,00,247 and euthanised 442. Six animal welfare organisations are working for us and the numbers of deaths due to rabies have actually come down,” he says.