BMC promises not to kill strays indiscriminately

Last week’s high court judgement that the civic commissioner can use his discretion to cull not just rabid and terminally ill dogs but also dogs which cause ‘nuisance’ to society may have ruffled many feathers, but the BMC indicated that it had no intention to kill dogs indiscriminately. Joint executive health officer G T Ambe said, “Statistics over the years clearly indicate that sterilisation has been effective in curbing rabies as well as dog bite cases in the city. We plan to continue with the sterilisation drive in the same pace. Only incurable dogs that spread diseases will be culled”. Ambe based his comment on the differences in statistics between the 1988-1993 period when stray dogs culled habitually and the 2004-2008 period, when culling was replaced with sterilisation. The statistics available with animal welfare NGO Welfare for Stray Dogs (WSD) shows that an average of 50 rabies cases in humans were registered per year between 1988 and 1993. However, ever since the BMC appointed or ganisations to administer sterilisation of dogs, the figure gradually fell. It is known that between 2000 and 2005, only about 20 cases of rabies in humans were reported. Also, while 61,377 cases of dog bites were recorded in 2000, the figure fell to 45,183 in 2006. Ambe said, “Obviously, the drop in these cases indicates the effectiveness of sterilisation. Once neutered, a dog becomes less aggressive.
Cases of dog bites drop, and subsequently spread of rabies drops as well”. In an affidavit dated March 25, 1994, the BMC had put forth its decision to sterilise canines, after agreeing that killing stray dogs to control their population as well as rabies was ineffective. “For the past many years, we have killed 45,000 stray dogs every year. Despite that, we have not been able to bring down their population in Greater Mumbai. This is because of their high birth rate,” the affidavit stated.
Last year, after five sterilisation centres in Mumbai, all run by NGOs, stepped up their act, a total of 13,152 strays were sterilised.
This year, 30,000 dogs have been sterilised, said Abodh Aras of WSD. Municipal Commissioner Jairaj Thanekar agreed, “The last dog census shows that there are only 70,000 strays in the city. Of that 60 per cent still have to be sterilised.” Aras said, “If we proceed in this rate, most dogs will be sterilised in two-and-a-half years”.
Meanwhile, experts said that culling of stray dogs can only be a temporary solution to the problem. M R Shah, principal adviser of Solid Waste Management Cell of MMRDA, said: “The stray dog menace in the city has existed since the British rule. But, a successful solution has not yet been found yet because we have still not addressed the main problem — availability of food for these scavengers. The only way to reduce the menace on the streets is to ensure that food is not thrown in the open, and that sterilisation is effective”.