Under pressure from animal rights groups and celebrities, the Kerala government has decided to partner with NGOs to sterilise stray dogs instead of culling them. Of the more vocal advocates for a humane approach towards controlling the stray dog population in the state, was senior editor Shekhar Gupta who argued against the Kerala government’s culling proposal on Facebook:
Two very newsy weeks have diverted our attention away from the tragedy being enacted in Kerala: culling of stray dogs. You can understand that too many stray dogs in a state as thickly populated as Kerala can be a nuisance, leading to vicious man-animal conflicts. Also, that everybody does not have to love dogs, and some people absolutely dislike their company. They are fully within their rights to do so. But it does not give them the right to mass-slaughter dogs. In any case, that is no solution. It may give you some macabre satisfaction that you can kill defenceless, voiceless animals who irritate you. But it will not reduce what you see as the “menace”. Besides, it is illegal.
Worldwide, it is now accepted that, besides better garbage disposal, the solution to the stray dog problem is #FeedSpayLove. Several colonies in South Delhi, including the one where we live, have done a brilliant job of this in partnership with animal welfare NGOs.
Dogs are easy to befriend, or trusting enough for you to feed them a few times, then for these volunteers to take them to shelters to be spayed and vaccinated, then released in the same streets. After sterilisation the vets customarily snip a part of their lobe.
So dogs thus rendered safe can be easily recognised with those cut ear-lobes. They become much friendlier, rabies-free and, if they are fed regularly, totally non-offensive. Or non-threatening to all except to pizza delivery boys for some reason, who they chase without biting.
Most importantly, they breed no more, and mating season aggression also is gone. This is the only solution. Culling brings no relief except make a city and state look inhuman and uncivilised. See the picture of one such operation in Karachi which I have picked up from the Pakistani press. It is revolting but please keep it in mind when you back the idea of culling. And it has by no means solved the stray dog problem in Karachi.
(Shekhar Gupta is a senior editor and columnist. Tweet to him @ShekharGupta)
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