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PIL on increasing stray dog population: HC seeks governmentt response

The NGO, in its PIL has contended though these dogs generally lived in harmony with the citizens, there have been several recent instances of the mongrels brutally attacking people, including children, resulting in fatalities.

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Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the response of the city government and municipal bodies on a plea to direct them to take action as well as frame guidelines to address the "growing menace" of stray dogs and dog bites.

A bench of justices B D Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva issued notice to the Delhi government and the three municipal bodies seeking their responses by May 13, the next date of hearing. The court also asked them to file status reports on the issues raised in the PIL filed by an NGO, Nyaya Bhoomi, which raised the issue of growing attacks by stray dogs here.

The NGO, in its public interest litigation (PIL) filed through advocate Akanksha Kaushik, has contended though these dogs generally lived in harmony with the citizens, there have been several recent instances of the mongrels brutally attacking people, including children, resulting in fatalities.

"Their ever increasing numbers pose a threat to the well- being of the community," the NGO said and added that its aim was to prevent citizens from stray dogs' bites which are fatal if not treated timely. It referred to reports of a recent case of a two month old baby being mauled to death by a stray dog.

The plea said the population of street dogs was directly related to the amount of food and edible waste in an area and the dog population was very low in those which are kept clean. "Areas of the city with dense, poor quality housing and large amounts of waste have a much higher population. One part of the answer to street dog population control is to control the availability of edible wastes, water and shelter," it said, but also added that killing the stray dogs would not be a solution as dogs from other areas would migrate there.

"And therefore, the problem continues," the NGO has said and added "a more effective solution is the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Programme which has been adopted in the Animal Birth Control (Dogs), Rules, 2001." Referring to reports, the NGO claimed that the population of stray dogs in the national capital was over five lakh in June 2014. It contended that the rate of sterilisation as well as vaccination of the dogs was "abysmally low". "The number of dogs is so large that vaccination cannot cope up", it said and contended that only six per cent of the stray dog populace in Delhi have been vaccinated and also that the effect of vaccination last only for a year.

The petition stated that as per data received from 16 hospitals, through Right to Information application, on the number of dog bite cases admitted, there were 25,644 cases of dog bites in October, November and December 2013 and 54,900 follow up cases of dog bites during the same period.

"That as per data received from only 16 hospitals, the average number of dog bite cases per day are about 300. If figures from all 50 hospitals had been received, this figure is expected to be around 800 per day," the petition said. It also said that cost of an Anti Rabies Vaccine (ARV) is roughly Rs 140 and with an estimated 800 people being bitten every day, the monthly cost of ARV would come to Rs 33,60,000.

In order to curb the menace of stray dogs, the NGO has also given some suggestions, including establishment of two or more dog pounds in each municipal ward, which could also act as adoption centres. It also suggested carrying out of a composite survey to get an estimate of the number of stray dogs in every locality, specifying the number of dogs, both pets and strays, which have been vaccinated and sterilised till now.

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