Canines feel threatened as ‘mad dog’ makes headlines

Since animals cannot speak for themselves, there is only one version of Sunday’s ‘mad dog’ story, that of the people: an allegedly rabid dog that had bitten a dozen people was chased by a mob in an eight-hour chase, battered to death, dragged through the streets and then chucked in a pile of garbage.

Dr BC Ramakrishna, president, Karuna Animal Welfare Association throws up a valid question: “Who knows whether the dog was rabid?” he asks.

“Unless it is certified by a competent authority - after tests in a laboratory (conducted by a veterinarian), which is to say unless there is medical evidence - a dog can’t be called rabid.”

Veterinarian Dr Pawan Kumar explains the symptoms of rabies in dogs, which includes aggressive behaviour, a tendency to bite and chew things, excessive salivation and dilated pupils.

A dog can be infected only when bitten by another rabid dog, and once that happens it displays symptoms between two weeks to six months, and when it does, the symptoms worsen and it dies within 10 days.

But the symptoms are only pointers to raise a suspicion of rabies and not a confirmation. Only after the analysis of the dog’s Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) in the lab can it be known for certain whether or not a dog is rabid, says the vet. Even for a suspected rabid dog that is dead, a post-mortem is required to confirm the disease.

He adds that there are ample cases where dogs suspected of rabies do not really have the disease.

Advocate Brindha Nandkumar, an animal activist, urges the need for an investigation into the incident. A rabid dog cannot possibly run for eight hours, she says. 

“Shocked at the public behaviour” towards the dog, she says the behaviour is definitely a cognisable offence (an offence wherein the police is empowered to register an FIR, investigate and arrest an accused involved in cognisable crime without a court warrant).

An animal suspected of rabies should be confined and handed over to animal welfare NGOs, and if rabid it can be euthanised, she says. She also adds that the police can file cases suo moto in instances of animal cruelty.

Sandhya Madappa, trustee, Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA), who is also in-charge of animal cruelty cases at the NGO says that in Sunday’s incident people took the law into their own hands: “Beating and killing a dog is undoubtedly a criminal offence and promotes violence and cruelty. At CUPA, about 25 to 30 cases of cruelty to animals are reported each month, but many more go unreported.”

According to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960, any act which causes physical or mental pain or anguish to an animal is cruelty, she says, adding any killing (animal or human) is a criminal act by law.

As far as rabies is concerned, there have been no human deaths in the last seven years, says Nandkumar. The Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme started in 1994 in the city has been very successful. Dilip Bafna, from the Animal Rights Fund agrees, and says that before ABC, there were at least 50 human deaths a year due to rabies, while now it is close to zero. “And this is a fact,” he says.