essay on stray dogs in english

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STRAY DOGS ARE A SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY – A PERSPECTIVE

May 08, 2020 Dr. Aparna Srivastava

Most of the population looks at stray dogs as a menace and a threat. Just a few unfortunate events of dog bites are enough to turn people against stray dogs and perceive them all viciously. In all probability, a dog does not bite unless provoked, sick or in pain. In fact, according to a study conducted by The American College of Veterinary Behaviorists published in Psychology Today, sometimes dogs might not even prefer to interact physically. On the other hand, dogs are often expressive and social animals, eager to ‘talk’ to us, provided we hear them out.

As per a news report in Scroll.in, a couple of years back in 2016, citizens in Kerala took matters in their own hands to seemingly solve ‘the stray dog menace,’ resulting in large-scale culling of dogs. That was nothing short of mass murder and definitely not the way to go about solving the issue. In fact, stray dogs have as much a right to live with dignity and peace as we humans do.

Why does the attack & abuse happen ?

People generally attack stray dogs, kill or take away their puppies and call for their mass slaughter if they bite in retaliation. Erich Fromm, a renowned psychoanalyst and social philosopher gave an insight into man’s irrational and brutal behaviour in his famous book, ‘The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness’. He wrote, “Man’s history is a record of extraordinary destructiveness and cruelty and human aggression, it seems, far surpasses that of man’s animal ancestors, man is in contrast to most animals, a real “killer.’”

Prevalent Myths

Animals can’t be trusted

The relationship between humans and dogs has existed since more than 15,000 years. Humans have raised canines to be their friendly and eager companions with an added talent of interpreting the former’s emotions.

According to the National Geographic, a new study reveals that even stray dogs who are untrained, homeless and abused can interpret our body language.

Strays are seen as carriers of rabies

Even though not all dogs have rabies, all dog bites definitely need to be treated - unless the dog had been vaccinated against rabies in the previous year.

Stories about stray dogs biting & mulling

Surprisingly, there are a lot of people who love their own pets but are extremely wary of stray dogs. Their reasons could range from common beliefs that strays are dirty, disheveled and can’t be trusted. Viral stories on social media on how a dog or a pack of dogs were seen brutally mauling a child are a big reason for this kind of a behavior. Sometimes, we just need to stop & analyze these stories and question ourselves before jumping off to conclusions –

Ask yourself question: Why did someone just stand there, watching the incident, shooting such an incident instead of immediately saving the child/victim or informing others about it? The animals unfortunately, would never be able to reveal their side of the reality, thus giving another reason to torture those animals.

Way forward

Implementing a thoughtful & safe Sterilization drive

Municipal bodies across the country need to control the population of stray dogs by implementing sterilization programs. Sterilization drives by the Government have been successful only in a limited way so far because of various reasons. For instance, these drives need to be sensitively handled which means stray dogs must be picked up with kindness, they should be sterilized by experts and there should be proper monitoring of the same by respective panels. These panels must strictly include members from animal welfare societies, resident welfare associations, animal care takers and technical staff.

Respect towards feeders/volunteers  

One needs to understand that by feeding stray dogs indirectly helps with sterilization drives. The feeders or volunteers are able to win the dogs’ trust, making it easier for them to get the dogs vaccinated/ sterilized. People should therefore not try to create hurdles for well-meaning volunteers who feed and look after them, even if they lack compassion towards these creatures. In the ultimate analysis, this gesture which in turn leads to sterilization of dogs and therefore lessening of their numbers helps the society. And of course more importantly, new born puppies do not have to face the brunt of living on the street without food and water and ultimately getting run over by a vehicle.

Cruelty to animals is not done

Let’s not create bad karma for ourselves by being cruel to these voiceless, helpless animals. Hitting or beating them may turn them aggressive in self-defense, resulting in more attacking or biting. Treat them with love and kindness and notice how they will reciprocate the same emotion will be reciprocated unconditionally.

Do not violate Animal Rights

Stray dogs of India have co-existed with humans since the Vedic ages. The localities, in which we live, belong to them, as much as to us. In fact, they had been residing in some areas long before human settlements there. Cribbing about the issue, hating dogs, beating them up or dislocating them does not help anyone or resolve the issue in any which manner.

Some Noteworthy Legal Facts and Provisions in this Matter

• Article 21 of the Constitution of India protects all forms of life, including animal life.
• In addition, Article 51A(g) imposes on all citizens a fundamental duty to have compassion for living creatures. The Supreme Court of India has interpreted Articles 21 and 51A(g) to mean that animals have a right to lead a life with intrinsic worth, dignity and security.
• The Central Government has enacted a law specifically with regard to animals, namely, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. Under the Act, the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001 (‘ABC Rules’) have been framed and prescribe comprehensive rules relating to stray dogs, amongst others. Under the ABC Rules, stray dogs are to be sterilised, vaccinated and subsequently released into the same area, from where they were captured. The Rules also provide that dogs who are sick are to be treated, prior to their sterilisation and vaccination.
• The Constitution of India gives precedence to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2001 over state and local laws, such as the Kerala State Municipality Act, 1994, under which Section 438 permits the Secretary to order the “seizure and destruction” of stray dogs in a municipal area. In a recent development, Rule 13 of the ABC Rules provides that “in case of any conflict between the Rules and local laws, the provision that is less irksome to the animal shall prevail.”

Punjab and Haryana High Court Verdict on JUNE 8, 2019

It is important to remember that animals and birds have legal rights, just as humans - as stated by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in an exceptional judgment on Animal Welfare Law on JUNE 8, 2019.  It further declared citizens as “guardians of the animal kingdom” with a duty to ensure their welfare and protection.

 “Live and let live,” Justice Rajiv Sharma asserted in his 104-page order after issuing 29 mandatory directions for the welfare of “animal kingdom”. The directions, after according the status of legal person or “entity” to animals, came in a case where 29 cows were packed in cruel and brutal manner in two trucks for being exported to Uttar Pradesh from Haryana.

Justice Sharma ruled that animals, including avian and aquatics, had a right to life and bodily integrity, honour and dignity, and could not be treated merely as property. In the court statement, it was given, “The entire animal kingdom, including avian and aquatic, are declared legal entities having a distinct persona with corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person.”

Stressing the need to show compassion towards all living creatures, Justice Sharma asserted animals might be mute but “we as a society have to speak on their behalf”, as per a report by Tribune India.

As per the historic judgment and also as highlighted in The Better India, it would be the duty of the citizens, to ensure the following:

• Animals are healthy and comfortable,
• Well-nourished and in a safe environment,
• Express innate behavior without pain, fear and distress.
• Be entitled to justice, and;
• Safe from being treated as objects or property.

Report abuse

It is unacceptable to remain a mute spectator to animal abuse. In such cases of possible animal abuse, one shouldn’t hesitate to step in, object & report to higher concerned authorities like the police. Since animals are voiceless, we as evolved species need to step forward and protect them to the best of our capabilities.

Allow them to sit or rest in public space around your home

If possible, allow stray dogs to sit in spaces close to your home, if not within your premises. It is indeed unfair when people extend their boundaries illegally by grabbing public land and then prohibit the strays to sit in that space!

Adopt a Stray

Instead of going for fancy & costly breed of dogs, try adopting a stray. They are low maintenance and are as good and dedicated to their family members who adopt them.

The best place to adopt a stray is from either a shelter home or just a roadside. They deserve that chance.  It would be a noble deed as well. However, after adopting them, do not give up or abandon them ever that would be emotionally traumatic for them, leaving them forlorn and disheartened for the rest of their lives.

While strays certainly don’t have the luxury of a cushy life that house pets fortunately have been blessed with, the former is still adaptable to humans and they too respond to human empathy.

Surely a little empathy and respect for another species can reduce a lot of conflict and make the world a happier place. So let’s try and make Mother Earth, a peaceful place for all creatures big and small, with shared thoughts of kindness.

(With gratitude)

• https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/decoding-your-pet/201412/dogs-dont-bite-out-the-blue
• https://medium.com/@kuldeep.kaul/human-stray-dog-conflict-in-india-how-you-can-help-2f9931022065
• https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-in-India-hate-stray-dogs-so-much
• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/01/stray-dogs-communication-rabies-health/
• https://www.dailypioneer.com/2019/columnists/animals-deserve-a-dignified-living.html
• https://www.umangfoundationtrust.org/2018/05/11/be-kind-feed-a-stray/

Stray Relief and Animal Welfare (STRAW) India is a registered nonprofit /non-government organization and its focus is summed up in its motto, Animal Welfare through Education. It promotes empathy and compassion for all living beings and care for the environment by educating young people through its humane education programs and workshops.

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All photos taken in Chennai and © Eshita Prasanna/Tailshots

The free dogs of India

These canines have independent, peaceful, happy lives without a pet’s constraints. why are they being persecuted and culled.

by Krithika Srinivasan & Chris Pearson   + BIO

Unbound by human owners and the constraints of petdom, they live the doggiest of dog lives: they sleep when they want, mingle with friends they choose, pee when the urge hits, and eat when hungry ­– as long as food can be found. Wandering the streets of Chennai in southern India, we saw them dozing alone or in company on pavements, seeking shelter from the heat under a van, watching children playing on the beach, or being cared for by local residents. Part of Indian street life, these free-living dogs stand in stark contrast to the culture of pet ownership found in the West. Not only do they defy the image of the out-of-control and marauding canine stalking the sensationalist articles of 19th-century newspapers in Western Europe and North America, they ask us to question our sanitised cities and stewardship of a world with nature at so much risk.

India’s robust street dogs also challenge the supposed superiority of pedigree that dominates dog breeding today. One of us recently adopted a street dog from Romania. Bell Kanmani was brought to the United Kingdom by one of the many charities picking up street dogs there and finding them new homes abroad. While walking her in the UK, Bell Kanmani’s human is regularly confronted with the question ‘What breed is your dog?’ The response that she is just a ‘dog’ only serves to prompt further speculation about what mix of breeds she might be: everything from a collie to a Jack Russell. Having grown up in India, Kanmani’s human finds strange, and rather disturbing, this idea of dogs as necessarily belonging to a particular breed or mixture of breeds. She is familiar with dogs who have lineages free of any human breeding, not necessarily belonging to humans or doing what humans command them to. These unowned and breed-free dogs are now often known as street or village dogs, or – our preferred term – free-living dogs.

Too often in the West, dogs are seen through the prism of pedigree, and connected to their owner via collars and leashes. All too often, the realities of how dogs and humans live together in the Global South are overlooked. As a country with a significant street-dog population, India is a good place from which to explore how humans and canines share street life in cooperative ways that move beyond images of free-living dogs as dangerous.

Exposing the reality is crucial given rising media calls for culling Indian street dogs, exposing them to rhetorical and actual violence. The condemnation of street dogs as risky and unwelcome is rooted in colonial attitudes, and overlooks complex and varied everyday interactions, often positive, between dogs and humans. Discussing their lived experience will help the dogs themselves, and also help us reflect on how humankind can share the planet with all the other creatures who live on it.

F ree-living dogs pose a fundamental challenge to the idea that animals must serve some human purpose. Their lives contradict the Western understanding of dogs as creatures who belong to a particular breed or a mixture of breeds. They show that ‘breed’ is only one way of thinking about dogs, even if it is dominant in the West and has spread across the world.

The idea that ‘legitimate’ dogs must belong to a breed based on appearance and conformation to physical standards comes from mid-19th century Britain, including the upper-class fox-hunting kennels and the working- and middle-class penchant for ‘dog fancy’ shows. Dog shows and the creation of the Kennel Club in 1873 provided the arenas and infrastructure for dog breeds to be displayed and their lineages recorded. Kennel clubs and dog shows spread across Europe and North America, positioning breedless street dogs as lesser dogs of unsavoury and degenerate appearance and lineage. Colonialism spread breed ideologies to Africa and Asia. In colonial India, the British imported ‘purebreed’ dogs, establishing Kennel Clubs and dog shows that allowed British and local elites to mingle; although some Indian dogs were entered into competitions, they were dominated by British and European breeds.

Yet dogs existed before breeds, and most dogs living on this planet today cannot be understood in terms of breed. These are the dogs we call free-living dogs. Other names that have stuck include ‘stray’, ‘tramp’ and ‘cur’. These terms positioned free-living dogs as degraded and disgusting, creatures who should be killed.

In India, a country with one of the world’s largest street-dog populations, these dynamics have played out in vivid and illuminating ways. Labelled ‘pariahs’ by the British, street dogs were viewed and treated as outcast in the colonial period. The term’s etymology lay in Paraiyar, the former name of a caste-oppressed community (who are now known as Adi Dravida) from southern India (in what is now Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Sri Lanka) who drummed at weddings, funerals and other occasions, alongside performing other menial tasks (‘drum’ in Tamil is parai ). Framing this group as victims of caste oppression, the British nonetheless disdained the Paraiyars’ supposed immorality, drunkenness and brutishness, and used the term ‘pariah’ to refer to outcasts, human and nonhuman alike.

The British introduced this term into Indian law, and saw ‘stray dogs’ as fundamentally illegitimate

In the British imagination, ‘pariah’ dogs represented the decline and decadence of India. Visiting Patan in North Gujarat in 1926, the writer and theologian Alban G Widgery lamented in The Times of India how this former stronghold of Rajput rule was now infamous as a bastion of ‘disgusting’, ‘lazy’ and diseased ‘stray’ dogs who were a formidable ‘menace and a challenge’. Widgery blamed the town’s Jain community for this sorry state of affairs. Jains’ spiritual respect for all life prevented effective control of dogs: ‘nevertheless it is a cause for surprise that the adherents of a religion whose ascetics are conspicuous for their cleanliness and for their ethics of kindness should tolerate the existing conditions.’ For Widgery, the apparent contradictions and irrationality of Indian religious beliefs had produced a public health crisis and a revolting spectacle. Widgery’s views were far from unique, and ‘pariah’ was bandied about in colonial newspapers, reports and books. The term was also applied to street dogs in other British colonies, as well as in Britain. Deemed worthless, ‘pariah’ dogs became targets of violence when British soldiers stationed in India amused themselves by shooting them.

From Beast and Man in India: A Popular Sketch of Indian Animals in Their Relations with the People (1891) by J L Kipling. Courtesy the Wellcome Library

The term ‘stray’ further marginalised Indian street dogs by branding them creatures who had roamed from their rightful place within a human dwelling. The British introduced this term into Indian law, and saw ‘stray dogs’ as fundamentally illegitimate, in contrast with the pet dogs they brought with them. Dog-care books of the era encouraged British dog owners to keep their pets within their home; and municipal authorities, goaded on by newspapers, introduced legislation that subjected free-living dogs to impoundment and slaughter. Throughout colonial India, municipal authorities deployed different ways of killing dogs: poisoning and shooting by police or clubbing, most often carried out by caste-oppressed men. Such methods were opposed by some British people as well as Indians. Demonstrations, riots and strikes broke out in Bombay when the Parsi community took umbrage at the extension of dog culling laws during the summer of 1832. British authorities sought more effective and less controversial ways of eliminating straying dogs. In Madras, a lethal chamber was installed in the dog pound, as was one in the Military and Civil Station of Bangalore’s pound. But ‘humane’ killing remained controversial, with demonstrations once more breaking out in Bombay in 1916 when a lethal chamber was introduced.

Lurking behind the condemnation of free-living dogs was the spectre of rabies. Although pet dogs were known to spread this viral disease, 19th-century doctors, public hygienists, journalists and veterinarians in the Western world lined up to blame street dogs for spreading this fearsome illness. Branding them dirty, diseased and disorderly, they argued that street dogs’ mobility and abundance represented a public health threat to be managed through muzzling, dog taxes, impoundment and culling. From Singapore to southern Africa, colonialism spread such attitudes and practices across the globe. In India, they stuck to ‘pariah’ dogs who were viewed not only as unsightly but dangerous creatures, further justifying the capture and culling of straying dogs.

The legacy of British rule continued well into the post-independence period, until 2001 when the term ‘stray dogs’ was replaced with ‘street dogs’ in Indian law, and killing as a means of dog control became illegal. The Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules (2001), a central government notification, codified the right of dogs to exist outside of human ownership. Neutering and anti-rabies vaccination programmes came to replace culling as a means of managing street dogs, even if extra-legal culls have continued, such in Bengaluru (Bangalore) in 2007 and Kerala in 2021.

The status of dogs in India now contrasts sharply with that in Western countries, where any dog found wandering outside on the street is considered stray and liable to impoundment and being killed if not retrieved or rehomed. Widespread culling of ‘straying’ dogs and the introduction of neutering has virtually eradicated free-living dog populations in the West. In places such as India, dogs have many more opportunities for life than in places like the UK where they are allowed to exist only under human ownership. The idea that dogs belong in public spaces is also reflected in vernacular terms for free-living dogs – theru nai in Tamil, galee ka kutha in Hindi, vidhi kukka in Telugu – all of which mean ‘street’ and not ‘stray’ dog.

While Indian law and public attitudes recognise the legitimacy of street dogs, transnational animal welfare and public health ideas continue to challenge their status as autonomous free-living animals. While street dogs in India are not killable, they are often treated as needing either control or rescue, and sometimes both. Norms about public health, nuisance and development cast free-living dogs as creatures to be controlled through ‘removal’ to unspecified locations and fates.

Alongside rescue and adoption initiatives meant to bring the benefits of petdom to street dogs, one finds neutering and vaccination programmes directed at controlling their populations and reducing the incidence of rabies.

Neutering refers to castration in males and ovariohysterectomy in females, both major surgeries with long-term impacts on the individual animal’s life. The side-effects of surgery are only increased by the serious harms that can come with capture, transport and kennelling. Neutering is nonetheless seen as best practice in animal welfare for dogs because of Western norms about the ‘inferior’ quality of life experienced by dogs who are not owned by humans.

A closer look at free-living dogs offers a different picture. Far from scrounging around for scraps all day, such dogs in India spend most of their time relaxing and sleeping (and sometimes in unusual places, such as squeezed between two motorbikes).

This is not to say that their lives are a bed of roses: they have to search for food, water and shelter without guarantee of success, and they are subject to accidental and intentional human-induced harms, such as road traffic accidents, being chased away, culling, and deliberate cruelty.

Nonetheless, they lead relatively autonomous lives. They get to pee and poop when they need to (instead of being restricted to times specified by humans). They get to choose their own lovers and friends (human, canine, feline), play when they want to, be solitary when they want to. They have at least some opportunity to escape unwanted or noxious human attentions, unlike pet dogs, who are bound to the confines of human ownership regardless of its quality. The lives of free-living dogs are not always better than the lives of human-owned dogs, but the reverse is equally not the case.

The way people interact with these dogs is variable and complex. Conflict over the issue is particularly heated in Chennai, where we surveyed the population to see how people felt in 2017. A majority of those we spoke to were indifferent to street dogs and barely noticed them: ‘Each street has around 2-3 dogs… but I have never thought about them very much,’ said Kanakam of Chennai.

Many of those from the middle and upper classes saw dogs as nuisances that barked and chased. ‘I don’t think in any other country in the world there are stray dogs. Dogs always have some owners,’ complained Mini from Chennai. Others took the sentiment further, likening free-living dogs to humans who live and work on the streets, insisting they should all be removed.

Even those who saw the dogs as pests recognised them as vulnerable creatures with a right to live in the city

Such friction between traditions of multispecies cohabitation and new(er) ideas of a more sanitised and developed society produces support for neutering or culling.

Yet others had companionable relationships with the animals. Karuppiah, a pavement dweller in Chennai, discussed the street dogs in his neighbourhood: ‘We give them porai [hard bread] biscuits. So they get accustomed to us … We interact, no? That dog plays with us with love, no? Sleeps next to us. After we are asleep, they sleep on our legs.’

Velu, a waste-worker, said: ‘I give them whatever food I find in these bins. Sometimes you get food, sometimes you do not. When you do not get, there will be dogs looking at you longingly for food … Romba kashtama irukkum [it makes you feel very bad].’

Even those who claimed the dogs were pests usually recognised them as vulnerable creatures with a right to live in the city; the words paavam (vulnerable) and jeevan (life-form) were frequently mentioned in our Chennai interviews. In the words of Gokul from Chennai: ‘I think they are a nuisance. They aren’t trained; they eat from the garbage and end up scattering garbage everywhere. The ones sleeping on the roads are a problem for pedestrians as well … [but] you can’t just remove them from the street. They have a right to live there as well.’

We found that a majority agreed that street dogs were a problem (71.6 per cent) but a majority also believed that they have a right to live in public places (78.8 per cent), and that they are paavam (79.3 per cent).

There exists a wealth of knowledge, especially among those who live and work on the streets, on how to interact with street dogs safely. Ramu, a waste-worker explained: ‘You should not get scared [ padaravey koodathu ]. You should not run or make any sudden movements. They will come very close, but they will not bite. Be casual … they will go away. They will keep barking but after a while they will stop … Talk to them. Say things like “What do you want?” Or gently say “Keep quiet.” Next time make sure you feed them something. But, first, you have to be casual with dogs. Do not fear them at all.’

T he lives of India’s street dogs challenge us to examine mindsets and culture in the age of the Anthropocene, where humans dominate and nature is beset by the climate crisis and habitat destruction worldwide. Before we save faraway wildlife, we may need to truly see the dogs who live free, near our homes. Free-living dogs can be pests and threats to human health, but they can also contribute to human wellbeing through companionship and relationships of mutual care. In India, everyday acts of care, such as stopping to fuss over two local dogs while whizzing around the metropolis, point to how humans and other animals can live alongside each other in the human-built world.

The dogs on India’s streets provide useful lessons on sharing the planet with other creatures – from wolves and bears to snakes and tigers – who are often more valued but certainly more dangerous to us. Cohabitation entails both coexistence and conflict. It is not easy to live with or live alongside others, including humans, but everyday interactions over long periods of time can incubate an ethos of mutual tolerance on a human-dominated Earth.

Most creatures protected or valued as ‘wildlife’ in today’s world were once exterminated as threats or as valueless. Animals like wolves and beaver are being persecuted yet again when their populations are revived thanks to conservation. This is because they find themselves in human-dominated and modified landscapes where there is no memory or knowledge of how to share spaces and lives.

Instead of worrying only about endangered species, perhaps we should focus on animals in our midst. Learning to live with and respect free-living dogs, rats , gulls, cockroaches and mosquitoes might well be a crucial stepping stone for learning to protect the lions, pandas and elephants at risk and far from home.

Nations and empires

The paradoxes of Mikha’il Mishaqa

He was a Catholic, then a rationalist, then a Protestant. Most of all, he exemplified the rise of Arab-Ottoman modernity

Knowledge is often a matter of discovery. But when the nature of an enquiry itself is at question, it is an act of creation

Céline Henne

Nature and landscape

Land loneliness

To survive, we are asked to forget that our lands and bodies are being violated, policed, ripped up, silenced, sacrificed

History of ideas

All that we are

The philosophy of personalism inspired Martin Luther King’s dream of a better world. We still need its hopeful ideas today

Bennett Gilbert

A novel kind of music

So-called ‘classical’ music was as revolutionary as the modern novel in its storytelling, harmony and depth

Joel Sandelson

Psychiatry and psychotherapy

Decolonising psychology

At times complicit in racism and oppression, psychology has also been a fertile ground for radical and liberatory thought

Rami Gabriel

Essay on Stray Animals

Students are often asked to write an essay on Stray Animals in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Stray Animals

Introduction.

Stray animals are those pets that have been abandoned or lost by their owners. They live on the streets, often struggling to find food and shelter.

Challenges Faced

As responsible citizens, we should show kindness to these animals. We can provide food, shelter, or alert animal welfare organizations.

Stray animals deserve love and care. By helping them, we can create a kinder, more compassionate world.

250 Words Essay on Stray Animals

The plight of stray animals, causes of stray animal population.

The surge in the stray animal population can be traced back to human activities such as abandonment and failure to sterilize pets. This situation is exacerbated by the lack of effective animal control policies and the inadequate funding of animal shelters.

Implications for Human and Animal Welfare

Stray animals pose significant concerns for both human and animal welfare. For humans, they can be a source of diseases such as rabies. For the animals, their life on the streets is marked by suffering and short life spans.

Addressing the Issue

Addressing this issue requires a multi-pronged approach. Firstly, public awareness campaigns about responsible pet ownership and the plight of strays can evoke empathy and action. Secondly, implementing and enforcing spay/neuter laws can effectively control the stray population. Lastly, increasing the funding and capacity of animal shelters can provide strays with a safe haven.

In conclusion, the issue of stray animals is a societal problem that requires urgent attention and action. By adopting responsible pet ownership practices and advocating for effective policies, we can ensure a safer and more compassionate world for these innocent lives.

500 Words Essay on Stray Animals

Stray animals are a ubiquitous sight in many urban and rural settings worldwide. These animals, primarily dogs and cats, often live in precarious conditions, facing numerous challenges such as lack of food, shelter, and medical care. The issue of stray animals is not only an animal welfare concern but also a public health issue.

Why Stray Animals Exist

Implications of stray animals.

Stray animals face a myriad of challenges. They are often subjected to harsh weather conditions, starvation, and disease. Furthermore, they are at risk of abuse and cruelty. Stray animals also pose a public health risk. They can be carriers of zoonotic diseases, which are diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans, such as rabies.

The Human-Animal Conflict

The presence of stray animals often leads to human-animal conflicts. These conflicts can range from minor disturbances, such as noise and mess, to more serious issues like attacks on humans and pets. This conflict often triggers negative attitudes and actions towards strays, further exacerbating their plight.

Addressing the Stray Animal Problem

Lastly, fostering a culture of compassion and respect towards animals can help improve their welfare. This can be achieved through education and awareness campaigns that highlight the importance of co-existence and empathy towards all living beings.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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Guest Essay

When All Else Fails, Blame the Dogs

By Kaya Genc

Mr. Genc is a journalist and novelist and the author, most recently, of “ The Lion and the Nightingale: A Journey Through Modern Turkey .” He wrote from Istanbul.

When I step out of my apartment in central Istanbul, dogs surround me. One lies dozing across the street. Another has sad eyes that are always looking for food, sympathy or both. They haunt city squares, they wait outside butchers and coffee shops. Some seem unhealthily overweight; others are skeletal.

Living in Turkey has for decades, even centuries, meant navigating the stray dogs. There are around four million of them, according to some estimates, but it’s hard to know for sure. For many people they are inseparable from the idea of Turkey itself.

Though maybe not for much longer. Just over a week ago , President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s governing Justice and Development Party presented a bill to Parliament that would require municipalities to capture strays and put them in shelters. (Many of those shelters are dilapidated and overcrowded. The bill gives municipalities until 2028 to renovate existing shelters and build new ones.) Aggressive, rabid and ill dogs will be euthanized.

There has been fierce debate and protests over the fate of stray dogs since Mr. Erdogan proposed “radical” measures in a speech in May . Supporters of what came to be known as Mr. Erdogan’s “euthanasia bill” point to car accidents and injuries caused by the dogs. They say that streets are not suitable homes for dogs and that their presence makes cities more dangerous for humans and animals alike. Critics of the plan, myself included, argue for sterilization instead of euthanasia. We also fear the worst: that beloved dogs we’ve looked after for months or years might suddenly disappear because an overanxious citizen placed an anonymous call.

I also can’t shake the sense that for the government, this is not really about the dogs. Mr. Erdogan long ago mastered the art of scapegoating. In his more than 20 years in power, he has pointed to intellectuals , journalists, refugees and others as the source of Turkey’s troubles. With the economy faltering and after a poor showing in spring municipal elections, he and his party have again been looking for somewhere to redirect people’s ire.

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• Get Educated

Saving India's Street Dogs

Millions of stray dogs live on the streets of India. Most are direct descendants of their feral canine ancestors, a "breed" much older than any AKC (American Kennel Club) breed. With the recent increase in popularity among Indians of full breed dogs, more and more street dogs are abandoned pets or have bred with pet breeds.

Although they are widely feared because some carry rabies, for the most part India's street dogs are not aggressive and will only bite if provoked. Indeed, many are fearful of humans and sadly, the dogs' fears are well founded.

India's street dog population is closely associated with municipal sanitation practices – or neglect thereof. Because these homeless dogs often survive by scavenging rubbish, exposed garbage means more healthy dogs – and more puppies. Ironically, this actually makes the dogs a boon to public sanitation. By scavenging garbage, they reduce perishable waste that could otherwise be a source of contamination for people. And their presence around garbage keeps away other potentially dangerous scavengers, such as rats and mice.

Unfortunately, fear and ignorance have led many Indian citizens and officials to see street dogs as nothing but a nuisance and to seek eradication using inhumane methods such as poisoning and beating. But for every dog killed, another typically comes in to take over that dog's territory. The only scientific method to humanely reduce street dog populations is mass spay and neuters, commonly known as animal birth control (ABC).

Through ABC programs, all the dogs within a community or region are sterilized and then released back to their territories. The result: dog breeding stops and their population declines.

Help Animals India funds ABC programs across India and have funded the sterilization of hundreds of thousands of street dogs from partner organizations including, Varanasi for Animals, Karuna Society for Animals and Nature, HOPE and Animal Trust, Just Be Friendly, Sarnath Animal Welfare, Raahat, CUPA, and more.

Another partner, Sarvodaya Sevabhavi Samstha, is a traveling veterinary team that conducts ABC operations across India and educates communities about how to live safely and peacefully with street dogs and other animals. Here's one of their delightful educational videos, co-produced with Help Animals India:

And here's a whimsical look at the ABC team in action:

Developing new ABC operations isn't an easy task. But we're determined to keep expanding these vital programs across the country. Just recently, funding by Help Animals India enabled the Sarvodaya vets to conduct the first ever ABC project in Sarnath, the birthplace of the Buddha. Six months into the program, we witnessed firsthand the transformation in community attitudes as people began caring for the very street dogs they had previously dreaded.

Winning community support for ABC projects where none have existed before can be an uphill battle. To increase the odds of success, we always make sure our ABC projects are managed by qualified people who are up to the challenge. To give an example of the resistance they sometimes encounter, Buddhists typically regard sterilization as tantamount to taking life. As a result, many Buddhist communities in India are very resistant to ABC programs. But thanks to skillful community education by our ABC project coordinators, attitudes are changing and ABC is gaining ground within India's Buddhist enclaves, making their communities safer for dogs – and people, because anti-rabies vaccination is also part of every ABC program.

Rabies is a genuine problem when it comes to India's street dogs. Although the numbers are widely debated, the World Health Organization estimates that rabies kills about 20,000 people a year in India. That's 36 percent of rabies deaths worldwide.

Clearly, controlling rabies is key to winning hearts and minds, not to mention saving lives. The publicly very visible anti-rabies vaccination (ARV) component of our ABC programs helps build community support. When people have less reason to be fearful of dogs, they're less likely to want to destroy them.

People and street dogs can get along. With the generous help of our donors , ABC and ARV programs are slowly making that dream come true where our partners work in India.

Further Reading

• Learn about India's Native Dogs
• Dog rules in India
• Brochure in Hindi and English on how to prevent dog bites and rabies
• India Street Dog Documentary
• Top things to know about adopting a stray dog
• Global resources about street dogs

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English Compositions

Autobiography of a Street or Stray Dog [With PDF]

Today we came up with an autobiography writing, which is on a Street Dog or you can say Stary Dog. So without spending more time let’s dive into the composition.

When I opened my eyes for the first time, I saw light, a big wall in front of me with a poster of a man holding a gun torn off. Howling sounds were coming from everywhere and there was a strong pungent smell, a smell that I still give me chills.

It was difficult for me to see clearly at first. All I could see was four puppies of my size and two big puppies around me. One of them feeds us two-three times a day and the other growls at people, and other big puppies who try to come near us. It took me a long time to realize that those big puppies are called dogs and the two who were taking care of us were our parents. 

Soon, I started seeing the world with my eyes. There were so many colours around me. So many people, walking at a fast pace, as if they don’t run, they are going to miss something, something important.

I never got out of the big brown rug and neither did my brothers and sisters. We would always lie there, with either of our parents, most often with our mother.

My father would go and get food for my mother. It was always a piece of bread and sometimes he would get her bones to chew. But most of the time he would return with no food hanging from his mouth.

On those days, he would come to my mother, lick her face and they would touch their heads together as if he says sorry and she understands.

 On those times, I could see water trickling down from my father’s eyes. I did not understand why I never had water trickling down from my eyes or from the eyes of my brothers and sisters. But that was when we were young.

Long gone are the days when we would wait for our mother to return home after our father fails to bring home some food. She would come to us, sad and we all would just hover around her and suck the milk out of her, biting her and fighting with each other while she just lies there, helpless. Happy but helpless. 

Days went by and I was the first one to walk among my siblings. My parents looked at me with pride and I thought I was their favourite child. Soon, my brothers and sisters started walking and soon after that, we were running around, everywhere.

Our parents would then go on food hunting together, leaving us behind, but always within an arm’s reach. One afternoon, we all went a little too far and saw things. There was a huge building and people were entering and exiting it with some kind of hurry. They all had huge boxes with wheels at the end.

They will just pull those boxes with them. We entered through one of the doors and saw a big blue vehicle that moved. It was called a train. We were so happy seeing so much commotion that we separated.

After a while when we all returned, one of my brothers was missing. Soon my parents found out and went looking for him, but they also never returned. We waited the whole night, hungry, but no one came. 

The next morning we went to look around for our parents and brother. We walked together, looked everywhere. We barked around the huge dustbins and looked around the garbage that laid down there.

We looked around the place where cars were always parked in a systematic fashion. We looked around the tracks where the train always runs and we looked around the rooms where sweaty people rested on a piece of torn cloth the same as our rug. 

Tired and hungry, we went to the shops nearby where people blow smokes out of their mouth and throw paper plates with food on the streets. We were eating when I noticed that pungent smell again. The smell I first smelled when I opened my eyes. I followed the smell to the back of the shop and there she was, my mother.

Her mouth, wide open. Her eyes, still and filled with shock and desperation. Her face stained black from the water coming out of her eyes. Ants, surrounding her body and inside her eyes and ears and mouth. I barked and called for my brothers and sisters. We circled her, pawed her to wake up. Licked the ants out of her face. But she did not move. 

She lay still, with her cold motionless body. Blood that had dripped from her legs had soaked onto the ground beneath her. We started whining, calling for our mother but she did not move. A minute later, people were shouting at us and throwing water on us.

We ran, we ran like our lives depended on it. I don’t know when and how, but I lost track of my brothers and sisters. I barked and barked and whined and whined trying to find my family but I could not find anyone.

One day I had a family, a protective, loving family and now it’s all gone. I was left alone in an alley where people put pointy pins into their skin and lay still like they are dead. 

Days went by and I ate from the dumpster and there was no torn rug to sleep on. I walked, changing my location every day. I ran from other dogs who tried to chase me, hurt me. I ran and ran and ran. Wherever I went, I was kicked out.

With no parents, no siblings and no friends, I wandered around the road trying to not get crushed under the feet of a huge person who is always at a pace. Like if they don’t run, they are going to miss something, something important. Just like it was at the train station. 

Now I have grown somewhat. Not as big as the giant puppies that are called dogs but large enough not be called a puppy. My voice has changed, my energy has changed and so has my appetite. It is difficult to find food in this world yet I see so many people throwing leftovers in huge dustbins.

It is difficult to find a place to sleep as the people living in big houses do not like me sleeping near the free space of their garage. Many people have dogs of their own.

I have met an alsatian, a pug, a dalmatian and so many other beautiful dogs with their beautiful clothes and collars and silky smooth hair over their body. The people kiss them, feed them, love them yet, whenever I get close to the people they beat me, throw water at me, shout at me and make me wander around the streets during the heavy downpour. 

I miss the busy stinky station and my family. I miss my mother who was always there to feed me. I miss my father who was always there to protect me. I miss my siblings with whom I shared my mother’s womb.

I miss playing with them. As I lay here on the cold ground and think of those good old days, water starts trickling down from my eyes. Now I know what it was, why the water trickled from my eyes. 

So here comes to the end of the autobiography on a Street Dog, I hope you liked this composition, do let me know your thoughts in the comment section, I would love to see those.

Menace of Stray Dogs in India: A Critical Analysis

• December 2022
• 42(1):39-47

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• Brahmanand College

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Essay: Stray dogs and the curse of anthroparchal logic

With the idea of free-roaming animals suddenly being seen as a mark of an uncivilised society, violence directed at dogs and those who feed them has been spiralling in urban india.

“To hell with animal welfare laws…society has the right to kill ferocious dogs roaming on the streets and the people who feed them,” reads a tweet on X (formerly Twitter) by one Joginder Singh.

Earlier this week, Singh, who has been spearheading an anti-stray dog campaign, reiterated the call to kill stray dogs and dog-feeders in a newly developed bustling residential area of Noida Extension. The video of his fiery speech is being circulated widely.

This is the same area where on February 3, a 10-year-old had tossed a pup from a considerable height, leading to its death. This happened as his elders had spilled out on the streets to unleash their fury on a bunch of feeders who care for community dogs. In the commotion that followed, a woman feeder was molested and animal welfare activists had to move heaven and earth to get a case of sexual harassment registered at the nearby Bisrakh police station.

Such dog haters cut across caste, class, religion and region. The ghastly shooting down of 20 stray dogs last week by a man in Telangana is a case in point. And before this could sunk in, a man made news for wanting a licenced gun to protect himself from stray dogs.

Gone are the days when heated conversations over dog-feeding began and ended with – “If you love these dogs so much, why don’t you take them home?” In this age of anger, wooden sticks and steel rods are pulled out from under car seats to badger dogs, or they are deliberately hit or run over. Dog-feeders, mostly women, who dig deep into their pockets to feed these strays, get cursed, slapped and beaten. Often, they are meted out the treatment reserved for stray dogs.

The anti-stray dog sentiment is at an all-time high and leading animal welfare activists say the anti-dog lobby is working overtime to create a fuss over community dogs – such as the call by Singh to kill dogs and feeders – for a reason. The Supreme Court has set February 28 to hear a bunch of petitions relating to stray dogs in Kerala and other parts of the country. This all-important Supreme Court verdict will seal the fate of stray dogs. In the worst case scenario, they will be culled or sent to pounds.

While on paper, sending the strays to a pound may sound like a compassionate option, but nobody quite understands the politics of dog pounds leave alone the pressure on the state exchequer to allocate land and funds to run such spaces. Imagine passing by an unusually large number of dogs and cats in an overcrowded space caught in the stench of faeces, urine and vomit. A place where dogs and cats are caged for life, the dogs are never walked, and they fight for crumbs.

Life at a Shelter

Katja M Guenther, the author of The Lives and Deaths of Shelter Animals , fills in the gaps here. She spent three years volunteering with “nonhuman animals” at a high-intake public animal shelter in the Los Angeles metropolitan area which she refers to as PAW. Her life changed when she met a muscular pit bull named Monster, a day before he was to be put down. He regarded her dispassionately from his cell, aware that his fate had been sealed.

With Monster becoming part of a much larger statistic – three million companion animals are put to sleep in animal shelters in the US each year – Guenther decided to study the multiple processes that go into such killings. As she spent more time at the shelter, she noted that dogs and cats coming from “a community of lower-income people of colour” were at a higher risk of ending up at a shelter, and being seen as “market surplus” and killed.

She noted that certain breeds such as the pit bull, which are favoured by lower-income groups, were looked upon with disdain and the “breed discrimination… is itself grounded in racism and classism”. In contrast, companion animals who lived in affluent, predominantly white communities were likely to be sent to animal shelters that provide veterinary care and are committed to reunification or adoption. Had Monster ended up in one such shelter, his chances of survival would have been 95 percent.

Guenther points out that the human urge “to dominate and control human and nonhuman animals” extends to shelters which have a licence to kill: “Monster died because of who he was, who the humans he was attached to were, and how our society naturalizes and accepts the killing of animals.”

Violence Against Dog-loving Women

Woman dog-feeders in India have had a rough run. A woman was slapped by a defence personnel as she was feeding dogs, another had to run for her life as she was attacked with an iron rod, and an unlucky third slipped and fell and had to have a hip replacement surgery.

Guenther’s observations at PAW, which is populated with women as staff or volunteers, helps us understand the situation of women dog-lovers in India, especially those not residing in affluent pockets. The author ponders over feminist animal studies which emphasise the importance of seeing the connections between the oppression of women and animals: “Violence against animals normalises violence against humans, especially women who have been constructed as animal-like in the sense that they are voiceless and victimisable. Like animals, women have endured a long history of being silenced, devalued, and subjected to violence. Women’s bodies have been commodified and butchered like animals’, leaving both women and animals to occupy spaces as objects rather than subjects.”

The author addresses the issue of unmarried or childless women who are made fun of for seeing these animals as “substitute children”. She defends these women and says that they prefer “voluntary relationships with animals because they find these relationships more satisfying than those with humans”.

She asserts that the struggles of animals and women “is the outcome of everyday and sustained collisions of capitalism, anthroparchy, white supremacy, and patriarchy”.

History of Abuse

At PAW, when a dog is declared dead, his body is placed in an oil drum until the truck from the rendering plant comes to retrieve it. Sometimes the oil drums are left open and volunteers can see the dead animals for days.

In the US, until the end of the 1800s, close to 100 percent of animals picked up by animal control agencies were killed, often using brutal means, such as clubbing or mass drowning. In mid-19-century New York City, dogcatchers were paid by the dog and placed up to several hundred stray dogs each day in large cages to drown them in the East River. Animal control was about taking animal life. The fear of zoonotic contamination, especially of rabies, was a powerful motivator to capture and destroy unclaimed companion animals, writes Guenther.

Later, a combination of moral and religious arguments was used to promote kindness toward animals. Animal shelters began sterilising and vaccinating animals and around 2006 started implanting microchips, which can help reunite lost animals.

Zero Tolerance for Stray Dogs

In India, the idea of free-roaming animals is suddenly being seen as a mark of an uncivilised society, an indicator of economic underdevelopment and a threat to public safety.

However, among these free-roaming animals only stray dogs are the soft targets. In the bustling Noida area where a child killed a pup, and where the call to kill dogs and dog-feeders was reiterated, Singh didn’t notice the famished donkeys and horses – their hind limbs tied together to prevent their escape – fending for themselves. There are also dozens of cows and buffaloes scavenging in garbage dumps. Isn’t this an indicator of economic underdevelopment too?

As Guenther points out this is a classic case of “anthroparchal logic” – asserting human dominance over animals. While in the shelter where the author volunteered, unweaned puppies and kittens were euthanised within hours of their arrival, in India, animal-haters go a step further: mutilate puppies, throw acid on cats, tie crackers on dogs or just run them over for fun.

While it is easy for animal-haters to wish the dogs out of sight, Guenther envisions a world where shelters are unnecessary. This requires a change of hearts and minds, and a world which is a secure place not just for dogs, but for humans too. And, this would be the real indicator of an economically developed and civilised country – not one that kills its community dogs and the kind people who care for them.

Lamat R Hasan is an independent journalist. She lives in New Delhi.

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Essay-Paragraph on “The Stray Dog” English Composition in 200 words for kids and Students of Classes 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, College and Competitive Exams.

The stray dog.

James was on his way home from school. He could not wait to watch his favourite cartoon that day. He had just walked past a block of flats when he heard a whine.

James walked towards the direction where the sound came from. He was shocked to see a stray dog lying under a table at the void deck. It was a puppy. It had short brown fur and big black eyes. It was staring pitifully at James. James reached under the table for the puppy. He noticed that there was a sore in the puppy’s tail. He decided to take it home.

James’ mother frowned disapprovingly at the puppy when she saw it. She did not like dogs. However, when she heard the puppy whining, she took pity on it. She took out an old towel and told James to put the puppy on it. Then, she cleaned its wound with water. She agreed to let James keep the puppy.

That afternoon, James sat in front of the television with his new best friend. It was excited when James laughed. It jumped up and licked James’ face. James patted his new pet. He could not wait to go to the park with it the next day.

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The Issue of Stray dogs in India – Explained, pointwise

ForumIAS announcing GS Foundation Program for UPSC CSE 2025-26 from 10th August. Click Here for more information.

• 1 Introduction  
• 2 Some facts regarding the stray dog population in India
• 3 What are the reasons for the increasing stray dog crisis in India?
• 4 What are steps taken by the government to address the stray dog crisis?
• 5 What are the arguments in favour of confining stray dogs?
• 6 What are arguments against the confining stray dogs in facilities?
• 7 What should be done to address the stray dog crisis?

Introduction  

Lately, Stray dogs have been in news, due to their attacks on children and men, in multiple incidents. In Telangana’s Khammam district, a five-year-old boy died after being attacked by a stray dog while playing outside. This is the second dog attack incident in less than a month. A few incidents involved the death of the victim. These incidents have ignited the debate among the people raising concerns against the rising population of dogs and the dog lovers.  Therefore, it becomes important to know about the reasons behind rising dog attacks in India and the policy steps that can be taken to handle this situation.

Some facts regarding the stray dog population in India

In 2019, it was stated in Lok Sabha that the stray dog population went down by 18 lakhs in 7 years from 1.71 crores to 1.53 crores. Some independent studies suggest the population is much higher as many go unaccounted for.

Globally, dog-mediated rabies causes an estimated 59,000 human deaths annually. According to WHO, India accounts for 36% of the global deaths due to rabies . India also accounts for 65% of the deaths due to rabies in the South-East Asia region. The National Rabies Control Program reported 6644 clinically suspected cases and deaths of human rabies between 2012 and 2022.

According to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, almost 96% of rabies cases in India are caused by stray dogs – and so India leads the world in rabies deaths.

What are the reasons for the increasing stray dog crisis in India?

Lack of proper animal birth control programs : There are not enough animal birth control programs in place to control the population of stray dogs. For example, in some areas, dogs are often left unsterilised, which leads to more puppies and an increasing population of stray dogs.

Irresponsible ownership: Many people in India often abandon their pets on the streets when they are no longer wanted, or they let their dogs roam free without proper supervision. This leads to an increase in the stray dog population.

Poor waste management: Stray dogs often scavenge for food in garbage dumps, which are not properly managed in many areas of India. This leads to an increase in the number of stray dogs in these areas.

Lack of awareness: Many people in India are not aware of the importance of responsible pet ownership or the dangers of abandoning their pets. This lack of awareness contributes to the increasing stray dog crisis.

Religious beliefs: Some communities in India believe that killing or sterilizing dogs is against their religious beliefs. This can make it difficult to implement effective animal birth control programs and control the population of stray dogs.

Inadequate animal welfare laws: The current animal welfare laws in India are not strong enough to protect animals from abuse and neglect. This leads to an increase in the number of stray dogs, as there are no penalties for irresponsible ownership or abandonment.

Read more : Understanding the street dogs-human conflict

What are steps taken by the government to address the stray dog crisis?

Animal Birth Control (ABC) program : The ABC programme wherein dogs are sterilised, vaccinated and replaced in their original areas is the only effective method to reduce street dog population, end biting and eliminate rabies. For example, in 2019, the government of Kerala sterilized over 87,000 stray dogs under this program.

Vaccination drives: The government conducts vaccination drives to protect stray dogs against diseases such as rabies. For example, in 2020, the government of Tamil Nadu conducted a vaccination drive for stray dogs in the city of Chennai.

Awareness campaigns : The government conducts awareness campaigns to educate people on responsible pet ownership and the importance of controlling the stray dog population. For example, the Delhi government launched a campaign called “Be a Human, Save a Life” to encourage people to adopt stray dogs and help control their population.

Legal framework: The government has enacted laws to protect animals from cruelty and abuse, and to regulate the management of stray dogs. For example, In India, stray-dog management comes under the purview of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 and State Municipal Acts. The Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001, provide guidelines for the management of stray dogs.

Collaboration with NGOs: The government collaborates with NGOs and animal welfare organizations to implement programs for the management of stray dogs. For example, the government of Maharashtra has partnered with animal welfare organization, the Blue Cross Society, to conduct sterilization and vaccination drives for stray dogs.

Read more : Is India in the grip of a ‘stray dog’ crisis?

What are the arguments in favour of confining stray dogs?

Public safety: Stray dogs can pose a risk to public safety by attacking people or other animals. Confined facilities or culling of stray dogs can reduce the risk of such incidents.

Control of diseases: Stray dogs can carry diseases that can be transmitted to humans, such as rabies. Confined facilities stray dogs can help to control the spread of such diseases.

Nuisance: Stray dogs can cause a nuisance by barking loudly, damaging property, and creating a mess. Confined facilities or killing stray dogs can help to reduce such problems.

Population control: It can help to control the population of stray dogs, which can become a problem when their numbers are too high.

What are arguments against the confining stray dogs in facilities?

Cruelty : Confining or culling of stray dogs is often viewed as cruel, especially if the dogs are healthy and have not caused any harm.

Ethical concerns : Many people believe that all animals have a right to life and that killing or confining them goes against this principle.

Ineffectiveness: It is often seen as an ineffective solution to the problem, as it does not address the root causes of the issue. As per the WHO’s Expert Committee on Rabies, there is no evidence that the removal of dogs has a significant impact on dog population densities and the spread of rabies.

Lack of resources : In many areas, there are not enough resources or facilities available to confine or euthanize all stray dogs, making it an impractical solution.

Alternatives: There are alternative solutions, such as animal birth control programs and responsible pet ownership, which are often seen as more humane and effective.

Legal issues : In some countries, killing or confining stray dogs is illegal, and proponents of animal rights argue that enforcing these laws is important for protecting animal welfare.

Read more : Sterilisation is the best way to address stray dog problem

What should be done to address the stray dog crisis?

The effective strategy would be the implementation of the ABC (Animal Birth Control) Programme by municipal bodies in accordance with the new ABC Rules of 2023.

A proactive approach would be to encourage the adoption of Indian dogs . If one person out of every 100 people adopts a dog from the street, there would be no dogs on the roads.

The native breeds of dogs should be promoted . Native dogs have better immune systems and make great pets.

Promoting responsible pet ownership : Encouraging pet owners to keep their pets on leashes, spay or neuter them, and provide them with adequate food and shelter can help prevent dogs from becoming strays.

Reports of dog attacks must be tested on the benchmark of proof . Recently, it was reported that two children had been killed by dogs in Vasant Kunj in New Delhi. Still, it has not been proven.

Begin sheltering or euthanizing unowned dogs while encouraging dog-owners to sterilize their pets to protect people, livestock, wildlife, and dogs themselves from suffering and homelessness.

Publicly feeding stray dogs should be prohibited and penalized as it encourages them to congregate and threatens public spaces, and it is against WHO guidelines and ecological science.

Education and awareness : Educating people on the importance of animal welfare and responsible pet ownership can help reduce the number of strays.

Sources :  Blog 1 | The Hindu | Indian Express | Deccan | The Hindu | Indian Express | Indian Today

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Write A Letter To The Editor Of Newspaper About Stray Dogs In English

M18, Janakpuri, Delhi

The Editor, The Hindustan Times Delhi

Through an article in your newspaper, I would like to draw attention towards the issue of stray dogs.

These stray dogs sometimes can act in violent ways and many times they have bit many people in their area. We continue to feed them and treat them with care but it gets harder when they are reacting in a violent way. They also suffer greatly from the extreme weather conditions of rainfall when they huddle in a corner. Animal welfare committee can help and provide these stray dogs with loving homes.

I hope that the columns of your newspaper will help this issue reach the concerned authorities so these poor animals can find proper homes.

(Signature) Shatrughan Gupta C

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Metaphor and its Existential Origins in 'The Stray Dog

Many writers have found animals as a suitable and complete mirror of human subject and have expressed human subject in the form of animals. This theme has been a dominant one in the world literature and finding and considering the human subject in an animal and giving human characteristics to it brings to mind the literary device of metaphor. Hedayat in Stray Dog considers a dog as a suitable and complete mirror of the human subject and makes use of metaphor for philosophical and existentialist purposes. Metaphor gives Hedayat the chance to express pain and loneliness of human subject so as to place a great deal of emphasis on the loneliness of human subject. This is done through defamiliarization and a sense of wonder which is the function of literature itself. The methodology of this paper is based on Jacobson's theory of metaphor which acts on basis of similarity, substitution, equivalence or contrast.

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Bill paving the way for the killing of stray dogs in Turkey becomes law

Barış demir , ulaş ateşçi 2 august 2024.

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A bill that paves the way for the mass killing of stray dogs was passed in parliament late Monday night. The bill, introduced by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), achieved a quorum with the support of its fascist ally, the Nationalist Movement Party.

The law was passed despite overwhelming public opposition. According to a survey conducted by KONDA, 85 percent of the population oppose the killing of stray animals, while only 15 percent say “stray dogs can be put down if necessary”.

The bill includes grounds such as stray dogs endangering “people’s physical integrity, life safety and standard of living”, restricting social life, causing tension between people, causing traffic accidents, attacking farm animals, etc.

According to a statement by Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı at the end of May, there are an estimated 4 million stray dogs in Turkey. According to an Anadolu Agency report, there have been 3,534 road accidents in the last five years in which 55 people have died as a result of stray animals.

Under conditions in which the Israeli genocide in Gaza is escalating into a Middle East-wide war and the cost of living crisis is deepening, the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is putting this issue on the main agenda to polarize the working class and youth to deflect the growing social opposition.

“When All Else Fails, Blame the Dogs,” writes author and journalist Kaya Genç in the New York Times . Genç writes that “[F]or the government, this is not really about the dogs” and goes on to say, “Mr. Erdogan long ago mastered the art of scapegoating. In his more than 20 years in power, he has pointed to intellectuals, journalists, refugees and others as the source of Turkey’s troubles. With the economy faltering and after a poor showing in spring municipal elections, he and his party have again been looking for somewhere to redirect people’s ire.”

Before this bill was introduced, the main topic of discussion among the masses was the cost of living and the need to raise wages. According to the survey conducted by Asal Research between July 10-17, 64.6 percent of respondents answered “the economy and the cost of living” to the question “what is Turkey’s most important problem,” while only 0.5 percent answered “stray dogs.”

With annual inflation officially over 70 percent as of July, the Erdoğan government only intensifies its austerity measures. Prices have continued to rise because of a massive increase in taxes on basic goods. However, the government has refused to raise the minimum wage, the salary received by nearly half of all workers. This means that other wage levels generally will not increase.

The draft law proposes the abolition of the current “capture-neuter-release” method, claiming that it brings the stray dog population to an “uncontrollable point.” Instead, it proposes that stray dogs will be taken to rehabilitation centres by municipalities and housed until they are adopted. For this reason, the new method is called “capture-neuter-hold-adopt.”

However, the contested Article 5 of the proposal paves the way for the killing of stray animals that “pose a danger to human or animal health, whose negative behaviour cannot be controlled, who have infectious or incurable diseases or whose ownership is prohibited.”

In a joint statement, the Turkish Veterinary Medical Association, the Turkish Medical Association, the Turkish Bar Association and the Turkish Dental Association drew attention to this and said: “The obscure language such as ‘provided that human, animal and environmental health is taken into account’ in Article 1, ‘... subject to legal exceptions’ and ‘...that may arise for human and environmental health’ in Article 4, and ‘legal and medical’ in Article 6 of the bill leave the door open to euthanasia and take the decision-making power out of the hands of the veterinarian.”

“According to the proposed law, it is forbidden to release animals that have been trapped and rehabilitated. However, if the 4 million figure in the proposal is accepted, the current shelter capacity meets only 3 percent of the need. In this case, the question of what will happen to the trapped animals raises concerns,” the statement said.

The joint statement adds: “Contrary to claims, the euthanasia/culling method, which is presented as a solution to reduce the dog population, is not successful, whereas all new scientific studies and field applications in different countries are in full agreement that sterilisation is the most appropriate method to reduce the number of dogs.”

The increase in the stray dog population is mainly due to the failure of the municipalities, which were obliged by the 2004 law to sterilise and release the dogs, to comply with this obligation.

Çağrı Mert Bakırcı of Evrim Ağacı , a reputable website on science in Turkey, states: “According to the law passed in 2004, all 1389 municipalities in Turkey are required to establish shelters that will also serve as sterilisation centres; however, in the intervening 20 years, no shelter has been built in 1200 of these municipalities, and there are more than 1000 municipalities that have not performed even one sterilisation in 20 years.”

This situation highlights the role of the bourgeois opposition parties as well as the Erdoğan government in the creation of the current situation.

Based on successful practices in other countries, veterinarians and scientists emphasise that the implementation of a comprehensive sterilisation, vaccination and release or adoption, and the imposition of severe sanctions for the release of adopted dogs onto the streets, can solve the problem in a short period of time. The example of the Netherlands has shown that curbing and even eliminating the problem of stray dogs can be achieved by implementing an effective vaccination, sterilisation and adoption programme.

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