Chennai’s aggrieved residents say their complaints about the dog menace are often overlooked by officials, while the authorities request people to get involved in controlling the stray dog population.
The issue has persisted over the years. Is it due to lack of data on the current dog population, the low awareness among feeders of sterilisation, improper garbage disposal, gaps in the monitoring system, improper surgeries, overworked doctors or untrained catchers?
The Greater Chennai Corporation captured 31 dogs on November 23 in the Royapuram area after a stray dog, which reportedly bit 28 individuals, including five children the previous day, had tested positive for rabies.
The victims, who reportedly suffered category two bites and scratches from the dog’s nails, were admitted to the Government Stanley Medical College and Hospital and administered the first dose of the anti-rabies vaccine. Their condition is being monitored, an official says.
Officials say the second dose of the vaccine will be administered on the third day, since they were injured; the third dose on the seventh day; the fourth dose on the 14th day; and the final dose on the 28th day. Officials reveal that the local residents beat the dog to death.
Importance of post-mortem
Corporation Commissioner J. Radhakrishnan says, “Beating the dog to death is not the right approach. Even if it is a rabid dog, it is better to catch and observe it... In this case, the post-mortem proved that the dog was infected with rabies.” He underscores the importance of post-mortem and announced ring vaccination in the affected streets.
Corporation’s Veterinary Officer J. Kamal Hussain said recently that no human death due to rabies had been reported in the city in the past three years. However, roughly 30,000 dog bites were recorded annually, including those by domestic dogs.
The Corporation has said it will begin the dog census and mass immunisation simultaneously this week.
Antony Rubin, an animal activist, says the scientific approach would be a zone-wise focus instead of a complaint-based approach. “As we found during COVID-19, herd immunisation is the best to control the spread of an infection. Sterilization can be done for eligible dogs in a zone by assessing their number. Dogs caught in a certain area are often not returned to their original location after the animal birth control process. A zone-wise approach can minimize this issue. Dogs returned within a kilometre or two of their original area can find their way back,” he says.
Attacks on children
According to complaints registered online by several residents, the vaccination drive and the animal birth control campaign are not being implemented efficiently. Many dogs have become pregnant even after they were taken for sterilisation. There have been attacks on children and two-wheeler riders, making locals feel unsafe and limiting their daily activities like morning walks and shopping trips.
According to another animal enthusiast, there is also alleged animal abuse, mainly in the Purasawalkam area, by unknown persons. At a recent meeting between Corporation officials and animal activists, there was a call to improve surveillance on streets, in the capturing vehicles and in the operation theatres.
Awareness crucial
Raising awareness in the community through advocacy, communication, and social mobilisation is among the objectives of the National Rabies Control Programme (NRCP), implemented by the National Centre for Disease Control to eradicate rabies by 2030. Sheridan, a volunteer for the Chennai Corporation in Zone 3, says that instead of resorting to any blame game, measures should be taken to persuade people to get involved in population control measures.
As for Mr. Radhakrishnan’s recent request to the feeders to go in for adoption too, Mr. Sheridan says, “Asking everyone to adopt may not be possible. But it has to be noted that the nation’s total population is 1.21 billion, according to the 2011 census , and the stray dog count is 6.2 crore [according to the data for India from the State of Pet Homelessness Index for 2021]. There is less than 6% public participation. Further, abandoning pets, which turn strays, is very common in the central zones of the city. Residents’ welfare associations must take cognizance.”
“I have informed many who regularly feed the stray dogs that they must also sterilise the animals, an exercise done free at the animal birth control centres at Pulianthope, Kannamapet, and Lloyds Colony, and the new centres at Meenambakkam and Sholinganallur,” he adds. According to him, in areas where there are not many feeders and an increased population, dogs will scavenge in garbage bags.
According to an animal activist, there is very minimal garbage near Cenotaph Road and Greenways Road, where many higher officials and Ministers have been put up,. But the dog population there is not minimal. The dogs get regularly fed, stay fit, and reproduce, the activist claims. The activist says, “In such parts, though the concerns of the feeders can be appreciated, they must also know that there is a moral obligation to sterilise the healthy, non-lactating dogs.”
‘Better pay needed’
The activist says a surgeon works for two ABC centres (at BRLC and Kannamapettai) and the managers of some centres, who are not trained medically, are compelled to go for post-operation care. The catchers are untrained and not treated well by the feeders. “The staff crunch, claimed by the Corporation, can be rectified if the catchers are paid better than the ₹15,000 a month, treated better by both officials and volunteers and provided insurance,” he concludes.
Vimal Kumar, a veterinary surgeon in the Corporation’s animal birth control centre at Sholinganallur, says doctors are not overworked as there are only 10 kennels to be maintained. A doctor can perform subsequent surgeries after half-an-hour interval. “With training under the Worldwide Veterinary Service, I can perform surgeries alone. The doctor performing the surgery must also take care of the post-operation check to maintain a proper record. It would be ideal to have another surgeon and a helper at the centres,” he says.
As for the claim that operated dogs getting pregnant, he says, “A small incision in the animal’s ears is made to indicate the dog is operated upon, in accordance with World Health Organization norms. At some centres, including that of the Blue Cross which is not under the Corporation, the ear of the dog is marked before the animal is checked for fitness to undergo the operation. Some dogs may be pregnant, lactating or having health conditions that make them ineligible for sterilisation, so they are let out after being monitored. Hence, not all dogs with the incision mark could have been operated upon. This is an error that can be avoided in the future.”
Another official of the Animal Husbandry Department says training began for the catchers in all districts in October, and two batches have been trained so far. The State will also train 500 more veterinary doctors soon.
