By Y.S. RANA , CHANDIGARH—Stray dogs are always in the news with the city’s stray dog population burgeoning by the day and the authorities doing little about it and the problem has assumed alarming proportions. It’s a war between the SPCA and the state government of Kerala decision to cull stray dogs with the former accusing the latter of culling dogs and pups.. With justifications and recriminations pouring in from both sides and public outrage on social media the controversy rages on.
The World Animal Protection Organization has also taken note of it and stated it has been assisting governments of various countries to manage dog population humanely instead of culling dogs. According to Shamistha Chattopadhya In 2015, 22,484 dogs were vaccinated in Bangladesh, achieving an overall coverage of 74 per cent of the total dog population. She further revealed that by 2014, an estimated 3,95,366 dogs were vaccinated in four countries—Bangladesh, China, Indonesia and the Philippines. “We provided input and funded a consultant to coordinate the development of the ASEAN Rabies Elimination Strategy (ARES) which was endorsed as paving the way for implementation by member states,” said she.
When a country experiences one or more of these concerns, they often resort to ineffective measures such as the culling of dogs as a perceived ‘quick-fix’ solution, without addressing the root causes. Hence, affected countries struggle to manage dog populations due to a lack of understanding of all the factors that contribute to the problem in their country. Our proposed solution to dog population issues is to apply a full cycle of sustainable and humane dog population management to address the root causes of uncontrolled breeding
According to WAP data, there are 700 millions of dogs worldwide majority of them are stray dogs. They are in poor health and often used cruel methods for population control. She further stated that while the welfare of dogs varies from context to context, a consistent factor is uncontrolled breeding, which can lead to negative perceptions towards dogs, aggressive dog behaviour, livestock predation, human death or injury from dog bites and other veterinary and public health challenges, such as rabies
Ms Shamistha further said that they were active in more than 50 countries. From their offices around the world, they worked with local partners, animal welfare organisations, businesses and governments. They helped and assisted the people to find practical ways to prevent cruelty against animal. They collaborate with national governments and have inculcate formal relationships with international bodies including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme, the Council of Europe and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), she says and added that they sought national and international policy change to improve the lives of millions of animals because animal protection is a fundamental part of a sustainable future. Till then, the man’s best friend will remain in the fire range of public and the authority.