Conflict Of Existence

Humans have an affinity for certain species. This is perhaps the reason stray dogs, monkeys and pigeons have always been part of Indian life. Their numbers have, however, reached unmanageable levels in urban areas in recent decades, so much so that they now pose a threat to public safety. Zoonotic diseases like rabies, caused by dog and monkey bites, and lung ailments, caused by pigeon droppings, are on the rise like never before. The behaviour of these city-bred species has also undergone changes. They now feed and breed profusely, and are fast adapting to urban settings. For peaceful coexistence, curbing the population of these species may not be enough. It requires a change in people’s etiquette so that these benign species do not become an urban menace

- RAJAT GHAI, HIMANSHU N and TARAN DEOL

DOGS

20,000 cases of bites a day in India in 2019. Dog bites behind 96% rabies cases

MONKEYS

1,000 cases of bites a day in cities; cause rabies and other zoonotic diseases

PIGEONS

Droppings can cause lung infections like hypersensitivity pneumonitis, cryptococcal meningitis and psittacosis

DOGS

TERRITORIAL DISPUTE

Everyone agrees that stray dogs are a problem, but divisions remain over policies to manage their numbers

ON THE morning of April 11, 2023, Adersh left for the market and never returned home. At night, the police recovered his body from the playground of Shastri Nagar Intermediate College in Maharajganj, Uttar Pradesh. The 11-year-old had died after being attacked by a pack of stray dogs in the middle of the day. The dogs had bitten off his right hand and mauled his face. A similar incident was reported in Hyderabad this February, when stray dogs killed a four-year-old playing in the parking area of a car service centre where his father worked as a security guard. The incident was captured on a CCTV camera, and the video has since gone viral.

India recorded 1.92 million dog-bites in 2022, or an average of 5,200 incidents a day. In 2019, before coVID-19 pandemic gripped the country, dog-bite incidents were 7.28 million. Owing to the rising menace, India made reporting of all rabies cases in humans mandatory in 2021, and the figure jumped to 47,291 from 733 in 2020 (see 'Conservative estimates').