Fatal dog attacks in India prompt growing calls for action against strays

By Satviki Sanjay

A spate of deadly dog attacks in India is prompting calls for authorities to address the country's growing stray problem.

In October, the head of a major tea company died at age 49 after he was attacked by stray dogs on a morning walk in the city of Ahmedabad. Parag Desai, executive director of Wagh Bakri Tea Group, reportedly died from head injuries sustained while running away from the dogs. Earlier this year, an 11-year-old boy in Kerala and a two-year-old in Gujarat died in attacks by stray dogs.

“Viral videos trigger discussions on social media,” said Anindita Bhadra, a researcher at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, who studies dog behavior. “People want to see some action by governments now.”

Millions of cases of attacks from stray dogs occur in India every year, contributing to tens of thousands of annual deaths from rabies, according to the World Health Organization. This year, Ministry of Family and Health Welfare recorded 2.5 million cases of dog bites. According to data from Mars Petcare, the veterinary business arm of the confectionery giant, there are some 65 million stray dogs in India, the most in the world.

Indian citizens have turned to courts to force governments to address the problem. In July, the High Court of the state of Kerala asked the local government to ensure its municipalities were conducting mass vaccination drives and building shelters after a series of attacks that killed children. In October, the High Court of Delhi highlighted the severity of stray dog attacks in the national capital region, asking the local administration to implement efforts to tackle the issue.

In a significant ruling last month, an Indian court recognised for the first time the financial cost of stray dog attacks. The High Court for Punjab and Haryana ruled that state governments are responsible for providing compensation to those who've suffered injuries from bites. Authorities should pay victims at least Rs 10,000 for a bite wound, and at least Rs 20,000 if the flesh has been pulled off the skin, depending on how much flesh had been torn off, the court said. It also ruled that the state governments should form a committee to inspect wounds and decide payments.

“I think there’s a lot more anger now,” said Abi Vanak, an animal ecologist and director at research institution the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment. “The public demands for better safety are fully justified.”

Historically, canines have been revered in Indian culture because of their hunting and protective powers. Some Hindus associate dogs with the Hindu god of death Yamaraj, and worship them according to many religious customs, and dogs have also been mentioned in ancient Indian Vedic texts. But while dogs have long roamed the streets of India, their population is growing quickly in cities as urbanisation proceeds without policies to ameliorate the problem, such as adding more shelters or stepping up neutering and vaccination measures.

“Community dogs have always been a part of Indian culture,” says Sirjana Nijjar, senior manager at the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations. “But the conflict is getting worse because people don’t want to coexist.”

The urban areas where dog numbers are surging fastest are residential ones, which provide constant sources of food including in garbage piles, according to a 2021 study. Many Indians also feed the animals out of compassion.

The clash between those who want to protect the animals and those who demand stricter measures against strays has become more hostile. Last year the Animal Welfare Board of India warned in a statement that violence against dogs and people who feed them is rising likely in response to the growing incidents of dog bites. It urged citizens to protect feeders and reiterated that by law, the relocation or killing of stray dogs in India is not allowed.

The government’s current solution is in accordance with the 2001 Animal Birth Control rule, which was updated this year and asks municipal bodies to neuter and vaccinate dogs to control their populations. However, while sterilisation has proven successful in culling stray population in other countries like Singapore and Japan, it is an expensive process and Indian administrative bodies often don’t have sufficient resources to effectively implement the measures.

Indian authorities have relocated strays as a temporary fix in the past despite the law. In October, the High Court of Punjab and Haryana ordered the removal of strays from a district of Chandigarh, the shared capital of the states, and New Delhi’s municipality cleared the streets of all dogs this year when it hosted the Group of 20 nations summit. Resident welfare groups and urban slums also often push to get strays removed from their housing complexes.

“This is an ineffective solution,” said Meet Ashar, an animal rights lawyer working with PETA India. “When you relocate community animals, who are already territorial in nature, it increases conflict among the existing dogs.”

The Animal Welfare Board of India did not respond to a request for comment.

Animal welfare advocates like Bhadra advocate for adoption as a solution to the stray problem. But rescue dogs are still seen as undesirable among pet owners in India, one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for pet care.

“People don’t want ‘indies’ in their homes,” said Sunil Yadav, a manager at Mumbai-based Raksha Animal Welfare Center, referring to the word used for indigenous Indian breeds. “We lack space to keep a large number of dogs, and end up releasing the dogs we rescue back in the same environment they come from.”

Without a solution to the stray problem, experts say street dogs could become even more violent as they fight for survival in urban spaces that are becoming ever more densely populated and dirty, and increasing risks for humans.

Devendra Shukla, a 39-year-old chemistry teacher from suburban Delhi, was bitten by four dogs on an afternoon walk last month. When he went to the local city administration office to ask for some action, he said the officials repeatedly tried to deflect authority over the matter to different administrations.

“They can’t displace the dogs or do anything else,” said Shukla, who had to take multiple rounds of vaccines to prevent rabies. “No one wants to take responsibility.”