The challenge of managing street dogs

LOW STERILISATION, IMMUNISATION

dogs

dog

While India has a national action plan to eliminate rabies by 2030, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) aims to achieve it sooner, by 2025. BBMP has been scaling up its programmes, but there is a long way to go.

In 2022, six rabies deaths within the BBMP limits were recorded at the government’s Epidemic Diseases Hospital alone. The victims were from different age groups and genders, the youngest being 11-year-old Likhith Yadav. The rabies numbers for the whole city are hard to track as private hospitals often don’t report cases to the government.

The number of reported dog bites and attacks is way higher. In 2021-22, 17,610 people in Bengaluru were bitten by dogs, including strays and pets. This too excludes many private hospital patients.

Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules were introduced in India in 2001 as a humane solution to reduce the dog population and combat rabies. Under the programme, dogs are picked up, sterilised, vaccinated and released back on the streets. Though BBMP started its ABC programme way back in 2007, dog bite and rabies cases persist.

Bengaluru-based animal ecologist Dr Abi T Vanak says it’s difficult to assess the success of ABC and the recently-introduced dedicated anti-rabies vaccination programme (ARV) without baseline data on the dog numbers. According to him, BBMP should conduct rigorous surveys annually to estimate stray dog numbers and the proportion that’s sterilised (which can be identified by their clipped ears).

BBMP’s last stray dog survey was in 2019, which showed 3.09 lakh stray dogs. This was a steep increase compared to the 2013 census numbers of 1.85 lakh, indicating that ABC didn’t reduce dog numbers over time.

Besides, only 51% of dogs identified in the 2019 census had undergone ABC. According to various studies, 90% should be sterilised in the first year, for the programme to be successful over time, says Dr Vanak.

“Ninety per cent sterilisation should be done over a short period of time, and not over five or 10 years because then you’re always chasing after the growth rate. The average life expectancy of street dogs is 3-5 years, and the sterilised dogs are quickly replaced by new dogs,” he says.

Given the high stray dog numbers in India and the high rate of sterilisation needed in a short period, he believes achieving the target is nearly impossible for any municipality. A modelling study Dr Vanak co-authored, which was published in the journal Scientific Reports in 2020, found that even with high investment and effort for ABC, there would be no significant reduction in population or increase in vaccination coverage in the context of Indian cities.

In 2022-23, BBMP allocated around Rs 15 crore for the two programmes combined.

Dr K P Ravikumar, Joint Director (Animal Husbandry) at BBMP, says that the Palike will conduct a stray dog census soon to assess the programme’s success.

Though BBMP is supposed to give contracts to NGOs annually for implementing the programmes, the tenure of NGOs selected three years ago was being extended as there are few players in the space. Dr Ravikumar says that Palike is going to call new tenders this year.

Low vaccination rates

The BBMP started its separate ARV programme in 2020 based on the draft National Action Plan for dog-mediated Rabies Elimination (NAPRE), says Dr Manjunath Shinde, Assistant Director (Animal Husbandry), BBMP.

Data shows that the coverage under ARV — which is supposed to be done annually for all stray dogs — is also low. As per BBMP Animal Husbandry Department’s data, a total of 94,192 dogs were vaccinated in 2020-21 and 1.7 lakh in 2021-22. This includes dogs that were part of the dedicated ARV programme, and also those that underwent the vaccination as part of ABC.

Assuming that stray dog numbers didn’t increase since the 2019 survey, this means ARV coverage was only around 30% and 54% respectively in 2020-21 and 2021-22. For 2022-23, the coverage is only around 40% as of mid-February. Whereas according to WHO, the rate should be at least 70% for the programme to be successful.

While ABC needs to be done only once per dog, vaccinations are needed annually. This is done because India’s rabies burden is extremely high and the immunity from vaccinations wanes over time. Issues with the vaccine cold chain, and the possibility of a vaccinated dog being bitten by a rabid dog later, can all affect the efficacy of vaccination.

But given that the BBMP does not track individual dogs, it’s difficult to identify their vaccination status. Under ARV, each NGO spends a week or more per ward in their designated zone, so that all wards in the zone can be covered over the course of a year.

This means a dog that was already vaccinated could undergo repeat vaccinations, whereas some others could be left out. A doctor at one of the implementing NGOs says, “It’s not possible to vaccinate all dogs. We set a target of 70%, but some are difficult to catch and may get permanently left out.”

Dr Ravikumar says the department has planned microchip tracking of dogs, and is piloting this on 50 dogs in a ward in the Rajarajeshwari Nagar zone. “The cost will be Rs 100-200 for chip insertion in each dog. When the chip is scanned, it will show data on the dog’s ABC and ARV status,” he says, adding that the implementing agency has been finalised.

Many challenges

The doctor from the NGO says there are many challenges to the ABC and ARV programmes in Bengaluru. “Bengaluru has a favourable climate for the breeding of dogs all around the year unlike other places, which results in new batches of puppies more frequently. Also, a lot of people feed strays but don’t take other responsibilities,” he says. “And many migrant workers bring in or keep dogs, but abandon them when they leave. Similarly, people flying abroad abandon pet dogs. Breeders may also leave old or unviable dogs out.”

In five out of its eight zones, BBMP has set a monthly target of 600 each for ABC and ARV — that is, the NGOs here have to handle a total of 1,200 dogs a month. In two smaller zones, the target is 300 each. And in one zone it’s kept at 450 each, given the difficulties cited in catching dogs.

“If 90% of the ABC target is not reached, we have to pay a penalty of Rs 150 per dog,” says the doctor.

Also, BBMP has limited options in deploying NGOs, as the Animal Welfare Board of India takes 3-4 years to recognise NGOs after they file applications. Only recognised NGOs can implement the programmes, but in one zone BBMP has deployed an NGO that’s still awaiting recognition.

However, Sudha Narayanan, Chairperson of the NGO Charlie’s Animal Rescue Centre (CARE) that’s running BBMP’s rabies helpline, says the recent increase in vaccination numbers has had an impact. “When the rabies helpline was started in 2020, we used to get around 30 calls per month about dogs with suspected rabies. Now it has come down to less than 10 per month.”

‘Feeders must take responsibility'

Given the limitations of ABC and ARV programmes, Dr Vanak says that reducing the carrying capacity of the environment is a solution. And this could be done by restricting the feeding of dogs that contributes to high dog populations.

A study he co-authored found that across various localities in north Bengaluru, just 10%-18% of households were supporting the majority of the stray dog population by feeding them. Based on food availability, the density of dogs varied by as much as 192 per sq km to 1,888 per sq km. The study was published in the journal Urban Ecosystems in 2021.

“Garbage is only a secondary food source for street dogs. The biggest contributor is the direct feeding by people around households and bakeries,” Dr Vanak says. “Supreme Court has upheld the Bombay High Court order that street dogs shouldn’t be fed indiscriminately. So BBMP should frame rules that make all feeders responsible for sterilisation and vaccination.”

The doctor from the NGO, quoted earlier, says another solution is to make pet registration mandatory, along with strong enforcement of breeder licensing. “Many pet owners don’t vaccinate dogs, so mandating pet licensing can help ensure ARV,” he says, adding that rabies cases are reported from pet dogs’ bites too. “Also, breeder licensing should be strictly enforced and BBMP should collect data from them. Many breeders are home-based.”