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Centre Lays Down New Rules To Curb Concerning Conflicts Between Stray Dogs And Humans
A dog in Mussoorie's Barlow Ganj captured while barking (Photo by Akshay Madan on Unsplash)
The Government of India has urged states to implement the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules of 2023 in response to growing concerns over the conflict between humans and stray dogs.
Last month, India’s Ministry of Animal Husbandry passed the ABC Rules to reduce the population of stray dogs through sterilisation and immunisation programmes.
Such efforts, the ministry argues, will reduce the number of dangerous and aggressive dogs.
The new rules are a revised and updated version of the ABC Rules of 2001, which failed to stem the growth of India’s stray dog population.
The ministry emphasised that the municipal corporations must implement anti-rabies programmes alongside ABC programmes.
The ABC Rules will be conducted by local bodies, including the municipalities, municipal corporations, and panchayats.
The issue of dog overpopulation has strikingly lethal consequences.
In one case earlier this year, two young boys were killed by packs of stray dogs in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj area within two days of each other.
In another instance, an elderly person was mauled to death by six or seven stray dogs in a park inside the Aligarh Muslim University campus.
Following such occurrences, many experts have stressed the importance of proper implementation of the ABC Rules.
The ABC Rules 2023 will also address new challenges that the 2001 rules failed to acknowledge, such as cat population management and the resolution of conflicts between people and animals.
As Gauri Maulekhi, an animal welfare expert, pointed out to The Times of India, aggression in dogs is often due to hormonal and environmental conditions. Neutering the dogs will not only control their population growth, but also reduce aggressiveness towards humans.
In particular, neutering reduces aggression in female dogs by removing their need to protect their litter, and in male dogs by eliminating the source of mating fights.
Furthermore, Maulekhi noted that conflict between humans and dogs is highest in areas where ABC programmes have not been initiated, and in which dogs are regularly killed or relocated from their territories. Such actions cause dogs to become more hostile.
Proper implementation of the ABC Rules is, therefore, especially important in preventing conflict.
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