PIL on increasing stray dog population: HC seeks govt response

Delhi High Court today sought the response of the city government and municipal bodies on a plea to direct them to take action as well as frame guidelines to address the "growing menace" of stray dogs and dog bites.
A bench of justices B D Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva issued notice to the Delhi government and the three municipal bodies seeking their responses by May 13, the next date of hearing.
The court also asked them to file status reports on the issues raised in the PIL filed by an NGO, Nyaya Bhoomi, which raised the issue of growing attacks by stray dogs here.

The NGO, in its public interest litigation (PIL) filed through advocate Akanksha Kaushik, has contended though these dogs generally lived in harmony with the citizens, there have been several recent instances of the mongrels brutally attacking people, including children, resulting in fatalities.
"Their ever increasing numbers pose a threat to the well- being of the community," the NGO said and added that its aim was to prevent citizens from stray dogs' bites which are fatal if not treated timely. It referred to reports of a recent case of a two month old baby being mauled to death by a stray dog.

The plea said the population of street dogs was directly related to the amount of food and edible waste in an area and the dog population was very low in those which are kept clean.
"Areas of the city with dense, poor quality housing and large amounts of waste have a much higher population. One part of the answer to street dog population control is to control the availability of edible wastes, water and shelter," it said, but also added that killing the stray dogs would not be a solution as dogs from other areas would migrate there.
"And therefore, the problem continues," the NGO has said and added "a more effective solution is the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Programme which has been adopted in the Animal Birth Control (Dogs), Rules, 2001.