Case study where dogs dominate humans

More than 20 million people in India are bitten by dogs and 20,000 die because of rabies, annually. Dogs also directly kill a dozen or more people, mostly children, every year. India, with the third highest dog population in the world, has some confused legislation to deal with this problem. In 2001, the Ministry of Culture issued the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, or the ABC rules, under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 (PCA Act). According to the ABC Rules, the population of street dogs must be controlled with sterilisation surgeries and these dogs are to be released from where they were caught. This means that once municipal authorities and animal welfare organisations pick up free roaming dogs from the streets (and these dogs are unclaimed by anyone), they lawfully become the owners of those animals.

Commendably, India became one of the first countries globally to provide rights to domestic animals so that they may be protected against cruelty. However, the ABC Rules, in requiring the release of unclaimed dogs to an unsupervised life on the streets where nobody is held responsible, directly undermine the spirit and the letter of the law. This extreme level of protection for dogs is unheard of even in countries with strict animal welfare laws. The removal and euthanasia of unowned dogs is routinely practised throughout the developed world.

Other than the terrible human costs associated with direct and indirect fatalities, the treatment of 20 million bite cases annually runs to hundreds of crores of rupees, and results in the loss of 38 million man-hours (2003 survey). A large number of vehicle accidents result from collision with or avoidance of dogs.

it is logistically and operationally challenging to sterilise 50 millions dogs. Also, unsterilised dogs will always “spill over” into areas where sterilisation has been done. Thus, it is important to maintain a fine balance between Animal Rights and Human Rights.

Recent initiatives by government of India

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has released four new Gazette notifications under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 to regulate dog breeders , animal markets, and aquarium and “pet” fish shop owners The rules are the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Dog Breeding and Marketing) Rules, 2017; Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017; the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Aquarium and Fish Tank Animals Shop) Rules, 2017; and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Care and Maintenance of Case Property Animals) Rules, 2017.

According to these new rules, dog breeders, aquarium and fish “pet” shop owners must register themselves with the state Animal welfare Board of the respective states. Certain various cruelties that commonly take place at markets will no longer be allowed including hot branding and cold branding, mutilating animals’ ears, force-feeding animals fluid to make them appear fatter to fetch a better price and more.