High Court wants controls on stray canines as number of dog bites in the Capital jumps by NEARLY A THIRD

8,783 dog bites this year spread rabies fears

Survey says 70 per cent of four lakh dogs need to be sterilised



High Court wants dog numbers controlled

Vineeta Aron, a resident of Andrews Ganj near South Extension market, is still recovering from a leg fracture she sustained in a recent scooter accident.



Aron's was no ordinary accident.



It was around 8 am, and the traffic was still light when the 32-year-old was chased and attacked by a pack of stray dogs.



Prince and the stray dog: Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, and Founder and Executive Director of Katha, Geeta Dharmarajan looking at a stray dog as they leave after a visit to the Katha Lab school in New Delhi

Almost 25 residents get bitten by the canines in Delhi every day

As the snarling dogs closed in, Aron panicked and crashed her two-wheeler into a tree.



She was fortunate that the pack dispersed, or dog-bite treatment would have been added to a broken leg.



Across the Yamuna, 59-year-old businessman Babu Menon has stopped going for a morning walk in Patparganj's neat grid of apartment complexes.



He fears the stray dogs that seem to skulk in every shadow.



"Many joggers have already got bitten and I am scared," he says.



Aron and Menon are but two of thousands of Delhi residents living in mortal fear of man's best friends of the stray kind.



The city has already reported 8,783 cases of dog bites this year, an increase of nearly 30 per cent over last year.



That's almost 25 Delhi residents being bitten by a dog-or dogs-every day of the year, or one every hour.



The North Corporation area was the worst-bitten with 4,388 cases while South and East Corporation reported 2,695 and 1,700 cases.

A survey conducted just before the trifurcation of the civic body reported 3.6 lakh stray dogs in Delhi.

The number has gone up to over 4 lakh since then.

Their sex ratio is 51:49 (1,84,000 male and 1,28,000 female dogs).



Steps at birth control have been a spectacular failure as only less than half of the animals could be sterilised.



A recent survey commissioned by civic corporations says at least 70 per cent of the canines must be sterilised for any significant effect on the Capital's canine population.



The Delhi High Court last week asked the Animal Welfare Board to oversee the effort for controlling the stray dog population, and ensure ready availability of antirabies vaccination in hospitals.



The court was acting on a PIL filed by lawyer SK Singh that sought the court's intervention into the city's dog bite problem.



The trigger for the PIL was 25 people falling victim to dog bites within a span of a month recently inside the AIIMS campus.



Two resident doctors and a senior doctor's wife were among the victims.



A survey report filed by East Delhi Municipal Corporation in the Delhi High Court touches on the key reason for anti-stray dog drive ending in a whimper.



The three corporations, NDMC and Delhi Cantonment Board are mainly banking on several animal rights NGOs to carry out sterilisation drive as they do not have the necessary resources.

"While all the NGOs are willing to intensify the work to achieve the 70 per cent target, there are many shortcomings.



NGOs lack infrastructure, payments to them are delayed and they are entrusted too many areas," the report says.

"MCD has created the entire problem. They have entrusted 78 veterinary units to the animal husbandry department that has no experience of animal birth control measures," says Sonya Ghosh, noted animal rights activist and founder of NGO Citizens for the Welfare and Protection of Animals.



There is no law in India to tackle the menace of stray dogs

Parliament pooches: Some dogs take a nap on the stairs at the seat of the government



