Incomplete High Court Guidance on Bangalore’s Stray Dogs?

A High Court in Bangalore has issued clear directions to reduce the stray dog “menace” in the city. The report I read (here) does not include full details but basically the following two quotes seem to cover two key elements:

“…the nuisance caused by stray dogs would be in due course of time be [sic] automatically eradicated if the animal welfare organisations strictly implement the ABC Rules, 2001, and perform their duties by vaccinating and sterilising the strays”.

“…ensure that there is no accumulation of garbage on the streets”.

I agree with this as far as it goes but to me there seems to be an absolutely vital element missing. As I reported here a year ago many of Bangalore’s stray dogs are not born on the street, they are abandoned either as pets or unsold puppies from sellers. Given this, vaccinating and sterilising strays will not “automatically eradicate” the problem as the court suggests. Perhaps the full judgement does also point the finger of blame at pet owners and the pet trade industry but I doubt it.

Without targeting owners and traders, Bangalore (and elsewhere) will always have a stray dog problem and more canines will suffer through no fault of their own.

Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer)