State Minister for Defence Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon has stirred a hornet’s nest by saying that over six million stray dogs are roaming around the country. Several veterinary and animal rights groups have disputed this claim, saying the actual figure is very much less. Despite the tussle over the numbers, there is no doubt that a large number of stray dogs are on our streets. There is also a feral domestic cat population and also some small wild cats such as fishing cats, but the numbers are nowhere near those of their canine counterparts.
The stray dog number has exploded as Local Government (LG) bodies have abandoned the gruesome practice of gassing the dogs to death in the face of protests by animal rights groups, dog owners and pet lovers. This is indeed an inhuman method that should not be used in a country deeply rooted in Buddhist ethos.
LG bodies are also not resorting to the Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR), a method that is frequently used to control the number of dogs in many other countries. TNR is the only humane and effective approach to stray or unowned dogs who live outdoors. Scientific studies show that TNR effectively addresses the community or stray dogs by ending the breeding cycle, meaning no new puppies are born to a given community dog colony.
The Government must help LG bodies with funding and other requirements for TNR, sterilisation programs and other humane methods of dog population control. Stray dogs pose a multitude of problems to society including the risk of rabies. Over the past decade, the annual number of rabies deaths has been around 25-30. Annually around 250,000 animal bites (especially dogs, cats, giant squirrels, bandicoots, jackals, polecats) happen in the country, and over 100,000 people receive Post-Exposure Prophylaxes (PEP) preventive treatment, with the Anti-Rabies Vaccine (ARV) along with Rabies Immunoglobulins (RIG) from Government hospitals.
Although rabies is essentially fatal once symptoms develop, it is almost always 100 percent preventable through prompt and proper prophylactic treatment after a potential exposure to the rabies virus. The treatments and the vaccines are also safe for pregnant and breastfeeding women.
Thus any effective TNR mechanism should also include vaccinating the dogs against rabies, costs permitting. The human rabies vaccine is not cheap and the Government spends millions of dollars to import the vaccine, which is given for a stipulated number of times after an animal bite. Indeed, if TNR is effective enough, dog bites and the incidence of rabies too can be controlled to a great extent.
It has also been observed that many people abandon their dogs if they fall sick or are injured in an accident. There are also heartless people who leave their dogs when they migrate. Most countries have tough laws against animal abandonment and neglect. Similar laws must be introduced here. The Government should also bring in laws to ensure that dog owners, at least those in the more affluent urban areas, vaccinate their pets against rabies and microchip them. This way, if a missing or abandoned dog is found later, Government vets and LG bodies would be able to trace the owners.
The Government and LG bodies should also financially assist animal shelters run by voluntary organisations. They do a yeoman service by sheltering hundreds of feral dogs and cats who would otherwise roam the streets looking for food. But many of them find it difficult to feed and care for all their animals due to the high cost of food, medical supplies and other items.
Television recently showed an altercation between the operators of an animal shelter and local residents in a Colombo suburb, who were irked by the constant barking of dogs and the bad smells emanating from the shelter. The authorities should intervene to relocate any such shelters in congested urban residential areas to less crowded areas.
For those looking to get a pet puppy or kitten (or a senior dog or a cat), such shelters are the best option. It is best to avoid buying expensive puppies from professional breeders. There are a couple of animal rights organisations which regularly conduct “adopt a pet” days, when would-be pet owners (now also called pet parents) can select their chosen pet and take it home free of charge.
Opening your home – and heart – to a stray pup or kitten is one of the best and most satisfying investments. Better still, bring up both a homeless kitten and a pup together and if you can, add a human baby to the mix. Watch them all grow up, sharing and caring for each other. Having a pet or two eases your worries and actually brings down hypertension.
But a great responsibility comes with pet ownership. First and foremost, it is essential that they be given the rabies vaccine. They must never be neglected, abused or abandoned. They must essentially be treated as members of the family. Mahatma Gandhi once said that a nation can be gauged by how it treats its animals – let us give them room in our hearts and minds and evolve a humane approach to controlling their numbers.
