Street dogs in Chennai

Street dogs are part of urban ecosystem of the Indian city of Chennai. Chennai's population of homeless dogs chiefly belongs to the local landrace, or the Indian pariah dog, with the remaining part of the urban population consisting of mongrels or mix-breeds due to interbreed with purebred dogs. As of 2018, free-ranging dogs in the city numbered about 185,000, in addition to around 3,000 licensed pets. Per the 2013 estimate over 5 percent of the stray dogs were infirm.
Background
Dogs have been co-existing with humans since time immemorial. As in the rest of India, dogs have been worshiped in the city where a majority of the population followed Hinduism. One among the many reasons behind this fact is that dog is the mount of the Hindu god Bhairava.
However, beginning in 1869, the city corporation started killing dogs in order to have a check on its population. The corporation cited various reasons such as rabies, aggression and not wearing a licence-tag for the killing of dogs. The number increased rapidly from killing one dog a day on an average in 1860, to as many as 135 dogs a day by 1996.
The number of human deaths in Chennai due to rabies dropped from 120 in 1996 to zero in 2007. However, there a few deaths in the following years owing to less rigorous implementation of the ABC-AR programme abiding by the PCA Act (1960) and the Dog Rule Act (2001). A 2019 study conducted in Goa by the University of Edinburgh concluded that oral vaccines (vaccines hidden in food for stray dogs) help curb the spread of rabies three times more effectively than injections.
Animal Birth Control Rules
The Animal Brith Control (Dogs) Rules 2001 state that stray animals need to be sterilised and vaccinated against rabies and then should be returned to the same locality as before.
Interactions with humans
Good Samaritan work
There are numerous instances of stray dogs volunteering themselves to join the law enforcement personnel in their patrolling duty. For instance, The Times of India reported on 30 March 2008 of a stray named Julie regularly patrolling the Marina Beach along with the local police team to prevent people from swimming in the sea, which has been banned along the entire stretch of the beach, by jumping into the sea and chasing away those attempting to bathe in the waters.
Dog care
Chennai is home to the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), and the city is either base to or has a branch of several animal rights organisations, including Blue Cross of India, People for Animals, and Animal Welfare & Protection Trust. Apart from organisations and charities, the city also has several individuals who take care of the street dogs, including feeding the dogs with leftovers collected from hotels and bakeries in the city.
Various non-governmental animal welfare organizations in the city have undertaken various measures to care for stray dogs and other animals on the street. For instance, since 2017, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has been distributing portable water troughs to the public free of cost, requesting the public to have them placed on the streets and filling them with water regularly for the benefit of stray dogs, cats, and cattle.
Population control and management
According to the 1996 manual survey conducted by the corporation, there were around 85,000 dogs in all the 200 divisions of the city. However, the last survey conducted through an app indicates that the population has reduced to 58,000. It engages about 50 dog catchers in all the zones. The Veterinary College in Vepery receives a maximum of 45 dogs and cats a month for administering population control method.
Dog attacks
During 2010-2012, dog menace ranked sixth in the number of complaints received by the city corporation.
As in 2013, about 100 cases of dog bites were reported in the city daily. Since 2011, around 113,000 people reported dog bites, and 26 succumbed to rabies. The number of people who died of rabies was 5 in 2011-12 and 11 in 2012-13. In 2013-14, 10 people died of rabies. Number of bog bites reported was 38,454 in 2011-12, 37,937 in 2012-13 and 37,155 in 2013-14.
Corporation's proposed shelters
In 2013, the corporation toyed with the idea of setting up dog shelters to house ferocious or infirm dogs. Animal rights activists have called this proposal a jail for community dogs. While Blue Cross of India and People for Animals have been trying to convince the corporation to shelve the plan, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals held a protest at the Marina Beach on 19 January 2013.

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