Data | Stray dog bites are a cause for concern; vaccination helps

Vaccinating dogs and sustaining that effort helps limit rabies cases

This year, at least four children died of dog bites in India — two siblings aged seven and five in Delhi, a two-year-old in Surat, and a four-year-old in Hyderabad. Footage from the Hyderabad incident spread across social media, provoking outrage. The anger has resulted in housing societies discouraging people from feeding dogs and even employing bouncers to threaten dog lovers.

A week ago, the Bombay High Court said that treating stray dogs cruelly can never be an acceptable approach. It said that taking care of animals is legal and preventing people from doing that would amount to an offence. The order was passed in a case filed by a resident of a society in Mumbai who was prevented from feeding stray dogs. In a similar case in February, the same court observed that if dogs are fed and cared for, they would become less aggressive. In September last year, a Supreme Court Bench orally observed that while feeding dogs is a humane act, protecting people from stray dog attacks is also important.

At least five High Courts — Bombay, Allahabad, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Delhi — have weighed in on the issue since 2022. The Animal Welfare Board of India issued advisories in December 2022 on the issue. Over the past year, dog attacks have caused nationwide concern.

There were around 1.5 crore stray dogs in India in 2019. Approximately 1.5 crore instances of dog bites were recorded between 2019 and 2022. Chart 1 shows the State-wise number of stray dogs, according to the 2019 Livestock Census. In that year, Uttar Pradesh led the list with a stray dog population of 20 lakh followed by Odisha (17 lakh) and Maharashtra (about 12.7 lakh). In total, there were 1,53,09,355 stray dogs in India.

Chart 1

The chart shows the State-wise number of stray dogs, according to the 2019 Livestock Census

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