Many Chennai residents still have positive impression of street dogs, says study

Chennai residents show positive attitude towards street dogs despite issues, emphasizing need for awareness and responsible pet ownership.

A majority of Chennai residents display a positive attitude towards street dogs despite complaints of chasing, barking, biting, etc., as the animals are seen as companions and protectors, research finds. The need for more awareness of rabies and ways to identify signs of the infection was stressed at a conference with press persons on Wednesday in Chennai. The discussion was held as part of a series of media interactions to be held across the country.

Krithika Srinivasan, principal investigator of a research project on street dogs and public health (ROH-Indies), said of the 4,600 observations of human-street dog interactions in Chennai, 53.9% of people involved in the study mentioned barking issues, 50.1% spoke of chasing, 39.2% referred to biting and 15% mentioned rabies. Only 5.1% of the people involved in the research saw absolutely no problems at all with the animals.

She said there was a multidimensional attitude towards street dogs — since over 60% have reported that the interactions were positive, with dogs providing protection, especially to women of low-income groups and pavement dwellers, companionship, and serving as first line of defence against predators.

Ms. Krithika Srinivasan said local bodies must focus on raising awareness and knowledge on preventing conflicts from school level, improve animal birth control measures and administer vaccines annually.

V. Ramasubramanian, an infectious disease specialist, advised people to get themselves checked immediately in case they get in contact with felines that project abnormal behaviour. “If you get scratched by a pet dog or encounter an usually aggressive dog, it doesn’t necessarily mean it has rabies. However, if a normally docile dog shows signs of aggression and attacks or licks a person, seek medical attention and report the incident to local authorities for the animal to be checked.”

Further, they emphasised upon the media’s role in shaping public opinion about street dogs and the need for balanced reporting promoting vaccination, population control, and responsible waste disposal.

Varda Mehrotra, founder of Samayu, an NGO with Amshuman Dasarathy of Socratus, an organisation for thinking through and solving social and civic issues, and the press were present.