The Stray Dog Problem
The stray dog issue keeps coming up in our conversations with fellow residents of the ward – with dog lovers as well as those who think stray dogs are a nuisance. Stray dogs are a present in large populations all over India, and our ward is no exception. Stray dogs can be found in areas having exposed garbage and in slums.
Street dogs are almost always harmless. In fact they serve as watchdogs for the lane or society as they bark at suspicious strangers entering the territory at night. They also keep the rat population in control. However there have been occasional cases of aggression towards humans due to which people regard all stray dogs as a ‘menace’.
This problem has to be understood before it can be tackled. Stray dogs get aggressive under two circumstances – when a male is moving in a pack during the mating season and when a female is guarding her pups.
Eliminating these two causes can reduce attacks on humans by dogs.
