{"id":35158,"date":"2023-05-01T01:39:05","date_gmt":"2023-04-30T20:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=35158"},"modified":"2025-04-20T22:10:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T16:40:55","slug":"stray-dog-bites-and-poor-waste-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/stray-dog-bites-and-poor-waste-management\/","title":{"rendered":"Stray Dog Bites and Poor Waste Management"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>News Summary: Stray dog bites and poor waste management<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What do dog bites have to do with poor waste management?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What role do urbanisation and urban planning play?\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Population of Stray Dogs in India<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How has India managed human dog population so far?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Way forward<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In April, a 65-year-old woman in Srinagar was attacked by street dogs outside her home. Also sitting in front of her house is a garbage collection point.<\/li>\n<li>This incident, once again, highlighted the link between urban solid waste management and stray dog attacks in Indian cities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>News Summary:<\/strong> <strong>Stray dog bites and poor waste management<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><strong>What do dog bites have to do with poor waste management?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Carrying capacity of cities and population of dogs<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The carrying capacity \u2014 the ability of a city to support a species \u2014 is determined by the availability of food and shelter.<\/li>\n<li>Free-ranging dogs, in the absence of these facilities, eventually get attracted towards exposed garbage dumping sites.<\/li>\n<li>Dogs thus congregate around urban dumps, such as landfills or garbage dumps, due to feeding opportunities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Waste generation in India<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Indian cities generate more than 1,50,000 metric tonnes of urban solid waste every day.<\/li>\n<li>As per a 2021 United Nations Environment Program report, an estimated 931 million tonnes of food available to consumers ended up in households, restaurants, vendors and other food service retailers\u2019 bins in 2019.\n<ul>\n<li>Ideally, all the waste collected should be transported to designated landfill sites.<\/li>\n<li>However, estimates by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India show that only 75-80% of the total municipal waste is collected, and only 22-28% of it is processed.<\/li>\n<li>The rest is dumped across cities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>A study found that garbage from bakeries, restaurants, and houses was the primary food source for free-roaming dogs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Primary source of food and Nature of dog<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Stray dogs are fed around the urban dumps, such as landfills or garbage dumps.<\/li>\n<li>As dog is a loyal animal, it develops an affinity towards these areas.<\/li>\n<li>As a result, these dogs become territorial and aggressive about public spaces where they are fed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What role do urbanisation and urban planning play?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In 2015, a study conducted in 10 Indian metro cities found a strong link between human population, the amount of municipal and food waste generated, and the number of stray dogs in the cities.<\/li>\n<li>The report concluded that the present mode of urbanisation provides enough unconfined and unmanaged leftovers. This, in turn, end up aiding the proliferation of stray dogs.<\/li>\n<li>Tepid animal birth control programmes and insufficient rescue centres, in conjunction with poor waste management, result in a proliferation of street animals in India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Population of Stray Dogs in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>As per the official 2019 livestock census, <u>the stray dog population stood at 1.5 crore<\/u>. However, independent estimates peg the number to be around 6.2 crore.<\/li>\n<li>The number of dog bites has simultaneously doubled between 2012 and 2020 (although there is a paucity of data on dog bite deaths due to neglect in the management of rabies).<\/li>\n<li><u>India also shoulders the highest rabies burden in the world<\/u>, accounting for a third of global deaths caused due to the disease.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How has India managed human dog population so far?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>India\u2019s response to the stray dog menace has relied upon the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme.<\/li>\n<li>Through this programme, municipal bodies trap, sterilise and release dogs to slow down the dog population.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rabies control measures<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The second anchor is rabies control measures, including vaccination drives.<\/li>\n<li>But implementation suffers from:\n<ul>\n<li>low awareness around the health implications of dog bites,<\/li>\n<li>irregular supply of vaccines,<\/li>\n<li>delay in seeking treatments, and<\/li>\n<li>a lack of national policy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Other informal measures<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Other informal measures include <u>mass culling of dogs in States like Kerala<\/u> or <u>imposing bans on the entry of stray dogs in colonies or feeding them in public<\/u>.\n<ul>\n<li>In November 2022, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court ruled that people interested in feeding strays should first formally adopt them and feed them in their own homes.<\/li>\n<li>It directed the municipality to impose a fine of \u20b9200 on anyone found feeding dogs in public places.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Way forward<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>As long as there is solid waste on streets, peaceful co-existence of humans and dogs will be a challenge.<\/li>\n<li>In this context, experts believe that the responsible waste management is the only solution to this issue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1)<\/strong> <strong>What is urban solid waste?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Urban solid waste refers to the non-liquid refuse generated by households, commercial establishments, and institutions in urban areas. It includes items such as food waste, paper, plastic, metal, glass, textiles, and electronics, among others.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2)<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>What is Rabies?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Rabies is a viral disease that affects the nervous system of mammals, including humans. The virus is transmitted through the saliva of an infected animal, typically through a bite or scratch. Once the virus enters the body, it travels to the brain and causes inflammation, which can lead to a variety of symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle weakness, seizures, and eventually coma or death.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/energy-and-environment\/explained-how-are-straydog-bites-related-to-poor-waste-management\/article66769597.ece#:~:text=While%20there%20is%20no%20evidence,the%20mismanagement%20of%20waste%20disposal.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Explained | How are stray dog bites related to poor waste management?<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC7912825\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>National Centre for Biotechnology Information<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/india\/indias-stray-dog-menace-a-crisis-of-proportions\/articleshowprint\/99137639.cms?val=3728\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>The Hindu<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dogs congregate around urban dumps, such as landfills or garbage dumps, due to feeding opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":35159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-35158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}