{"id":59444,"date":"2025-08-14T11:53:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T06:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=59444"},"modified":"2025-08-14T11:53:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T06:23:06","slug":"returning-sterilised-dogs-key-to-successful-animal-birth-control-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/returning-sterilised-dogs-key-to-successful-animal-birth-control-programme\/","title":{"rendered":"Returning Sterilised Dogs: Key to Successful Animal Birth Control Programme"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Returning Sterilised Dogs Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court recently criticised the practice of returning sterilised stray dogs to their original locations under the <\/span><b>Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, calling it \u201cunreasonable and absurd.\u201d This view found support among those impacted by aggressive stray dog packs.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, experts point out that returning sterilised dogs is actually central to the ABC method\u2019s effectiveness.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The approach aims to stabilise stray populations by ensuring sterilised dogs occupy their territories, preventing unsterilised ones from moving in and breeding, thereby gradually reducing overall numbers.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Importance of Returning Sterilised Dogs to the Streets<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In sterilisation-based population control, females are the primary targets, as unsterilised males can still impregnate all fertile females, undermining the effort.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spaying females directly curbs reproduction, while neutering males can also reduce aggression \u2014 lowering human-dog conflicts.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Effective <\/span><b>Animal Birth Control (ABC) programmes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> target both sexes, aiming to sterilise at least two-thirds (ideally 70%) of the dog population within a year.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since sterilisation cannot happen all at once, returning sterilised dogs to their original territories prevents unsterilised newcomers from moving in and breeding.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This territorial stability is crucial for ensuring the programme\u2019s long-term success.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Keeping Streets \u2018Unproductive\u2019 for Stray Dog Breeding<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If sterilised dogs from certain streets are removed and not returned, those areas become vacant, attracting unsterilised dogs from nearby streets.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With easy access to resources like garbage dumps, these newcomers breed quickly, undoing sterilisation efforts.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Returning sterilised dogs ensures that these territories remain occupied by animals that cannot reproduce, preventing fertile dogs from moving in.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This practice also preserves the local dogs\u2019 social structure, reducing conflicts.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most importantly, in the early stages of an ABC drive, it helps secure each area\u2019s progress step-by-step, making population control more sustainable.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Crisis of Capacity in Implementing SC\u2019s Stray Dog Shelter Order<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court\u2019s directive to build shelters and house 5,000\u20136,000 stray dogs within six to eight weeks has caught Delhi\u2019s civic authorities unprepared.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With no government-owned shelters and only around two dozen NGO-run facilities accommodating fewer than 3,000 dogs, capacity is a major hurdle.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Housing thousands of unrelated dogs together also raises welfare concerns \u2014 stress, anxiety, and aggression can result despite standard protocols like individual cages with barriers.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moreover, dogs are inherently social, forming packs and hierarchies in open environments, making large-scale captivity unsuitable for their behavioural well-being.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Inadequacies in Delhi\u2019s ABC Drive<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Delhi\u2019s lack of holding capacity to meet the Supreme Court\u2019s directive also exposes the severe shortcomings of its Animal Birth Control (ABC) program.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With an estimated 8 lakh street dogs, effective control requires sterilising 70% \u2014 around 5.5 lakh \u2014 within a year.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spread over 300 working days, this means operating on 1,800 dogs daily.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given that each dog needs to be housed for pre- and post-operative care for four days, Delhi would require kennel space for 7,200 dogs at a time.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In reality, the city\u2019s total holding capacity is under 3,000, meaning the ABC program operates at only about 40% of the required scale.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This gross shortfall explains why the drive has failed to stabilise the stray dog population.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Irresponsible Pet Ownership and its Impact on ABC<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A weak ABC drive in India is further undermined by irresponsible pet ownership.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Without a national law mandating dog registration, and with only a few cities having poorly enforced rules, there is no systemic accountability for pet owners.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sterilisation and vaccination of pets are also not mandatory.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a result, hundreds of unwanted dogs and pups are abandoned daily, while many pet dogs are allowed to roam freely or escape, breeding with street strays.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This constant influx fuels the stray dog population, making the so-called \u201cIndian street dog\u201d predominantly a mix of crossbreeds.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Experts recommend that ABC programs should also target pedigreed pets with high breeding rates.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Governments could encourage compliance by offering incentives for registration and sterilisation, and by imposing steep taxes on breeding pets to curb irresponsible ownership.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Feeding Strays: A Trigger for Aggression<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In urban areas, many residents feed stray dogs outside homes or workplaces, inadvertently making them territorial and aggressive.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to experts, true stray dogs form stable packs, are cautious of people, and are mostly active at night. In contrast, abandoned or loosely supervised pets tend to stay near human activity and have smaller roaming areas.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These \u201cproxy pets\u201d are more likely to show aggression towards people who neither feed nor pet them, creating a recipe for conflict in shared public spaces.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/why-returning-sterilised-dogs-to-streets-is-key-to-abcs-success-10187160\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IE<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> | <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/city\/delhi\/abc-sterilisation-only-solution-plan-for-shelters-is-flawed\/articleshow\/123243853.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ToI<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Discover why returning sterilised dogs to their original streets is crucial for the success of Animal Birth Control programmes in India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":59490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[60,2183,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-59444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-mains-articles","9":"tag-returning-sterilised-dogs","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59444","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\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}