Sir,

I read Dr. Javeed Nayeem’s article titled “Where are the real dog lovers?” in Star of Mysore dated Nov. 23. I thank him for his impartial view — being fair to people and animals at the same time.

Being an ardent animal lover myself, who hails from a family that has a few rescued street dogs at home at any given time, I’m unable to understand why animal lovers exclude humans from their zone of compassion. Isn’t a young boy losing his life to rabies tragic? Just as tragic as a puppy dying under the wheels of a car?

What is our ‘love’ for stray dogs really doing? In reality, it condemns them to a life of misery, mange and starvation. Worse is the fate of the millions hit by vehicles and left to die in pain under the harsh sun — unnoticed, uncared for,                              forgotten by all.

We know that although effective, dog catching and sterilisation (Animal Birth Control — ABC Programme) is happening only at a minuscule scale, far too little to control the growing population of dogs.

The biggest problem — often unrecognised — is the difficulty in catching adult dogs.

My brother, who is a naturalist, once said that shifting puppies to shelters could effectively control the stray dog problem. It is easy to pick them up, vaccinate them and neuter them when they reach adulthood as they remain in shelters.  Their generation ends respectfully in a shelter — without misery and without causing conflict with humans.

Also, over the next five years, this can reduce their population by 60-80 percent, which is highly effective. Perhaps in one decade, we can find a solution to this long-drawn, fiercely debated issue.

But we lack the infrastructure to handle such massive numbers — something the Government must provide — and enforce strictly, even if a section of animal ‘lovers’ protests.

Otherwise, we end up with Government orders to shift all stray dogs to shelters immediately, but where are these shelters? NGOs like PFA and CUPA, who are doing commendable work, cannot take on the extra load as their shelters are already overflowing.

Our Santasa Foundation is planning to work on this in a small way, but we need funds and people to start a puppy shelter. I have written to the Government about this strategy. I am sure this approach will shift the equation towards a practical solution to this long-standing issue. I hope many animal lovers join hands with the Government to implement similar efforts in different cities.

– Dr. Sowmya Dinesh, Mysuru, 3.12.2025

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