The Animal Birth Control Programme as a way of managing problems with Street Dogs is a Resounding Failure

The Animal Birth Control Programme (ABC) is being implemented in only 60 big cities of India. Only Tamilnadu and Goa have attempted the programme in the entire State. 

Sterilization programmes for street dogs began in India around 2001, yet still cannot be called a success. In Coimbatore, for instance, around 43 % of the street dogs were sterilized till 2017. 

A female-centric approach is the most efficient for dog population control. As even one unspayed female in the population can give birth to as many as 20 pups a year. 

because of which homeless dogs exist in such numbers today.

The article goes on to say that WHO guidelines state that 'Control of reproduction of feral dogs is rarely worthwhile. If feral dogs are captured and unclaimed they should be humanely killed.'

The WHO and animal welfare organisations around the world promote and encourage free/low-cost neutering for PET dogs. A municipality in Taiwan offers $5 to owners to get their dog sterilised. That is how much cheaper and more practical it is for the government and animal organisations to neuter and vaccinate pets and prevent surplus animals from ending up on the streets in the first place.

The article adds that : 'The clueless AWBI’s ABC policy is the complete opposite of what needs to be done — ignore pets and randomly sterilise and vaccinate some homeless dogs. In fact, this policy has failed so spectacularly, that the AWBI has now changed its own goal post — invented ‘street/Indian/community’ dogs that are supposedly meant to live on the streets anyway !

Another article asks : Who are the beneficiaries of keeping the dogs on the streets?

In the cities, municipal authorities are blamed for the growing numbers and growls on the streets. While the authorities want to remove dogs from the streets, people representing animal welfare organisations insist on carrying on an “unworkable programme” to reduce the conflict between man and mongrel. 

Victims are blamed for the attacks. The ABC programme legalises straying, puts dogs in direct conflict with people, and is a perversion of public policy.

The AWBI, the functioning of Animal Welfare Organizations (AWOs), and the implementation and efficacy of the ABC programme have been studied and reviewed by the Ministry of Environment & Forests multiple times, most notably in 1999, 2008, and 2015. It is not for no reason that the reviews and audits have never been made public.

The reviews expose corrupt practices by the AWBI, mismanagement and misappropriation of funds by AWOs in the name of “animal welfare”, and an appalling lack of even rudimentary knowledge of dog control and welfare on the part of the AWBI and NGOs.

The AWBI and AWOs carrying out the ABC programme must be disbanded and held culpable for criminal misconduct for this blatant and deliberate deception of the public and courts, deaths of hundreds of citizens, and cruelty to animals.

The threat from feral dogs is not restricted to human life. Feral dogs are posing a serious threat to Indian wildlife. Conservation India lists several instances of dogs attacking, hunting, and chasing away wildlife, including several endangered species, in different parts of India.

Livestock and wildlife are now increasingly under attack from hungry and homeless dogs, which also spread diseases to wild populations. Unwanted, homeless dogs suffer and die due to accidents, diseases, and starvation. They are now even subject to retaliatory attacks from people, who have no other recourse but to take matters into their own hands. The only beneficiaries of the ABC programme are the AWOs, which get taxpayer money to build private hospitals and boarding for pets and leave homeless animals on the streets.

The current policy is illegal and unconstitutional as it goes against its own parent Act – the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, Article 21 – Right to Life, Municipal State Laws, the Police Act, and Public Nuisance Laws. While the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA), 1960, talks about culling street dogs, the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules of 2001 allows stray dog population. 

“PCA clearly says stray dogs should be ‘destroyed’. But AWBI through its ABC rules insists that they live on the streets. 

In 2015, AWBI issued a circular that blames the victim for a dog attack.

Developed nations do not allow dogs on the street. Those which are found are put up for adoption. When no one adopts them, they are euthanised. Only two Japanese have died of rabies in last 50 years, that too after being bitten in India and the Philippines. Japan does not allow dogs on the street. Those which are found are put up for adoption. When no one adopts them, they are euthanised. Same is done in the US and Ireland.