Explained: Why birth control of strays failed so badly

Thirty years after it opened its first free sterilisation clinic for animals in Chennai in 1966, Blue Cross India — an animal welfare charity — managed to convince the Chennai Municipal Corporation to start an animal birth control (ABC) programme. This worked so well that the Centre made it a national programme in 2001. But we all know how it panned out: the population of strays continued to grow in many states; dog bite cases surged; the crisis only deepened.“The programme lacks funding and manpower, including vets, as well as infrastructure,” said former World Health Organisation (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan. Unlike health programmes, such as tuberculosis control or blindness control, this programme does not hold anyone accountable. “There is no collective national data on the number of vaccinations, number of surgeries, or its effectiveness. There are no outcome studies to show if funds were judiciously used,” she said.It wasn’t meant to be this way, said Surinder Singh, former head of Central Drugs Control Laboratory in Kasauli. “I saw how the programme started off with a lot of enthusiasm. There were passionate people at the helm of affairs. Continuous sterilisation and vaccination of stray dogs for at least a decade would have helped India eliminate rabies. But, after the first couple of years, the enthusiasm faded because they did not have enough funding or infrastructure to sustain them,” he said.Early on, poor staffing and infrastructure at dog pounds led to protests by animal activists. This prompted the Centre, along with NGOs, to introduce standard operating procedures. Activists say these ensured humane dog treatment — but officials claim they triggered legal tangles and red tape, slowing sterilisation efforts. Court cases slow down sterilisationThere have been no sterilisation drives in Patna for the last two years. The Patna Municipal Corporation hired an external agency to carry out sterilisation of stray animals. An NGO went to court objecting to the work being given to an agency that was not certified by the Animal Welfare Board of India. “The civic body cancelled the tender. After that, no tender has been successful,” said Ashish Sinha, a former standing committee member of Patna Municipal Corporation and the ward 38 councillor.In Odisha, the programme was stalled after activists moved the Orissa high court alleging mismanagement in birth control surgeries across the state. Deputy director, animal welfare, S K Samantray, said that between 2020 and 2023, 47,880 dogs (male and female) were sterilised across cities like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur, and Puri. “To resume ABC, the civic body concerned needs to obtain a project certificate from the Animal Welfare Board,” he said.Additionally, as cities expanded their limits, the number of dogs, including unsterilised ones, swelled. “The street dog population has increased, primarily due to the extension of our municipal boundaries,” said Dr Abhinav Verma, animal welfare officer, Lucknow. “Without our ABC programme, the population would have been significantly higher,” he pointed out. Indian strays start breeding earlyThe genetic predisposition for early onset of fertility among Indian stray dogs is a significant factor in population growth, experts say. Stray dogs typically reach sexual maturity and begin breeding early, between 6 and 9 months of age. While a female dog can typically have a litter once or twice a year, the number of puppies on average varies between four and six. This number can be influenced by the dog’s health, age, and environmental conditions.Today, several states admit that the dog population has surged, but most haven’t maintained a count. Officials of Bhopal Municipal Corporation, for instance, say no dog survey was undertaken in the MP capital. “Actual data of the stray dog population is not available. So, we estimated the dog population of Bhopal per the dog-tohuman ratio of 1:22 based on a study by a Bengaluru-based college,” said Bhopal Municipal Corporation veterinarian P P Singh. Without a count, pushing for funds and effective policies is difficult.In most cities, the annual capacity for sterilisation is below 7,500 against the canine population of over 1 lakh. For instance, a 2024 survey by the Greater Chennai Corporation in the Tamil Nadu capital showed there were at least 1.8 lakh stray dogs — up from 57,000 in 2018 — of which only 27% were sterilised. That means approximately 1.3 lakh fertile dogs on the streets of Chennai. In Aug, the civic agency began a mass vaccination drive and plans to ramp up sterilisation surgeries.The stray dog population in Gujarat has increased, according to a scientist at a laboratory for the diagnosis of animal rabies at Anand Agricultural University. Dog bite cases doubled from 1.9 lakh in 2021 to 3.9 lakh in 2024, officials said. In Himachal Pradesh, the dog population increased six times in the last 10 years while dog bite cases increased 10 to 15 times during this period, said Dr Omesh Kumar Bharti, a Shimla-based epidemiologist and Padma Shri recipient for his research on finding an affordable vaccine for rabid dog bites. Data show the number of dog bite cases rose from 17,292 in 2020 to 22,909 in 2024.States such as UP, which reported a decline in dog bite cases — from 2.3 lakh in 2023 to 1.6 lakh in 2024 — recorded a doubling of rabies deaths, from three to six. TOI analysis, however, showed that data presented by Union ministers did not tally with state data. Need for smart solutionsFunding for the ABC programme is also a serious concern. The Animal Welfare Board of India has recommended up to Rs 1,650 — including Rs 200 per dog for dog catchers — for sterilisation, post-surgery management, and vaccination of dogs. “We will be eating grass if the govt has to fund sterilisation for an estimated 60 million dogs in the country,” said former Lt Col in the Indian Army and veterinarian Dr Harish Kumar Tiwari. That’s a bill of Rs 9,900 crore. Now a faculty member at IIT-Guwahati, Tiwari said the country must look at innovative methods of canine management. While veterinarians and scientists are suggesting steps like sterilisation of just female dogs, experts like Tiwari say the govt must involve the community and incentivise people and organisations to adopt dogs and become responsible owners. “I have always wondered why we don’t use native breeds for security or in bomb squads. It’s because we ourselves know very little about our native breeds. We must find some value for our dogs,” added Tiwari.Cities like Delhi, Chennai, and Bengaluru are exploring the use of technology, such as microchips, to ensure the tracking of sterilised animals for annual vaccination. The microchip, a tiny RFID device implanted under a dog’s skin, will work as a permanent ID.Meanwhile, organisations like Humane Society International (HSI) have developed mobile and web applications to streamline the entire ABC process. Scientists at Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and other institutions are exploring non-surgical contraception, including chemical castration, and hormonal implants that suppress fertility along with immunocontraception, which stimulates a dog’s immune system to produce antibodies that block the reproductive process.