Shelter or vaccinate? Before deciding, India should rely its stray canine precisely

On August 11, the Supreme Court directed the Delhi authorities and native our bodies to instantly seize stray canine and put them in shelters. The Court was listening to a suo motu case on the growing situations of stray canine assaults on kids, together with infants. The Court stated, “Not a single canine picked up shall be launched again on the streets/public areas.”

The order has divided public opinion. While some folks agree with it given the extent of the issue of canine bites, others have questioned the effectiveness of merely relocating canine to shelters, declaring that Delhi lacks shelters to maintain so many canine.

Whether or not India has a stray canine downside, it definitely has a dog-counting downside. Getting that proper could possibly be key to creating any coverage, whether or not it’s confining canine or vaccinating them, efficient.

The most up-to-date nationwide stray canine rely is the Livestock Census of 2019. In truth, studies present that the Delhi-specific canine census was performed even earlier, in 2016. So, in 2025, insurance policies are being framed utilizing estimates of the canine inhabitants based mostly on an outdated censuses. More importantly, an evaluation of the 2019 Census itself raises a number of questions.

Take the case of Tamil Nadu. In 2019, there have been 4.4 lakh stray canine within the State. In the identical 12 months, in accordance with information from the Integrated Disease Surveillance Platform, Tamil Nadu recorded 8.3 lakh canine bites. The chart beneath reveals the variety of canine bites and stray canine in every State in 2019

In different phrases, that 12 months, there have been two canine bites for each stray canine within the State. Even permitting for the opportunity of the identical canine biting a number of folks, the variety of canine bites stays staggeringly excessive in comparison with the estimated canine inhabitants.

In the case of Manipur, the 2019 Livestock Census recorded no stray canine within the State. That information level alone is difficult to fathom. Yet, that very same 12 months, Manipur reported round 5,500 canine chew instances. In Odisha, there have been 17.3 lakh canine in 2019. Odisha housed the second highest variety of canine amongst all of the States. Yet, there have been only one.7 lakh bites that 12 months in Odisha.

If the info is appropriate, then States akin to Tamil Nadu — which endure “severely” from canine bites with almost 1,900 bites for each 1,000 canine, as proven in the chart beneath — may study from States akin to Odisha, which report solely about 100 bites per 1,000 canine. The chart reveals the variety of canine bites for each 1,000 stray canine in every State in 2019

Such knowledge-sharing may assist deal with the disaster. The undeniable fact that this has not occurred clearly factors to a knowledge mismatch quite than floor actuality. Since all canine bites shall be reported by the victims because of worry of rabies, and since hospitals are required to file these instances, the info mismatch doubtless lies in canine inhabitants figures.

With the World Health Organization (WHO) estimating that 99% of human rabies instances are attributable to the chew of contaminated canine, India’s National Action Plan for Dog-Mediated Rabies Elimination by 2030 had proposed strategic mass canine vaccination as the best way ahead in 2018. The plan had acknowledged that vaccinating 70% of canine and sustaining the hassle for 3 years can get rid of rabies. The WHO additionally recognises this as a cheap technique.

Evidence from a data-driven rabies elimination programme in Goa, printed within the journal Nature, confirmed that vaccinating 70% of the State’s canine eradicated human rabies instances by 2019 and lowered month-to-month canine rabies instances by 92%. The chart beneath reveals the outcomes from a data-driven rabies elimination programme in Goa present that vaccinating canine helps scale back human rabies instances

In truth, Goa recorded the very best variety of canine bites per capita in 2019. As could be seen from chart beneath, there have been 1,412 canine bites for each 1 lakh folks in Goa in 2019, the very best amongst all of the States. The chart reveals the variety of stray canine and canine bites for each 1 lakh folks in every State in 2019

The information for the charts had been sourced from the Livestock Census-2019, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Some of the datasets had been accessed via Dataful developed by Factly