Why street animals are good for a city

Abodh Aras is the head of Welfare of Stray Dogs and he tells us why taking care of dogs (and cats) is in the interest of all city- dwellers

As part of an animal welfare NGO that works with several other NGOs and government agencies, I’ve noticed that our ‘streeties’ play an important part in our everyday lives. Today, owing to general awareness and education programmes, we are living in cleaner cities. You must remember that dogs, per se, are scavengers and before ‘smart cities’ took shape, there was a time when dogs played an important role in keeping rubbish (generated by humans) under control.

In Indian cities where there is no proper garbage management, you will have street dogs hanging around heaps of trash, picking up leftover food that has been dumped. This is one of the reasons that street animals can be beneficial but you must remember that even as cities get cleaner, the role of streeties is not just limited to garbage disposal.

Streeties are citizens too

Post 1994, in Mumbai, and from 2001, all over the country, the killing of street dogs is not allowed anymore. Sometime in 1994, just before the outbreak of bubonic plague in western and central India,there were a lot of stray dogs that were killed in Surat, and people somehow associated it with the plague that had ravaged the city later. What’s to be kept in mind is that while street dogs do not eat rodents, they do keep them at bay. And that’s an important service that streeties provide a city.

Coming to the aspect of the relationship that animals share with humans, the street dog, too, is a citizen of a city. Streeties do have their own histories, their own stories, idiosyncrasies and behaviour. For cities which are inhabited by people belonging to different economic strata all living together, street animals are very beneficial to each level. If you look at the example of Mumbai, or any other major metropolitan area, there will be a large population of people that live on the streets and in slum communities.

Community creatures

The street animal also dons the hat of a community pet. While some of us call them ‘stray animals,’ he or she will have a name–the most common of which are, Tommy, Moti, Kaalu, Raja, Rani–and give the community companionship, love and the security of belonging to people, who have very little themselves but need that source of support. Years ago, when Cross Maidan in Mumbai’s Fort area was not the graden it is today, but an open ground for events and circuses, several street dwellers also lived there, some with nothing but a charpoy. When they would go to work, their dog would protect their meagre belongings. Another story I recall was this tiny kholi near the old Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD) centre at Mahalakshmi, where a family of four lived with their animal menagerie of three-four dogs and some cats. The lady of the house would leave the dog to guard the baby, of course, only for a very short time while she ran an errand. These are just some of the services that streeties have given the citizens in a city.

Neighbourhood watch

Looking after the welfare of streeties also benefits the privileged, the people who live in apartments or housing colonies. For instance, we teach our children to be responsible when we look after and feed our street animals. Teaching our young ones this habit gives us a sense of purpose and compassion. Streeties are great for guarding your neighbourhood too. I remember one police commissioner commenting to me that neighbourhoods that had more street dogs actually had less robberies and thefts taking place.

We often get complaints about dogs barking at night. One incident I recall investigating turned out to be that the dog in question was warning off some anti-social elements in the neighbourhood. We’ve also had dogs who have been much loved by the police force, who have accompanied the cops in their vans. The Colaba police station had a resident canine who was a part and parcel of their existence. The LT Marg police station, too, had their own dog who was like a little policeman!

There are many more stories of dogs actually protecting children; for instance, the case of a baby dumped in a garbage heap in Kolkata that was eventually found thanks to the neighbourhood streetie! Or the two dogs in Chennai who helped nab criminals who had just stabbed someone.

Urban dreams

We tend to forget the fact that the city is composed of migrants, of people who leave their homes in search of a “better life”. Several of the migrant labourers are security guards, working multiple shifts, and they welcome the companionship and security that streeties provide them. It’s a stressful existence that is alleviated to a certain extent by the neighbourhood dog or even cat, who isn’t really asking for anything in return.

A few weeks ago, at a meeting at a BMC office, an official was complaining about the cats in the building, which is a workplace. My response was to talk to him about more contemporary workplace practices that allow you to bring your pets into the office. There are studies that prove productivity can increase with the addition of animals who help alleviate stress levels. Just the presence of the pet cat or dog can lower stress levels for the security guard or the haath- gaadi wallah whose daily work spans more than 12 hours at a stretch, not to mention the regular office-goer.

Animal rights

What is important is that every city realises that its street animal population in comparison to human population needs to be balanced and kept in check . Here’s where sterilisation comes into play. Both dogs and now cats need to be sterilised, because when the canine population decreases, the feline population becomes more visible. We need to manage our street animal population through sterilisation methods.

A few weeks ago, at a meeting at a BMC office, an official was complaining about the cats in the building, which is a workplace. My response was to talk to him about more contemporary workplace practices that allow you to bring your pets into the office. There are studies that prove productivity can increase with the addition of animals who help alleviate stress levels. Just the presence of the pet cat or dog can lower stress levels for the security guard or the haath- gaadi wallah whose daily work spans more than 12 hours at a stretch, not to mention the regular office-goer.

One of the practices we inherited from the British was the killing of stray dogs. The 1832 Bombay Riots were sparked by an attempt by the British government to exterminate the city's stray dogs. This was controversial for the Parsi community, since canines are considered sacred in the Zoroastrian religion. The event was the first instance of rioting in the modern history of Mumbai.

It’s clear to us now that the killing of street animals for hundreds of years has not helped in curtailing their population. With mass sterilisation and vaccination programmes, the canine population is better controlled along with the decrease in rabies cases. We need to ensure that we have a healthy street dog (and cat) population. Community feeders and animal welfare organisations who look after cats and dogs in their neighbourhoods provide a great service to any city. Not only do they feed the animals, they monitor their sterilisation and general health too.

As citizens we need to adopt the principle of ‘live and let live’ where our streeties are concerned. We need to ensure their safety so that they also can be allowed to ensure ours.

(As told to Gauri Vij)

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