Mumbai Reports Over 60,000 Dog Bite Cases Every Year

Mumbai records over 60,000 incidents of dog bites every year in the post pandemic era. Although the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has sterilised over 90,000 stray dogs since 2018, local authorities believe that the current dog population has grown from 95,127 in 2014 to approximately 1.64 lahks. There hasn't been a dog census conducted yet.

Prior to COVID-19, the city would report about 85,000 dog bite cases annually. However, in the post coronavirus era, this number dropped to about 60,000 instances annually, although no specific cause for the drop was stated.

According to the 2014 dog census, out of 95,174 stray dogs, 25,935 were found to be unsterilised. 11,261 of them were female and 14,674 of these were male. An unsterilised female dog can give birth to at least four puppies, and within a year, they become reproductive, according to a BMC official. As a result, the number of dogs has continued to rise. Present estimates indicate that there are 1.64 lakh dogs in the city the official said.

Since 2019, fewer people have had sterilizations, according to municipal authorities. The BMC's Deonar Abattoir's general manager, Kalimpasha Pathan, stated that NGOs had been invited to capture and vaccinate dogs. However, capturing them requires a great deal of skill, and since many of the dogs have previously been sterilized, the number of fresh sterilizations has decreased. He continued by saying that the BMC is concentrating on vaccinating dogs against rabies in order to prevent human fatalities even in the event of a dog bite.

Another BMC official said that no human casualty has been recorded in Mumbai in the last few years, despite the fact that there have been over 60,000 dog bite cases in the city.

Rahul Shewale, the city MP, has written to the BMC proposing an action plan to address the problem of stray dogs. Shewale wrote to civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal on October 27 mentioning a fatal attack on a postman in Mumbai by stray dogs.

In the letter, he wrote that it is evident that many of these stray dogs do not receive proper care, nourishment, or medical attention, which leads to various diseases among them. This is a distressing situation for all animal lovers and compassionate individuals.

He further added that the packs of stray dogs attack children, people, and senior citizens and at times kill them. Recently, stray dogs attacked the owner of a well-known tea company (Parag Desai), and the dogs eventually passed away while receiving treatment. In the meantime, news has surfaced of a stray dog attack that killed the postman. For the sake of our residents' welfare as well as the welfare of the animals themselves, we must act decisively to address the persistent problem of stray dogs.

Shewale suggests that as a remedy for this persistent issue, a shelter home for stray dogs be established. These animals could live in a secure and compassionate setting at such a shelter, where they would get the food, medicine, and care they require.