The Supreme Court, taking a firm stance on the increasing cases of dog bites and rabies, has ordered that all stray dogs be removed from the streets within 8 weeks and placed in dog shelters. The court has clearly stated that there will be no compromise on the safety of the people. While some people see this decision as a relief to the public, animal rights organization PETA India believes that it is neither a scientific solution nor a permanent one. They believe that it is necessary to work on the root causes instead of removing stray dogs. Now that government agencies have started working in mission mode, the question arises as to which countries of the world have almost eliminated this problem, and how did they do this? Let’s find out.
1. Bhutan
According to The Indian Express, Bhutan, a neighboring country of India, became the country to sterilize 100% of stray dogs in 2023. Bhutan started the Nationwide Accelerated Dog Population Management and Rabies Control Program in 2021 to do this. However, the sterilization and vaccination program ran in different phases for about 14 years. From 2021 to 2023, more than 1.5 lakh stray dogs were sterilized. The budget of this program was about 29 crore rupees.
2. Morocco
Morocco adopted a humane approach to handle stray dogs. The TNVR program was started in the country, i.e., Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return. This includes catching the dogs, sterilizing them, vaccinating them against rabies, tagging them, and then returning them to their old areas. In the last five years, the government has spent about $23 million (approximately 190 crore rupees) on this program.
3. Netherlands
Netherlands is the first country in Europe today where there is not a single stray dog, whereas at the beginning of the 19th-20th century, their number was very high there. Initially, the government took steps like killing them, rules of patta-mazal, and dog tax, but to avoid tax, people started abandoning dogs. At the end of the 20th century, animal abuse was declared a crime and three major changes were made, heavy tax on dogs purchased from stores, CNVR program (catching, sterilization, vaccination, returning), and a pet-police force, which takes action against abusers and saves animals.
4. Japan
Japan has strict animal welfare rules. Here, stray dogs are caught, kept in quarantine, and encouraged for adoption. Veterinary doctors run low-cost sterilization programs so that the number of stray dogs can be kept under control. Euthanasia is also allowed, but only for sick or dangerous dogs. In some areas like Tokyo, this is done by gas chambers. This method is criticized because it takes 15 minutes for the dogs to suffer to die.
5. South Korea
The number of abandoned pets in South Korea is continuously increasing. To deal with this, the government started the Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program for stray cats. That is, catching cats, sterilizing them, and then returning them to their old areas.
