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PremiumFeeding the soul: Dog lover and activist Sonya Ghosh feeding stray dogs at one of India’s first dog-feeding sites in Vasant Kunj, Delhi. Photographs by Pradeeo Gaur/Mint
Nosering, Sweety, Kaajal and Sudama are sitting close to a Mother Dairy booth in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. It’s 3pm, and Sonya Ghosh is expected. An associate professor of English at the University of Delhi, Ghosh arrives daily in a Maruti van carrying six pails, two buckets and 20 plastic bowls. Driving through sectors 3 and 4 of Vasant Kunj, she feeds 25 dogs, including the fat Bullah and the old Kaali.
Milk, rice, daliya, soybean, pumpkin and chicken waste—all cooked together—is the meal Ghosh serves stray dogs at India’s first designated dog-feeding sites, set up in 2009. Today, the Capital has more than 100 feeding sites for stray canines. No other Indian city has such a facility.
According to a 2009 survey by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), there are 262,000 stray dogs.
“Some people praise me," says Ghosh, filling up a bowl for the brown Marina who was abandoned by her owners. “Some consider me a crackpot. Others think I’m making money. But it’s coming from my salary."
The credit for setting up the dog-feeding sites goes to Ghosh and other activists. Harassed by some for taking care of stray animals, they had filed a petition in 2009 in the Delhi high court. Over the next two years, the court gave them more than they had expected. Not only did it order police protection for volunteers feeding the dogs, it also directed the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) to select dog-feeding sites in various neighbourhoods and decide on timings, along with the resident welfare associations (RWAs) and the local police. The court disposed of the case in December.
Explaining why this initiative is confined to Delhi, Sharma says: “Some RWAs in the city have become overbearing. It’s because of the wrong belief that giving food would make the dogs violent, RWAs don’t let residents feed the animals. Occasionally, things get nasty, even violent."
This doesn’t mean that dogs cannot be fed if your neighbourhood has no feeding spots. Sharma, who lives in Noida, adjoining Delhi, feeds 17 stray dogs daily. This inspired other residents. With increased interaction, it became easier to catch dogs for sterilization and vaccination. In three years, the dog population in Sharma’s locality has come down from 70 to 40.
Until the early 1990s, a dog was either taken to the New Delhi Municipal Council’s veterinary hospital in Moti Bagh to be electrocuted, or teams from the MCD would poison the stray, taking it away in a refuse bag. The killings stopped after the Delhi high court ordered sterilization instead in 1992. Today, after sterilization and immunization, the stray dogs are released at the same place from where they are picked up. This is more in the spirit of Article 51 A (g) of the Constitution, which makes it a fundamental duty for citizens to show compassion to all creatures.
In 2010, a young couple, Tushar and Pooja Agarwal, drove from London to Delhi and raised ₹ 2 lakh for the animal welfare NGO Friendicoes Society for Eradication of Cruelty to Animals. On their blog Londondelhibyroad.com, they wrote, “We hope to...spread the message that cruelty to animals is not acceptable."
Back in Vasant Kunj, Ghosh sees no dogs at a site at the corner of D-4 block, and blows the car horn. An obese dog appears immediately. “That’s Brownie No. 2," Ghosh says. “He has been fattened by shopkeepers."
The shopkeepers in the area’s market have bonded well with dogs. The tailor, Vijay Kumar, gives Tiger biscuits to dogs. At Priya Drycleaner Walla, they get Parle-G biscuits. The boutique lady keeps milk for Bimbo, her favourite. The cooks at the Frontier Foods takeaway stall throw leftovers to dogs. Some customers order tandoori chicken specifically for them. At the Gulzar Chicken and Mutton shop, Jumbo prefers mutton trimmings.
But stray dogs are still feared. In JNU campus, home to a large number of strays, the cases of dog bites grew so serious last year that a group of blind students took out a protest march in September. The same year, 22 patients at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences were bitten within a single month by stray dogs loitering on the hospital premises. Similarly, outsiders in upscale Nizamuddin East are scared to walk at night. The dogs growl at them. One morning in 2009, 18 dogs were found dead, poisoned deliberately, according to some residents.
“We still have about 100 dogs," says Rohtas, a night guard in Nizamuddin East. Pointing to a dog snuggled on a blanket, he adds: “They bark only at strangers. Food comes to them from four or five bungalows twice a day."
Caring for animals is not only a trait of the privileged. Ramesh, a labourer who sleeps on the Mathura Road pavement, lives with a street dog he calls Kaali. Patting the black dog, he says, “I may go hungry, but I make sure that Kaali gets her roti every night." In the morning, before leaving for work, Ramesh feeds her bread and milk.
Such caring brings out some of our contradictions. In a city that has thousands of malnourished people, we now have feeding sites for dogs. “Each species has a right to shelter, security and food," says Ghosh.
The feeding sites need not be limited to Delhi. Sharma says, “Though the Delhi high court does not say that dog-feeding sites have to be set up in other cities too, its order has persuasive value over the rest of India."
(To report sick or injured stray dogs in and around Delhi, call the Pet Animal Welfare Society at 26136435, or Friendicoes SECA at 24314787.)
HELP STATIONS
Initiatives in other cities that reclaim the dignity of stray dogs
Mumbai
The Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD) organization vaccinates and sterilizes stray dogs across the city, but treats injured strays only in the island city, from Cuffe Parade to Mahim. It arranges for the adoption of stray dogs, and holds awareness campaigns on dog-bite prevention and compassion for stray animals. To report sick or injured dogs, call 64222838.
Bangalore
Founded by an Englishwoman in 1991, Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (Cupa) has a shelter for injured stray dogs at the Veterinary College Campus in Hebbal. To report sick or injured dogs, call 22947300.
Hyderabad
The Blue Cross of Hyderabad sterilizes 600 stray dogs every month and vaccinates them against rabies. To report sick or injured dogs, call 32989858.
Ahmedabad
The Asha Foundation treats injured strays at its shelter in Hathijan. Every month three vets sterilize dogs. To report sick or injured dogs, call 9824037521.
mayank.s@livemint.com
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