A dog-eat-dog world at Delhi's rescue centres

Hindustan Times

4 days ago

New Delhi Rescued dogs at an ABC centre. (HT Photo)
Minimal space, limited resources and pending payments from government agencies are plaguing Animal Birth Control (ABC) centres and veterinary hospitals, HT found during spot checks on Tuesday, as the state government and civic bodies race against time to comply with a Supreme Court order mandating relocation of dogs from streets to shelters within eight weeks.
A common theme of doctors and non-governmental organisation (NGO) workers, in HT's spot check at 7 of 20 ABC centres, was of outrage at a reportedly insurmountable task.
One of the centres HT visited was near the Red Fort, where the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has allocated space next to a mortuary to Yash Domestic Research Centre, an NGO centre running since 2019. The NGO has set up 20 kennels, an open kitchen, an isolation box, an operation theatre and an open area.
Dr Sanjeev (goes by single name), who looks after the centre, told HT: 'I understand the order but the court must have taken the decision after some thinking. At present, we don't have the infrastructure to house more than 125 dogs here. Dogs can only be kept for three to five days, because we have to accept new ones. There are injured dogs, dogs who are unwell, old dogs and dogs who need to be sterilised. In a month, we do more than 750 sterilisations and we only have two doctors. We can neither do more surgeries nor can we house more dogs. The kennels are small and only made for pre-surgery fasting, check-ups and post-operative care.'
Sanjeev also complained that the MCD has not paid them since March. 'Imagine doing 700-800 sterilisations every month by using our personal funds, also paying for surgeries, medicines, staff salaries, dog food, dog temporary shelter, etc. We have 106 dogs at present. If we get more dogs, we will have to stop sterilisations. We only have two vans and are already struggling as MCD asked us to catch dogs near Red Fort and shelter them till Independence Day. For the past two days, no surgery has taken place,' he said.
In North Delhi's Timarpur area, an NGO named Neighbourhood Woof operates an ABC centre with a capacity of 90 dogs. At present, the centre has 85 dogs.
'Most of our dogs come from caregivers who want the dogs to be sed or treated and returned to their locality. This operation only works if dogs are admitted and released every week. How are we supposed to shelter these dogs (permanently)?' said Ayesha Christina Benn, who runs the place.
During the visit, her associate received a call from an MCD official, directing the centre not to release any dog 'under any condition'.
A senior MCD officer said, 'We had already decided to use ABC centres as shelters for sometime and they have been asked to not release any dog. Besides that, we are working on overcrowding and other issues. Plans are being made to work on new shelters. We know there's limited resources, especially land. We are working on this. For now, we are following Supreme Court orders and trying to ensure that dogs are picked up, sterilised and rehabilitated. This will take time.'
When asked about payment dues, the officer said the department will check them. 'Sometimes, funds are not released when the applicants do not meet certain criteria...,' the officer said.
Benn, breaking down, said: 'How will we manage all of this? With no infrastructure or help from officials, how will we turn this place into a shelter? This is only a sterilisation centre...This Supreme Court decision is inhumane…rather than pushing for mass sterilisation, we are being made to cage dogs and make them suffer for the rest of their lives.'
Veterinary doctor Hargun Singh told HT: 'Caging dogs is like putting them in a concentration camp and giving them a death sentence. Dogs are very sensitive. They can't survive in a different environment. They like to stay at the same place they have lived for years. Also, what will thousands of dogs do in such a place? Will they be treated, sterilised, segregated? I am sure they will all slowly die.'
'We have caregivers who want their dogs back. What do I tell them? If we keep taking dogs in, we will have to turn this into a shelter, with no sterilisation... means increased risk of testicular and mammary tumours, infections, aggressiveness in dogs and lesser life span. It looks like the government wants to kill them,' Singh said.
Friendicoes, an animal welfare NGO, runs three ABC units in Delhi.
Geeta Seshamani, the vice-president of the NGO, called the move 'near impossible to execute'.
'The specific issue needing resolution was aggressive biting dogs and a rational humane protocol for it was already available in the ABC Rules. This order instead sweepingly incarcerates all dogs, most of whom are docile sterilised and vaccinated…Now with no shelters to speak of, the impracticality of huge budgets...it's more likely the dogs will be left at NCR borders. Imagine the fear and trauma and the slow starvation disease and neglect for thousands of street dogs,' she said.
'We have been operating without reimbursement at all centres for the last six months…,' she added. At their Defence Colony centre, around 500-550 dogs are sterilised every month.
At Lajpat Nagar, Animal India Trust officials said they can accommodate up to 80 dogs.
Sarungbam Yaiphabi Devi, veterinary surgeon at the Animal India Trust, said, 'I am shocked at the decision. First, there is no clarity on who will provide the financial help to us. Secondly, no one knows how many dogs there are exactly. We can barely keep a dog for five-seven days after sterilisation. If all dogs are removed from the city, there will be a severe increase in rats, besides other impacts.'
There are two ABC centres in Masoodpur, near Vasant Kunj, within a kilometre of each other. One of them is a clinic and shop run by the Pet Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), a non-governmental, non-profit organisation. It doubles as an ABC treatment centre for the MCD. This centre foots the bill for providing dog food and also pays for sterilisations when the MCD is lagging.
'The SC's ruling is not good. No shelter will take in such a large number of dogs, as it increases the risk of infections,' said Amrita Arora, who oversees the clinic.
She said that it costs them ₹20,000 per month to shelter a dog, including feeding and medical treatment. At any given time, the shelter houses around 10-15 dogs.
The other ABC centre in Masoodpur is a veterinary hospital run entirely by the MCD.
HT also visited the Krishna Ashram dog shelter, in Satbari, near Chhattarpur. Its partnership with the MCD is different from the other centres, as staff working here catch dogs and bring them in for sterilisation, instead of MCD workers doing so. 'Every dog in the locality is supposed to be sterilised. We mark them on the ear so that we know that they've been sterilised,' a worker at the centre said.
The doctor at the centre expressed concern over the SC's order. 'If the dogs they pick up are just dropped in another locality, due to the lack of shelters, those dogs are at risk of dying, as they will be attacked by dogs of that locality. They would also not know where to find food,' the doctor said.