ABC Of Care: Centres Bear The Bite Alone

Time of India

10 hours ago

New Delhi: The conversation around street dog sterilisation in Delhi has grown louder in recent weeks. Civic meetings and demands of residents' welfare associations and animal welfare groups alike have pushed the system into the spotlight.
With dog bite incidents making frequent headlines, the call now isn't just for more sterilisations but for a system that tracks better, is better funded and is better prepared to deal with the problem.
Delhi has 20 authorised animal birth control (ABC) centres, each handling 250-500 sterilisations per month. In six months this year, over 65,000 dogs were sterilised and vaccinated. Meanwhile, 49 rabies cases have been reported so far this year, while media reports indicate that three major govt hospitals recorded 91,009 dog bite cases till July — a sharp rise from 63,361 cases in 2021.
As anxiety rises, so do ideas like microchipping, compulsory blood tests and stricter tracking of the canine population. But what are the real challenges for ABC centres? TOI went behind the scenes in the city's functional centres to see what happens beyond the statistics. On paper, the programme ticks the boxes. But on the ground, hidden cracks become apparent.
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Tucked in a busy market in Vasant Vihar, a board marks the Pet Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) sterilisation centre.
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The setup is basic: a stretcher on the side, tin-roofed kennels for recovery and a lean team going about its work. "We manage 200-250 sterilisations a month," said Dr RT Sharma, the veterinarian in charge. "But funding is a constant challenge."
Each NGO is expected to manage the full cycle of the sterilisation process — catching the dogs, surgery, post-op care and release — within the stipulated Rs 1,000 per dog. But salaries, transport, medicines and surgical supplies push the real cost far beyond that.
"We bear the rest of the cost. We follow all surgical protocols — overnight fasting, pre-op checks, three-day post-operative care," said Sharma, adding, "Coordination is weak.
Pickups happen via municipal workers, RWAs or a van doing the rounds. There's no centralised system. If RWAs were better integrated, it would make a big difference."
It's the same for other centres too. Friendicoes in Bijwasan performs 450–500 sterilisations a month.
Animal welfare activist Geeta Seshamani, vice-president of Friendicoes SECA, said, "We have enough space for bigger infrastructure and we have tried our best by adding cages. But the demanding infrastructure facilities often takes time and hinders growth and expansion." Listing three major concerns, she said, "Repairs and maintenance are incredibly expensive, and we've always had to raise public funds to keep the centres hygienic and safe for the dogs.
" Seshamani also demanded that ABC centres should not be made to pay commercial rates for electricity and water. "And the Rs 1,000 paid per surgery hasn't been revised in years. With rising costs of medicines, surgical supplies, food, and cleaning agents, it should be at least Rs 1,450."
Infrastructure aside, she highlighted a critical flaw in planning. "There's no emphasis on buffer zones or Delhi-NCR demarcations.
Dogs don't recognise municipal boundaries, and if we don't sterilise across the borders, the programme will always seem ineffective."
Meanwhile, at Animal India Trust, which is currently shifting dogs to another facility due to renovations at its Lajpat Nagar centre, Dr Sarungbam Yaiphabi Devi said their work area spans Nizamuddin, Sarai Kale Khan, South Extension and Kotla. "MCD recognised us 22 years ago, but funding is a big hurdle.
Most development and operational costs are covered by private sources." The absence of a structured, area-based sterilisation plan is another drawback.
One thing Devi highlighted was how success is still measured by one metric: the number of surgeries, not how many dogs recover or whether populations are stabilising locality-wise.
In June, TOI reported that the last dog census in Delhi was undertaken nine years ago by the erstwhile South Delhi Municipal Corporation.
That year, the survey estimated 1,89,285 stray dogs in south Delhi areas, with 40.3% males and 27.8% females reported as sterilised. "There's no proper dog census in the city. Planning is guesswork. We don't even know how many dogs live in various areas," said Devi.
If not for these challenges, experts say the ABC programme is key to making Delhi rabies-free. While public anger peaks after dog bite incidents, animal aggression isn't always random.
Sterilisation lowers testosterone, reduces mating-driven fights and stabilises packs, curbing triggers like territorial behaviour, fear and protective aggression, especially among alpha males and nursing females.
As the city pushes for improvement, microchipping of dogs and compulsory blood tests, those on the frontlines say what's needed clearly are updated data on population, stronger infrastructure, realistic reimbursements to dog care centres and better coordination among civic bodies, RWAs and NGOs. Without that, the programme will keep functioning — but never truly catch up.