World Elephant Day: Stunning images capturing elephants in the wild
Published Aug 12, 2025 Hindustan Times
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Hindustan Times
3 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Barking up the wrong tree
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi is considering issuing an advisory to prevent the feeding of pigeons in public places, which includes our balconies and terraces. The MCD wants to ward off diseases associated with pigeon droppings. Children playing with street dogs in New Delhi. (Arun Sharma/Hindustan Times) In the concrete jungle that I live in, pigeons are the only birds I ever spot and feeding them is in my DNA. My interest in pigeons increased manifold when I read Twilight in Delhi (1940) by Ahmed Ali. In the book, the patriarch, Mir Nihal, loves pigeons and is an ace trainer with a family history of flying them at official functions such as the Delhi Durbar of 1903. The summer of 1911 has been exceptionally cruel, and many of Mir Nihal's pigeons have died. He visits the pigeon market held near the Jama Masjid every Friday to buy more 'Golays' and not 'Kabulis'. The Golays are a novelty in the Delhi market and are being eyed by wannabe flyers. Almost feral, these pigeons fly low over roofs in a straight line and are difficult to train. The Kabulis, however, fly just above their own homes, and, when tired, return. Downward dog (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO) These days I wonder if Golays were like the stray dogs that people don't want to take home, and the Kabulis like the pedigreed status symbols they pay a fortune to procure, never mind that they are inbred and the products of illegal and inhumane breeding operations. Even as I was pondering over the fate of pigeons and how soon before I would be asked to not put out water or food for them, the Supreme Court delivered a shocker. The stray dogs across Delhi-NCR were to be rounded up and sent to pounds. This is to do with Indian breed dogs, also called Indies or desis or free ranging dogs, who do not find homes because 'dog lovers' prefer to decorate their homes with non-native pedigrees. There was a time when our Indies were prized possessions and exported across the world. S Theodore Baskaran in The Book of Indian Dogs quotes Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) in this context: '…India is home to a number of indigenous breeds of dogs. Sadly, some of them have already disappeared, due to indifference. This is unfortunate, especially given that in ancient times they were much prized around the world… Historians have recorded that they were exported to Rome and to Egypt. Old travel accounts tell us that dogs from India were sent to Babylon… When Alexander the Great invaded India and overpowered the local rulers… he was gifted 150 dogs. Another story that has come down from the period says that to demonstrate the pluck of these dogs, two of them were set upon a lion. Even as one of the dogs suffered a badly injured leg, it held onto the lion. Alexander is said to have watched the display of tenacity with awe.' Baskaran goes on to add that although Indian dogs were in demand abroad, at home, except for kings and nobles who indulged in hunting, the upper and middle class shunned them. 'In fact, the dog was despised, and the word 'dog' was used as a derogatory term in daily use and in literature,' he writes. A dog sitting pretty within a circle marked for social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO) On August 11, when Supreme Court Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan ruled that every single dog on the streets will have to go to a pound – ignoring all earlier landmark judgements pertaining to reducing human-dog conflict and the reasoning and science behind them – the anti-dog brigade, which unfortunately includes pedigreed dog lovers, rejoiced. For lovers of the noble Indie, it was like witnessing the persecution of beloved friends and family. Though this grand idea to send around 10 lakh dogs to a pound is untenable – the government does not own even a single shelter as of today – the celebrations and pronouncements on social media continue unabated. Where will the government find funds to build these pounds and then feed these dogs, and in such a short period? Where will they find the catchers to nab these lakhs of dogs? There are just a handful of good catchers around and most of the time, when it comes to vaccination or providing medication, feeders usually help catch the dogs. The existing shelters (all private) are bursting at their seams and are poorly kept. It's not rare to have sleepless nights if one happens to visit such a facility. Ironically, the Supreme Court's pronouncement came after taking suo moto notice of a newspaper report which claimed a child had died of rabies, though it later turned out that the cause of the child's death was meningitis. According to The Lancet, there are 5,726 human rabies deaths annually in India. This study, conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), highlights that while rabies deaths have decreased in the past two decades, India still accounts for a significant portion of global rabies fatalities. The research also emphasises the need for a 'one-health approach' to accelerate progress towards the global target of eliminating dog-mediated rabies by 2030, according to The Lancet, which also states that there has been a '75 percent decrease in rabies deaths over the past two decades'. Most dog lovers know the skewed maths behind the anti-rabies shots. Depending on the severity of the bite, a patient gets four to five shots. What are the chances of every anti-rabies shot being registered as a separate dog bite case? What if the patient visits five different facilities for the anti-rabies shots? While dogs are being cornered as they are so conspicuous and disliked by many who are generally averse to animals, nobody seems to care about the other big 'monster killer' – mosquitoes. Not even the MCD. According to the reported deaths due to malaria in 2022 were 83, but the estimated deaths in the same period were 5,511. Malaria in pregnancy is a life-threatening condition with adverse outcomes. India has inadequate surveillance, but some studies show that 10 percent to 30 percent of pregnant women suffer from malaria. In his book The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator (2019), Timothy C Winegard describes how mosquitoes and their diseases have shaped the outcomes of war, the spread of religion, and the development of modern culture. In the introduction, Winegard writes: 'The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has contributed nearly $4 billion to mosquito research since its creation in 2000, releases an annual report that identifies the animals most lethal to humans. The contest is not even close. The heavyweight champion, and our apex predator in perpetuity, is the mosquito. Since 2000, the annual average number of human deaths caused by the mosquito has hovered around 2 million. We come in a distant second at 475,000, followed by snakes (50,000), dogs and sand flies (25,000 each)…' According to WHO, India registers nearly 50,000 snake bite deaths annually. With one sweeping judgement, the Supreme Court justices have taken the long standing human-dog equation back in time. The dog carers, who prided themselves in the landmark judgment of Justice JR Midha – the Delhi High Court judge who ruled that community dogs had a right to food, must be treated with compassion and emphasised the right of citizens to feed stray dogs – are at a loss for words. The fear of dogs has been systematically unleashed over the past couple of years. Parents now repeatedly instruct their kids to run a mile if they spot a dog. And then there are odd cases such as the one reported from Greater Noida, where a woman in morbid fear of dogs fell off a walkway and fractured her spine. The walkway had a low railing - a structural fault of the building – but her fall and her spine fracture was blamed on the dog. The dog's owner was arrested, though the dog did not even touch the woman. Such incidents, and the many fake videos and stories (such as the one the apex court based its decision on) constantly being circulated on social media have widened the gulf between dog lovers and dog haters. It would have been apt if the justices had pulled up the municipal corporation for not carrying out Animal Birth Control (ABC) programmes or vaccination drives with zest or for withholding payments to NGOs, which were hired to carry it out. Or pulled up pet shops that sell birds, cats, rabbits, dogs and what not and keep them unhygienically caged for long periods. They could have pulled up illegal breeders who sell pedigreed animals, even those unsuited for Indian climes such as huskies or large breeds that need exercise and cannot be confined in small apartments. They could have pulled up those who abandon pedigreed animals when they fall sick or when their reproductive organs fail; or those who abuse animals sexually and physically. They could have pulled up dog haters for abusing dog lovers, often physically, and preventing them from feeding dogs. Alas! A dog in the fog (Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times) An interesting study conducted in West Bengal on 110 randomly selected free-ranging dogs (51 males and 59 females) was published in the Applied Animal Behaviour Science Journal (Volume 278, September 2024). The researchers observed that free-ranging dogs needed four interactions over four days to learn, and that they use the learned information to their benefit on subsequent days: 'Individual human recognition is important for species that live in close proximity to humans. Numerous studies on domesticated species and urban-adapted birds have highlighted this ability. One such species which is heavily reliant on humans is the free-ranging dog. Very little knowledge exists on the amount of time taken by free-ranging dogs to learn and remember individual humans.' This is the first study aiming to understand the time taken for individual human recognition in free-ranging dogs, and can serve as the scaffold for future studies to understand the dog-human relationship in open environments, like urban ecosystems, the researchers concluded. 'While some humans are a source of food, shelter and even care for them, others can be threats, as people's reactions towards free-ranging dogs range from extremely positive to extremely negative. It is thus interesting to understand the extent to which free-ranging dogs are capable of recognising individual humans, as this might be impacting their survival in the human-dominated landscape.' Sadly, we now seem set to trade this super easy four-interactions-over-four-days step to dog-less streets, pigeon-less skies and rocket-sized holes in our hearts. Lamat R Hasan is an independent journalist. She lives in New Delhi.
News18
9 hours ago
- News18
Independence Day 2025: 10 Indian Baby Names That Mean Freedom
1/10 Mukti: A popular name for girls, it means liberation or freedom. (File Photo) 3/10 Assem: This baby boy name comes from the Sanskrit word asīma, meaning limitless or boundless. It often used to describe a free spirit. (Image: Pexels) Aditi: In Hindu mythology, Aditi is a goddess associated with freedom and the infinite. The baby girl name means boundless or limitless. (Image: Pexels) Swarupa: This name for baby girls mean independence or true form. (Image: Pexels)
Hindustan Times
14 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Two consignments of trafficked wildlife to be deported
Mumbai: In a rare instance, two wildlife consignments trafficked into Mumbai via flights operated by Indigo airlines will be deported back to their origin country, Bangkok, on Wednesday morning, according to officials familiar with the matter. The animals will be deported as per guidelines issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on July 23 One consignment – comprising three meerkats, three lizards, two iguanas, one skink, one four-eyed turtle and around a hundred spiders and tarantulas – was intercepted on Monday afternoon. The other consignment, comprising two marmosets and 50 Albino red-eared sliders, was intercepted on August 8. The animals were kept under the care of recognised facilities for medical intervention after they were intercepted, said Pawan Sharma, honorary wildlife warden of Thane. 'There are very few cases where animals are deported back as it involves a long process of connecting with the native country and checking if they are willing to take the animals back,' Sharma told Hindustan Times. He confirmed that necessary permissions were in place and the animals would be deported on Wednesday morning. The animals will be deported as per guidelines issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on July 23, which reiterated regulations laid down by Animal Quarantine and Certification Services (AQCS) and the customs department regarding immediate deportation of trafficked animals to their country of origin. Airlines via which animals are brought into the country illegally would be responsible for their deportation, as per regulations. 'We have given the necessary clearances to deport the animals, though it is up to the airlines to decide how they will do it,' said Yogesh Warkad, deputy director of the wildlife crime control bureau.
