The love of the people of India towards stray animals is a matter of emotional stories and the whole country is the theater of this love. Imagine- Surrounded by flies, a cow is chewing a plastic bag between mud amid traffic jams. The train going by the road goes ahead raising the slogan ‘Gau Mata Ki Jai’. On the same road, a dozen dogs are scratching garbage. Fighting for the thrown bones of a kind person who will later tweet the #bekind by posting the reel of these dogs.
Nevertheless, in this drama filled with emotions, apathy plays a major role. At the same time, the indifference that leaves stray animals, leaves their number to increase and die. Karuna is always ready to split on social media for these animals.
Hypocrisy
Take the divine mother of India only. According to the 2019 cattle census, there are 5 million stray cows in India. These are not refugees from across the border-95 percent of the cows are of dairy farmers who allow them to roam so that the cost of fodder is reduced and these cows eat urban garbage. And then dairy farmers extract their milk for profit. Meaning there is nothing and profits on profits.
The result is that the stomachs of cows are filled with plastic, the intestines get spoiled and the roads get dung with dung. Solution? Everyone shrinks shoulders, cow is the mother of every Indian, why we will take care of it.
Now talk of dogs. India has the highest number of stray dogs in the world. It is almost equal to a medium -sized European country that rotates on four legs. Mathematics is very clear- 0.042 dogs on every man in 1.4 billion population of India. That is, there is a dog on every 23rd person in India.
These numbers cut more than barking- 37 million dogs are bitten in India every year, 36% of deaths from rabies in the world occur in India; A child dies every four hours. Only in Delhi, up to mid -2025, 35,198 dog bite incidents and 49 deaths have occurred. The love here is fatal- the more we feed, the more their population increases.
Why don’t you take responsibility
India’s animal policy is a circus where outrage becomes headlines and accountability is never seen. Politicians convert Gaubhakti into votes, urban rich people convert dogs rescue work into Instagram content, and municipalities consider animal control as pits repair – which was filled in the last year’s file.
outcome? Both cows and dogs have to suffer, humans pay the price, and the ’emotional story’ of India’s love towards stray animals remains a sad comic.
The Supreme Court’s 2025 plan to take one million dogs of Delhi to another place has caused resentment across India and people are saying that this is a ‘massacre’. Concern towards dogs is justified- dogs cannot be kept in shelters that can turn into death and decay camps. They should get sympathy, care and right to live.
But showing anger without responsibility is like a dog’s dog who is following his own tail, or is like a cow mother who is eating plastic on the roadside- that is, making empty noise on the problem, do not go towards the solution.
Dog population growth
An uncontrolled female dog, which produces two children per year for six years, can have about 33,510 children from her total, provided that 6 puppies per child, their survival rate is 80% and the upcoming generations have children at the same rate from the age of 1 year.
This is not necessary to happen. The elimination of polio was once impossible. But vaccines, polio eradication campaigns and accountability time limit made it possible. Stray management also requires the same ruthless:
Need for policies, not religion
Do you want any solution for stray dogs and cows? Here are a few suggestions-
For cows- Compulsory registration of all cattle; If they were released, fines and seizure. Subsidy cowsheds should be linked to herd -shaped digital tracking. They should be given money through Gau-Chungi which actually goes to the cowsheds and not in the barns of the votes of politicians.
For dogs- Mass sterilization and vaccination campaign, GPS tagging, with community volunteers and strict targets. A District Dog Board should be formed with an annual audit and the officers who were rigged in the data are fined. If there is no tracking, then funding should not be given.
For both: A ‘Indian Stray Animal Authority’ should be created which has the powers to investigate, a certain national roadmap that presents the report every six months. Like clean India, funding should be given by looking at work.
Understand the danger of stray animals as a threat of polio, which we have eradicated from the root. Include veterinarians, NGOs and health workers in this campaign. Run awareness campaigns.
Where will the money come from for stray animals?
Where is the money? Where does the money come from when it comes to taking votes. India spends crores on idols, rallies and spiritual festivals. A small dog per family can be used by using a small dog tax, MP-MLA fund, panchayat fund, corporate social obligation (CSR) and a veterinary team given by the state, sterilization of stray dogs and funding of shelter sites across the country.
Remember that an unseeded female dog becomes more than 60,000 descendants in six years. A penny spent is equivalent to saving 60,000 stray dogs. The delay in this, the loss will increase accordingly.
Jaipur model is an example
Jaipur model is a non-governmental organization launched by Jaipur Municipal Corporation in 1994. This NGO is India’s golden standard for human control over stray dogs. Its teams catch dogs every day, operate them, vaccinate them and leave them.
It costs from 800 to 2,200 rupees per dog and its funding is done with donations from Jaipur Municipal Corporation and people. Due to lack of money and obstruction from people, there are difficulties in running the program, despite this, it has been going on, which has reduced the population of stray dogs and rabies cases.
This model should be expanded, it should be increased at the national level, it should be connected to the digital dashboard. Make the control of stray animals a demonstration criteria for the mayors and district collectors.
India can send rockets to the moon, but cannot make a place for the living dogs with roof. We make a law of purity for cows but cannot save them from slow death of plastic. We put the hashtag of dog love and then the dog bites the child’s death. This is not compassion- this is criminal negligence, which is decorated with flowers, candle processions and social media trends.
True sympathy is not pieces of bread (or plastic) scattered on the road; This is a teeth policy. If this remains the same, India’s love with stray animals will remain the same as it has always been: a love story written by blood, cow dung and hypocrisy.
—- End —-