From fear to love: How my daughter’s encounter with stray dogs taught me compassion

A few months back, when I was scanning the newspaper, a gory news article caught my attention. It was about a businessman, who was a top executive at a reputable company, who succumbed to severe injuries due to street dogs attack just outside his residence. Reading this article took my thoughts years back when my daughter had an experience with the canines which she narrated to me with such enthusiasm and empathy.
She was waiting for the school bus and decided to sit on the neighborhood shop steps since the bus was running late on that particular day. Suddenly, it seems, a group of stray dogs approached her with an angry glare on their faces. Her inner instinct warned her to quit the place to safety. Carefully not looking into their eyes and trying to keep her cool, she slowly walked away from them and breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the safety of our apartment complex. It seems that the dogs had followed her, and one wrong move would have had her severely injured. As a step to mark their territory, one of the dogs peed against the electric pole, which was just outside the apartment gate, and seemed to warn her to never tread inside their area. Being an animal lover, my daughter had researched beforehand, the ways to tackle ferocious dogs on the streets. I came to know from her that looking into their eyes or trying to run away would instigate them to the core and make them try to attack. This short encounter of my daughter with the canines sent a cold shudder through my spine, though I could clearly see the love she had for dogs as she narrated the incident.

Now let me put down some statistics. India alone has 80 million homeless dogs and cats, according to the index released by Mars Petcare India in partnership with an advisory board of leading animal welfare experts. It should be noted that this number is way too high compared to countries like the US and China. The lack of neutering programs in India and the extreme abandonment for the basic needs of these dogs may be the few reasons for their expanding numbers and ferocious behavior. We have seen many highly bred dogs being adopted and cared for by pet lovers. But won’t it be great if proper care and shelter are given to these dogs on the streets by legally adopting them?
As Mahatma Gandhi rightly quoted, The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Stray dogs are , of course, turning into a huge menace but when handled with care and empathy can’t their threat be minimized? Point to ponder!
Authored by: Sripriya Satish
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