EDITORIAL
Stray dog management needs sustained investment and scientific intervention
Instead of sending confusing signals to animal welfare organisations and the animal-lover community by announcing fancy schemes to control the stray dog population on beaches, the state government must focus its attention on increasing dog sterilisation. A recent announcement of an adoption scheme for beach dogs, with a seven-day deadline, was a non-starter. The Tourism Department is undoubtedly worried about the safety of tourists on beaches, but is it competent to handle the beach dog issue?
Before pressing the panic button based on unverified figures of dog bites floating on public platforms, where rivalry between tourism destinations could also be at play, the Department should try to obtain authentic figures from credible sources. Animal welfare organisations have repeatedly questioned the claims, stating that only 372 verified bite cases occurred between 2022 and 2025. Their research pointed out that hospital records of 37,360 bites conflate pet scratches and repeated (multiple) rabies vaccine doses as separate bite incidents. These figures are based on a tally of the daily registers of government and other hospitals for doses administered for all animal bites.
The state government must accept that the handling of stray dogs is best left to the Department of Animal Husbandry (DAH) as the nodal authority. The DAH should handle the issue in coordination with, and with support from, stakeholder departments such as Tourism, Panchayats and Municipal Administration. The humane, scientific solution to the issue of street and beach dogs lies in focusing on sterilisation and vaccination, by bringing on board the NGOs that do this work. The intermittent announcements of sheltering the dogs only earns the government flack. Firstly, as per the Supreme Court order, dogs can be sheltered only in designated or authorised dog shelters, and as of date Goa has none. Secondly, as for initiating this whole process, starting with sterilisation and vaccination as a pre-condition for sheltering, the government does not have sufficient infrastructure or human resources. Nor has the state ever allocated sufficient budget for such a sustainable programme.
This leaves the state with only one best option: getting animal welfare NGOs on board, as they are presently doing this task on their own, often struggling for funds. The DAH has to work out a simplified process of funding sterilisation. NGOs in animal welfare have gone hoarse pleading with the government to scale up and overhaul its stray dog sterilisation support, warning that current efforts fall far short of the state›s needs. Animal welfare groups point out severe delays in government funding. They say the state grant-in-aid scheme has several financial and operational flaws, and that the government’s idea of NGOs signing MoUs with individual panchayats is most impractical. Another major point they raise is insufficient funding. They say the amount should be at least Rs 3,500 per sterilised dog to match actual operational costs.
The government should also speed up its processes for supporting sterilisation infrastructure: land and other facilities to set up animal hospitals for the treatment and sterilisation of stray dogs, and land for burying dead animals or a centralised incineration facility, alongside partnerships with organisations like Mission Rabies for vaccinations. The issue needs urgency. The High Court of Bombay at Goa recently ordered strict disciplinary action and warned of contempt proceedings against Goa›s civic officials for failing to submit crucial data and compliance reports on stray dogs, pet dogs and stray cattle. The government must step up dog sterilisation, or else the stray dog population will continue to increase.
