Bengaluru: At a designated feeding spot near the Bengaluru municipal corporation head office, animal welfare activist Sadhana Hegde sheltered a black puppy under her cardigan to protect it from the heavy rain. Together, they watched civic officials in the Central Business District perform a puja for a pack of dogs on 17 October. This event marked Bengaluru’s first ‘Festival of Dogs’—a government initiative to tackle the rising cases of dog bites.
The civic body took a leaf out of Nepal’s Kukur Tihar festival, where dogs are celebrated and worshipped. Similar pujas were conducted at eight locations across Bengaluru, from Yelahanka to Kanakapura. Over 200 volunteers, animal lovers, and activists, along with pourakarmikas (sanitation workers) and civic officials, attended the launch of a community feeding programme for stray dogs. They have partnered with hotels and residents’ welfare associations to spread awareness about how society and dogs can coexist peacefully.
Between April and September, Bengaluru recorded 13,748 dog bite cases. The death of a 76-year-old woman, attacked by a pack of stray dogs near Jalahalli in August, triggered a wave of misinformation, leading many to label all stray dogs as ‘violent’ and call for their relocation, while also being aggressive toward dog feeders.
“More often than not, dogs are looked at negatively. The focus is on dog bites and fear of attacks. But they are loyal, obedient, protective, and [make] beautiful companions for humans,” said Suralkar Vikas Kishor, special commissioner of health, BBMP, who inaugurated the initiative.
Volunteers faced harassment
The festival is part of a long-term initiative called Bite Free Locality,’ in which BBMP has collaborated with the Sahavarthin Animal Welfare Trust and other NGOs. The aim is to build a network of volunteers and animal lovers to act as mediators in dog-human interactions.
Caring for community dogs has become a bone of contention between those who feed them and RWAs. Gated communities and residential complexes are increasingly averse to allowing stray animals, and cases of volunteers facing harassment and receiving hate messages on WhatsApp are par for the course.
Hegde recalled facing verbal abuse and threats in July last year for caring for dogs in her neighbourhood.
“A couple threw stones at the stray dog I had adopted. They harassed me and threatened rape and murder just because I was feeding the street dogs,” she said.
Drawing from her experiences as a dog feeder, Hegde, who founded the Sahavarthin Animal Welfare Trust, approached BBMP to organise community feeding initiatives.
As part of the initiative, a one-month pilot project will be launched in four wards, where extra food will be collected from participating restaurants and hotels for dogs in the area. There will be eight feeding locations, along with scheduled feeding times. If successful, the programme will be scaled up citywide.
“We wanted to explain to citizens in innovative ways about the importance of ecological balance between humans and animals. Fear is attached to the unknown, but once they start interacting with dogs, there is a chance to develop a positive mindset about the animal, which will also enable their survival,” Hegde explained.
Civic officials ‘investigating’ the rise in dog-human conflicts concluded that food scarcity is one of the major reasons behind the rise in aggression. This assessment was made in consultation with animal welfare volunteers, veterinarians, and experts, said commissioner Kishor.
Thus, the idea for the community feeding initiative was born.
Chicken-rice and cheers
At the BBMP head office, where one feeding zone was identified, over 15 volunteers and caretakers led joyfulcelebrations for the animals.
“I have witnessed people being violent towards street dogs despite any provocation. If the dog bites back, it’s blamed for the incident. We are trying to change this [narrative] by encouraging positive behaviours like community feeding,” said Pramila Vincent, a registered feeder for the initiative.
There are over 2.7 lakh strays in Bengaluru, and the hope is that once, as the initiative scales up, it will also address the growing conflict between animal lovers and residents in complexes and gated communities.
At the BBMP headquarters, the pack of dogs being felicitated initially ran away, whining at the journalists and their cameras. But they were soon tempted by the smell of chicken and rice laid out in bowls for them. The little black puppy was the newest addition to the pack.
“This one is a star,” said Chandana, a pourakarmika, referring to a brown stray dog she calls Brownie. As Brownie enjoyed the first morsels of chicken and rice, cheers erupted from the crowd, encouraging the other dogs to follow his cue.
(Edited by Prashant)