Over 5.5 lakh stray dogs in the Capital have rendered Delhiites a vulnerable lot. Nearly 20,000 cases of dog bites are reported every year in the municipality-run hospitals even as more than 30,000 dogs are sterilised every year by the three municipal corporations.
Canine aggression rises as funding bitten. The maximum cases of dog bites were reported in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) where 8,987 patients reported of rabies during the last one year. This was followed by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) where 6,050 cases of rabies were reported while in South Delhi Corporation (SDMC), 2,776 cases of dog bites were reported. However, the situation was worse in EDMC areas where 28 people have died of rabies from 2012 till June this year. In EDMC, 13 people had died in 2012 while 12 people died in 2013. Three deaths due to rabies have been reported so far this year within its jurisdiction. Officials said an average 1,500 cases of rabies are reported in the city everyday. However, they said there is little the civic bodies can do to curb the menace as a Supreme Court ruling prohibits them from removing stray dogs from a particular area. Instead, they can only catch the dogs and leave them at the same place after neutering them. In 2012-13, the SDMC had sterilised 13,393 stray dogs while the North and East Delhi Corporations sterilised 5,019 and 5,927 dogs respectively during the same period. In 2013-14, the SDMC has sterilised 15,307 dogs so far while the numbers in North and East Delhi Corporations stand at 10,474 and 11,202 respectively. Six NGOs have been roped in for sterilisation of stray dogs in three municipal corporations in the Capital.