The streets of Nagpur are flooded with Stray animals. Be it dogs, cats, cows, bulls or pigs, they can be seen everywhere, away from their natural habitat or their owners, gathering mostly around the areas where there is abundance of food. For a stray animal, food is almost always garbage. Many residents of Nagpur consider these strays a menace, and in some form there are. However, why are they strays in the first place?
One look at a cow or a bull on the street and it is evident that these poor animals once belonged to someone, were domesticated.
Cruel Breeders
Cows are bred for milk, and bulls for reproduction. As the demand for milk is at its all time high, more cows are being bred to increase the milk production exponentially. However, once these cows are old, catch a disease or are no longer capable of producing abundant milk, they become a liability to its owner. Old cows are also not very useful for the beef industry as their meat quality is not as high as that of a young cow. Their maintenance, medicine and food becomes a burden and eventually ‘Mother’ cows are left on the street to die. Seems like human mothers are not the only ones who are abandoned. SImilarly, bulls are required for insemination of cows so that more cows can be bred. However, a mature bull can easily inseminate anywhere between 15-30 cows in the breeding season. Hence, a large bull population is not required. The breeders mostly hope for a newborn to be a cow if they have enough mature bulls and calves. A male calf being born in such a situation is out of luck. He is abandoned on the streets, to survive on his own, without the protection and milk of his mother. Old bulls are also no good for insemination and are eventually left on the road to die.
Stray and Abandoned Dogs
Stray dogs are a different story. Most strays are the Indian Pariah dog, who have adapted themselves to stay on the streets. They survive on whatever they can find to eat and can rapidly increase their population. Abandoned pets also make a part of the stays. People who cannot handle a pet dog leave them on the streets to survive. These dogs may catch various diseases and may also turn rabid, being a threat to humans. Similarly, pigs have adapted to live near dumpyards and polluted water resources for food and increase their population.
Heavy penalties and punishment for abandoning animals and sterilisation drives may help in reducing the number of strays on Nagpur streets. However, their ability to restore their population makes it a struggle to achieve this. Maybe the best way is to relocate them in their natural habitat around Nagpur so that human/animal conflict is reduced and natural balance is restored. Till then Nagpurians will have to adapt to live with the strays, as they have adapted to live on the streets.
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