Stray Dog Bite: Another Plea In Telangana High Court Seeks Proper Implementation Of Animal Birth Control Rules

A writ petition was filed in the Telangana High Court yesterday, praying proper implementation of the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2001 and compensation to families of two children who had recently been bitten by stray dogs.

The counsel on record although pressing for compensation, pleaded through her petition, for the implementation of the Animal Rules, which include not only sterilisation but also vaccination, to stop the occurrences of such mishaps in the future.

It was brought to the notice of the Court that citizens who have succumbed of dog bites, are not fatally injured by the dog bite itself, but from contracting rabies. One of the families who sought compensation in the present writ lost their child to rabies, after he was bitten by a street dog.

Advocate P. Sree Ramya cited the example of the Nilgiris District in Tamil Nadu, where no reported cases of human rabies have been witnessed in the past 14 years. Goa recently declared itself a “Rabies Controlled Area”. This, she stated, was due to the proper implementation of the Rules.

It was also emphasised, that the rules need to be implemented from the gram panchayat level, where there is less awareness surrounding the disease.

Justice T. Vinod Kumar, who heard the petition noted that a PIL seeking similar relief had already been filed in 2023 and directed that the present writ be posted along with it.

Interestingly, the counsel on record has also filed another writ praying that nodal officers be appointed for the Animal Welfare Board not below the rank of an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) for effectively dealing with the issues pertaining to animal cruelty is being reported under the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

Case no. WP11611 of 2024, WP 9261 of 2024

Counsel for petitioner: P. Sree Ramya