Since assuming office 4 years ago, the Plots RWA has been taking many measures to mitigate the dog-human conflict. The first one was to pick up the sterilization and vaccination bills, which were being footed by a few residents till then. As a result of the move, every dog in the colony got sterilized and the population stopped growing further. It has been declining steadily as many of the dogs died of old age. Many other oldies are nearing the end slowly. The few puppies that were born earlier were put up for adoption on social media and got adopted. RWA members and dog feeders also adopted many. A few other steps, such as sealing the porous boundary with a wall, installing security checkpoints, stopping a daily Bhandara on Park Drive for 500 labourers etc discouraged the entry of wandering dogs. Given the shrinking living space of the resident street dogs which led to territory battles with humans, few alpha males were sent for temporary stay at a paid shelter. A meeting was called post the recent alleged attack on house helps. Some of us personally reached out to residents owning farms and requested them to adopt our streets. Two have already been sent to a farmhouse owned by Mr.MV Rao of OS-5. Two more are all set to be rehomed at the farmhouse of PD-25 residents Mr Krishan Murari & Mohini. The number of strays was around 125 when we took charge. It has reduced to 92 now due to RWA’s constant efforts that are humane and within legal parameters. We urge the residents to step forward and come up with more solutions they can think of, to prevent any further conflict, else, as the saying goes, we simply let the sleeping dogs lie.
