Availability of predictable food through garbage and intentional feeding linked to India’s street-dog population: Study

A recent study conducted by Nishant Kumar, a researcher at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, has shed new light on the Indian street-dog population. The study, titled 'The Indian street dog crisis and multi-species coexistence in tropical urban futures', published in Nature Cities, suggests that the availability of abundant and predictable food through garbage and intentional feeding is a significant driver behind the population growth of these dogs in urban ecosystems.

Kumar argues that while India's street-dog crisis is often framed as a problem of population control, the real issue lies in how cities provide free-ranging dogs with these food subsidies, which in turn influence their behavior, movement, reproduction, and territorial defense. The study emphasizes the need for a more holistic approach to managing the dog population, involving collaboration between public health, veterinary services, waste management, urban planning, and conservation agencies, and calls for the implementation of long-term data collection on dog populations, movement, reproduction, mortality, and behavior.

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