Stop the stray use of ‘extremely dangerous’

The word ‘stray’ conjures up all kind of images ranging from qualities considered to be ‘wild’ – itself with its connotations of danger – to anyone or anything not in the right place, having separated, strayed, from its group. In India, when applied to dogs and cats, what ‘stray’ really amounts to is being free, being no one’s pet.

This is an important distinguisher, especially with the Supreme Court hearing a petition tomorrow filed by the Kannur district panchayat in Kerala seeking permission to euthanise ‘extremely dangerous stray dogs‘ in a humane manner. This comes on the back of numbers trotted out by the petitioner of incidents of ‘stray’ dogs attacking humans, especially children, over the last five years, the latest being an 11-year-old ‘mauled to death’ by a pack of ‘stray dogs’ on June 11.

‘Extremely dangerous’ is a loaded term. No one speaks of ‘extremely dangerous cars’ when dealing with road accidents. Unlike in the West, dogs (and cats) are ‘urbane’, in the sense of being comfortable in their surroundings whether on a pavement or in front of a society building gate. Cases of inter-species violence should be dealt with individually for purely practical reasons. The tag of ‘extremely dangerous stray dogs’ helps no one, not even human victims of attacks, except ‘watchdogs’ wanting to sink their teeth in a ‘worthwhile’ campaign.