Temple of the Dogs

Compared to my last trip, there are a lot more stray dogs running around Chennai. I did a non-scientific poll (i.e., not a random sample, no stratification, etc) and found that 12/15 people considered this to be a big problem and want to get rid of the dogs quickly. Of the 12, 10 were ok with putting the strays down. There is a big debate between these individuals and animal activists on how to best address the problem. Check out this piece for a summary.

I kind of like the strays: they are cute. On our way back home, my aunt, sister and I picked up a new friend, a little white dog who followed us over 2 km back home. He came up to the house gate and waited for us to come back out to play. We gave him some bread and he wagged his tail and went on his way.

After an experience like that its hard to support any policy of killing stray animals. In fact, there might be something to be learned from Bombay, where airport officials were forbidden from shooting dogs on the runway and forced to find more humane solutions.