Kashmir's Dog Problem Is Now A Parenting Crisis

By A Concerned Parent

Every night in Koolipora Khanyar, I lie in bed listening. Not to stillness, but to the snarling and barking of stray dogs. Sometimes they fight. Sometimes they just howl for hours. Either way, no one sleeps.

It's worse in the mornings. When I send my daughter to school, I don't just hand her a lunchbox, I hand her a stick.

I walk with her the short distance because I can't risk letting her go alone. That's our reality now: we live in fear, and we move through our own neighbourhood like trespassers.

The numbers say it all. Between April 2023 and March 2024, SMHS Hospital in Srinagar recorded 8,652 dog bite cases-the highest in a decade.

Over six years, there have been more than 30,000 cases. These aren't just statistics. They're people. Some are neighbours. Some are children. Some are us.

In Koolipora, it feels like we've lost control. Packs of stray dogs roam the streets day and night. Last week, our neighbour Abdul Rashid was returning from evening prayers when dogs surrounded him. He was bitten on the leg and had to yell for help before people came running with sticks.

Delivery workers are avoiding our area. Umar Dar, who delivers food on his bike, was attacked last Tuesday while trying to complete a late order. He escaped without a bite, but his bike was damaged.“Now I avoid night deliveries here,” he told me.“It's not worth the risk.”

We have four schools nearby, but parents are scared to let children walk even a few metres on their own.“I walk both my kids to school,” said Mrs Gowhar, another mother.“I carry a stick. Is this normal? Is this the way we're supposed to live?”

It doesn't stop with the children. Elderly residents are suffering too. Ghulam Nabi, a 72-year-old recovering from pneumonia, hasn't slept through the night in weeks.“The howling is constant,” he told me.“It feels like the dogs are everywhere.”

We all know how this happened. The city generates around 450 metric tonnes of waste every day, much of it dumped in the open. It's food for the dogs. And sterilisation efforts aren't keeping up. Only around 20% of strays are sterilised each year. That's nowhere near enough to stop the numbers from growing.

What hurts most is the silence. We've reported aggressive dogs, begged for help, but often no one shows up. We're left to defend ourselves with sticks, stones, fear and sleepless nights.

I'm not calling for harm. I don't want these animals killed. I want our neighbourhood back.

There are solutions. Increase sterilisation targets. Set up shelters where stray dogs can be relocated and cared for. Fix the waste problem. Get rid of the open dumps and enforce better garbage collection. Set up local response teams who can come when we call. And talk to people. Teach safe practices for feeding and coexisting with strays.

We're not asking for much. We just want to walk our streets without fear. Let our children play. Let the elderly rest. Let life return to normal.

We've waited long enough. It's time for someone to listen.

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