An elderly woman who cares for 200 stray dogs is terrifying her neighbors in India.

Pratima Devi’s work is scorned in her community; old woman, also known as “dog ladyfeeds about 200 homeless animals in south New Delhi, an act that has pitted authorities and animal rights activists amid growing fatal attacks.

The market in the Saket district in the south of the capital is now a disputed territory inhabited and dogs they try to control the space, drivers dodge animals on the road, and pedestrians avoid places where dogs already make up the majority.

This scene is repeated in many Indiathe country with the most abandoned dogs in the world, at about 62 million, according to the Homeless Pet Index (PHI) produced in 2021 by North American multinational Mars Pet Care.

Death of two brothers, aged 5 and 7, last March, seriously injured in the face, chest and legs stray dogstwo different attacks in the south of the Indian capital have caused even more fear in the communities.

These were not the first deaths in the months before a seven-month-old boy was found with his intestines destroyed after yet another attack, highlighting these orphan animals fighting for food and territory in an Asian country.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are more than 17.4 million attacks in India every year, of which only 5,500 are reported to the authorities. Add to that between 18,000 and 20,000 rabies deaths, 96% of them from being bitten. street dog.

Faced with uncontrolled reproduction and legislation against slaughtering animals even if they pose a health risk, outdoor dog feeding has become a point of contention between courts, local governments and animal advocates.

While some animalists advocate animal welfare, researchers and experts argue that reckless and mass feeding concentrates dogs in one place and leads to the formation of groups and, as a result, to the search for dominance in the territory.

Neighbors protest over dogs

Pratima Devi looks after over 200 animals, some of them on metal leashes in her little shelter a few meters from the market, though most roam free, which has earned her the contempt of part of her community.

“I work in the afternoon, and at this time it is difficult to get around here. Several times I was chased and attacked by packs dogs. I managed to avoid being bitten, but I’m not sure for how long,” Abhishek Sharma, a Saket resident, told EFE.

With an 80-year-old woman installed in the same spot as the food vendor, the animals that own the space “bark at night and keep us from sleeping peacefully. There is nothing I can do to get them out of here and guarantee my safety and the safety of others,” he added.

Praveen Kumar, an employee of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (MDC), who works in a building next to the shelter, assured EFE that the dogs have “caused numerous accidents and bit many people who visit the market.”

However, Devi’s work is recognized by many other people who donate money to a donation box the elderly woman has set up outside her shelter, as well as animal organizations that help feed the animals. dogs, who are not vaccinated but neutered, Kumar explained.

Despite the fact that the neighbors made numerous efforts to get her out of the area, the last of them was in January last year, when the MDC demolished the house where the old woman lived. dogsher followers managed to get permission for her to stay in the neighborhood, accompanied by her 200 dogs.

Due to the increase in reports of poisoning and beatings of stray dogs in various cities, especially where the latest deaths have occurred,dog lady“He became a guardian of danger. (EFE)