Spike in Dog Bites and Rabies Deaths in South India Linked to Vet Shortage, Lack of Birth Control Centres

Quick Summary:

• Dog bite and rabies-related deaths are increasing across southern India despite sterilisation programs.
• 2024 Statistics:

– Nationally: 37 lakh dog bite cases and 54 suspected rabies deaths.
– Tamil Nadu: 1.24 lakh dog bites in the first three months of 2025; rabies fatalities rose to 43 in 2024 (from 18 in 2023).
– Karnataka: In Bengaluru Urban,over 8,878 dog bites reported between January-June,though city areas showed a reduction in rabies deaths.

• Hyderabad reports daily incidents of over 100 dog bites, with cases doubling from ~10,000 (2022) to ~21,000 (2024).
• Kerala saw rabies-linked deaths increase steadily: 25 in 2023, 26 (2024), and already 16 by mid-May of this year.
• Common hurdles include inadequate sterilisation rates (~<15% est.), bureaucracy delaying city-wide Animal Birth Control projects plus Vets/Skilled-center-trainers gap only scaling considerably.

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