Saving strays, forgetting victims; Maneka Gandhi’s PFA must compensate human sufferings

JAMMU: Animal welfare in India has long been championed by prominent voices, one of them Maneka Gandhi, whose work in promoting compassion for animals, especially stray dogs, has earned her both admiration and criticism. True, her organisation ‘People for Animals’ (PFA) stands for protecting, sheltering, and defending animals but the harsh reality on India’s streets is revealing an uncomfortable gap between advocacy for strays and accountability for those who suffer.

Every week, we hear of children mauled by packs of stray dogs, elderly attacked while taking morning walks, or daily wage earners bitten while simply going about their work. These victims, often from the poorest segments of society, not only suffer grievous physical injuries but also face crippling medical bills, psychological trauma, and, in tragic cases, loss of life. Their plight rarely gets the same sustained attention from animal rights activists as the animals themselves do.
It is here that the moral and civic responsibility of leaders like Maneka Gandhi becomes inescapable. If PFA, which vocally advocates for saving and sheltering stray dogs, wields the influence to prevent mass culling or relocation, it should also share the burden when they cause harm. Humane advocacy cannot be one-sided; it must include a plan for protecting both the animal and the human.
Stray dogs do deserve compassion but the compassion for them should also match compassion to humans who become victims. In many municipalities, mass sterilisation drives are slow or ineffective in controlling numbers. Dog populations grow, sometimes forming aggressive packs in urban and semi-urban areas. And, when civic bodies move to control stray populations more aggressively, animal rights groups often challenge these steps legally and politically. In effect, these interventions l by people like Maneka Gandhi shape the policy environment in which stray populations thrive unchecked. If she claims ownership of the moral cause of saving strays, she should also claim ownership of the consequences of that cause. That means acknowledging that dog bites, maulings, and fatalities are happening, and taking real, tangible steps to help the victims.
The way forward is clear. Maneka Gandhi’s organisation-PFA– should create a dedicated Victim Compensation Fund for those injured or killed in stray dog attacks. If she has so much love for animals, she should demonstrate some sort of compassion for humans as well. Therefore, PFA should take the moral responsibility of looking after the victims of stray dogs by meeting their medical expenses in full. PFA should also devise a mechanism to bear the entire compensation for families who lose their dear ones, especially innocent children and infants due to attacks by stray dogs. Such a framework would not only bring relief to victims but also enhance the moral credibility of the animal welfare movement, showing that it does not turn a blind eye to human suffering.
Maneka Gandhi and her PFA should understand that the problem is not limited to stray dogs alone. Stray cattle – another byproduct of our broken livestock management system – cause significant harm on roads, in farms, and in cities. They cause traffic accidents, destroy crops, and injure pedestrians. Victims of stray cattle-related incidents – from farmers whose fields are destroyed to motorcyclists who collide with cattle at night – also deserve compensation.
Maneka Gandhi, with her decades of advocacy, is uniquely positioned to lead this change. Her organisation has the reach, credibility, and infrastructure to set an example. A transparent, well-managed compensation fund could become a model for the rest of the country – proving that animal rights groups can be both passionate and responsible.
The alternative, continuing with a policy that saves strays but leaves their victims to fend for themselves, will only deepen public resentment and erode the moral authority of the cause itself. Already, there is growing anger about alarming rise in dog populations and the risks humans are confronted with.
It is time for Maneka Gandhi to lead the way, not only in saving strays but also in the rescue of the victims of stray dogs and stray cattle.