Telangana: Vaccinate Stray Dogs Advisory From NTCA In May
Telangana sits on advice, no funds to protect tigers from feral dogs: Reports
HYDERABAD: Feral dogs have become a threat in Telangana’s forests and wildlife sanctuaries, including the Amrabad and Kawal tiger reserves. The NTCA has asked the state to vaccinate these dogs to prevent the possible spread of canine distemper virus (CDV) among wild animals, particularly tigers.
The NTCA issued an advisory earlier in May — following the deaths of six tigers in Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh within a span of nine days after they contracted CDV from stray dogs — to all states with tiger populations that all stray dogs in and around the reserves should be caught and vaccinated to prevent the possible spread of the virus.
However, Telangana is yet to take any steps in this direction, it is learnt. While Kawal has no resident tigers, Amrabad had around 44 tigers in the recently concluded 2026 All India Tiger Estimation. “There are no funds, no provisions for such an exercise. Nothing has been done so far to either catch the dogs or to vaccinate them,” a Telangana forest department source said.
“We issued an advisory to all the states. They must implement it in letter and spirit. Stray dogs are a menace in tiger reserves. Tigers are not the only animals at risk; other wildlife could also be affected by viruses carried by the dogs,” NTCA member secretary Sanjay Kumar said.
The presence of feral dog packs that have formed hunting packs in Telangana's forests is not a new phenomenon. While there are no official estimates on how many such dogs roam the state’s two tiger reserves and other wildlife sanctuaries, a report by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, ‘Status of Tigers Co-predators and Prey in India 2018’, released in 2020, had noted that stray dog packs were caught in camera trap images in both Kawal and Amrabad tiger reserves.
