Man’s Best Friend? Stray Dogs and the Rabies Crisis in India

Produced by Shreya Kalyanaraman This episode examines the history of dogs and their relationship to propagating the rabies virus throughout the Indian subcontinent. I explore this through tracing the domestication of dogs in early civilizations and how they came to India, contributing to the population of free-roaming street dogs that exists today. I also examine the history of the rabies virus, the development of the rabies vaccine, and the intentions behind its introduction to India. This story dives into the country’s deeply rooted history with British colonialism and how colonial ideas have contributed to the persistence of rabies in modern India. I also examine how the current political landscape has responded to the crisis and why existing prevention efforts have not fully halted it. The podcast incorporates perspectives from the general public on dogs, as well as a firsthand account from my uncle, a veterinarian practicing in India. Ultimately, I explore the question of why the rabies crisis still exists in India and arrive at the conclusion that there may not be a clear answer. Suggested ReadingsSrinivasan, K., Kurz, T., Kuttuva, P., & Pearson, C. (2019). Reorienting rabies research and practice: Lessons from India. Palgrave Communications, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0358-yVenkatesan, V. (2025). Stray dog “menace”: Making sense of the Supreme Court’s intervention - Supreme Court Observer.  https://www.scobserver.in/journal/stray-dogs-menace-making-sense-of-the-supreme-courts-intervention/Radhakrishnan, S., Vanak, A. T., Nouvellet, P., & Donnelly, C. A. (2020). Rabies as a Public Health Concern in India-A Historical Perspective. Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, 5(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed5040162 Pests and Prejudice is a podcast series created by UCLA undergraduates in the spring of 2026.  Each episode is a story of a messy relationship, one in which people seduced pests, and then decided to break up with them... and it usually goes about as well as you would expect...