Chicken and egg rice for strays: BBMP to feed 4,000 dogs daily across Bengaluru

The announcement quickly gained traction on social media, with many users praising the BBMP’s effort.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) announced plans to provide cooked meals to thousands of stray dogs across Bengaluru, a move that has garnered praise from animal welfare advocates and sparked a flurry of humorous reactions online.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, the BBMP has floated a tender to supply one nutritious cooked meal per day to approximately 4,000 stray dogs at 100 designated feeding points across the city. These points will be concentrated in areas where food scarcity exists and where there are few community feeders.

As per the tender documents, each meal will include 600 grams of cooked rice, chicken, vegetables, and turmeric, designed to provide at least 750 kilocalories per dog. Clean drinking water will also be made available at the feeding sites. The civic body stated that the aim of the initiative is to curb aggressive behaviour among strays, which is often triggered by chronic hunger, and thereby reduce dog-bite incidents across the city.

The announcement quickly gained traction on social media, with many users praising the BBMP’s effort.

One user remarked, “There was a time when unscrupulous people cooked dog and fed gullible people in Bengaluru. How times have changed! Now dogs will get to eat meat and eggs! Every dog has its day.”

Another post imagined a life of luxury for Bengaluru’s strays, writing, “Bengaluru dog relaxing in a Jacuzzi after having tummy full of chicken rice and egg rice.”

A third quipped, “After watching the news of Bengaluru feeding stray dogs with chicken & rice daily, stray dogs from all over India are planning to shift to Bengaluru. No language problems for them!”

The jokes continued, with one person commenting, “Aren’t half the stray dogs from all of India already in Bengaluru?”

Beyond the satire, the programme has drawn support from prominent voices, including Congress spokesperson Lavanya Ballal Jain. Applauding the scheme, she wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “The indie dogs that are usually looked down upon in India are a strong resilient breed. It's heartwarming to see that @BBMPCOMM, @BBMPofficial plans to feed the community dogs. I agree the place for these dogs is not the streets, they belong in homes, so adopt an indie.”

In a humorous nod to the dogs’ presence near Karnataka’s seat of power, a clip of stray dogs seen at Vidhana Soudha was shared with the caption, “Chicken and egg rice for Bengaluru stray dogs! So this explains why they were hanging around Vidhana Soudha! Their demands have been met!”

The BBMP’s initiative not only highlights a compassionate approach to urban animal welfare but also represents a novel attempt at addressing public safety through hunger mitigation.