straywatch.org
Community Safety Lab
Live in Leh District
File a report in seconds. Every incident sighting, bite, or garbage hotspot goes straight to the community map.
Dog bite cases · 2024
4,078
Source: Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying (2025)
Reported cases · Jan 2025
373
Single month surge (IDSP)
Stray dogs · Leh district
9,000 – 11,000
~30% of human population in Leh town
Live metrics (beta)
Auto-refreshes every minuteCounts update as soon as residents submit reports through the Supabase-backed pilot.
Why StrayWatch.org
StrayWatch.org is now live! Report sightings, bites, and garbage hotspots in real-time. Every report goes straight to the map, making it easy for vets, sanitation crews, and animal welfare teams to coordinate response.
Real-time reporting
Citizens file reports with photos and location details. Each report appears instantly on the community map.
One shared map
Vets, sanitation teams, and municipal partners see all incidents in one place with no delays.
Community accountability
Every report is timestamped and visible, creating transparency and encouraging faster action.
Crisis context
The stray problem is accelerating
Bite cases doubled in just two years.
Bite cases · 2024
500+
vs 2,165 in 2022
Stray population
25,000+
Estimated in Ladakh UT (Mongabay/WII)
Peak months
Nov–Mar
Winter starvation spikes
Root cause
“Khibshank” hybrids
Tourism & military logistics waste
Ecological impact
Documented incidents from 2024–25 show feral dogs killing or displacing flagship species. The threat is no longer theoretical.
Khibshank watch
Wolf–dog hybrids
Locally called “Khibshank”, these crosses inherit wolf stamina and pack tactics but lack fear of humans, creating a super-predator that roams village edges.
Winter aggression cycle
Tourist waste sustains dogs in summer; when eateries shut, starvation drives coordinated attacks on livestock and pedestrians.
Policy response
District Magistrate’s July 2024 order (under BNSS Section 163) prohibits dumping food scraps in open areas. Compliance requires strict monitoring of army mess halls, hotels, and highway dhabas.
Root cause
Open dumping from tourism, military logistics, and highway commerce fuels the boom. Without sealed waste streams, sterilization alone cannot keep pace.
Seasonal hunger
When eateries close, packs “switch prey” to people, livestock, and wildlife. Residents report dawn and late-night attacks most frequently between November and March.
Immediate guidance
Travel in groups, avoid carrying exposed food, and log every sighting or bite in StrayWatch once launched. Early reporting helps triage teams deploy within the golden four-hour window.
Bite trend
Source: Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) & Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying (Lok Sabha 2025).
| Year | Reported bite cases | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2,165 | High |
| 2023 | 2,569 | Rising |
| 2024 | 4,078 | Critical surge |
| 2025 (Jan) | 373 | Still high |
Severe incidents recorded: A 79-year-old woman in Zanskar (Mar 2023) and rising attacks on tourists underscore the severity.
Population estimates
Hanle and Tso Moriri wetlands record densities of ~310 dogs per 100 sq. km—several times more than native wolves or snow leopards (WII Study).
Visitor advisory
Stay vigilant during dawn, dusk, and winter months
Avoid walking alone when tourist waste is scarce; never carry exposed food or attempt to feed packs—the aggression spike in off-season is well documented.
When reporting, capture photo evidence only from a safe distance and prioritize medical attention after any bite.
Root cause view
Each grid tile in Leh district is scored on animal population density, incident velocity, and sanitation backlog. Field partners claim tiles, push updates, and handoff tasks without leaving the map.
Heat index
67
High activity near Skara and Tukcha corridors.
Sightings today (sample)
~54
Bite cases (avg.)
7 / day
Waste alerts
19 hotspots
Live map
Every report appears instantly on the map. Zoom in to see details, clusters show density by incident type.
Red markers show reported bites. Highest priority for medical follow-up.
Amber markers track stray sightings. Help crews predict pack movements.
Green markers identify garbage attracting packs. Alert sanitation crews.
Product pillars
Resident mobile reporter
Simple, multilingual forms with GPS locking, offline drafts, and photo evidence for every report.
Operations cockpit
Queue, route, and resolve incidents with playbooks tailored for vets, feeders, and municipal crews.
Community intelligence
Layer bite hotspots, sterilization drives, vaccination camps, and volunteer rosters on one map.
Open data services
API feeds and weekly briefs for public health researchers, journalists, and civic groups.
Top contributors
Based on verified reports logged in the last 30 days.
Help the project
We are still in pre-launch. Every dataset cleaned, report template translated, and waste-audit logged comes from residents, vets, coders, and policy volunteers donating their time.
Funding roadmap
Rapid-response operations (Phase 1)
Dedicated moderators vetting every report within minutes so authorities can act faster.
Waste accountability tracker (Phase 2)
Public dashboards tagging violators of the July 2024 BNSS order.
Mobile app build (Phase 3)
If we secure sustained contributor time and donor support, we will ship a bilingual, offline-ready StrayWatch mobile app so citizens can file incidents even without laptops.
Every rupee or hour contributed is published in our transparency log.