India must rethink how it handles its stray dog crisis

The recent Supreme Court order to round up all stray dogs in the Delhi NCR region and put them away in shelters to be built in eight weeks has evoked strong emotional reactions. Dog lovers and animal rights groups are dismayed at the ruling that could lead to the mass culling of dogs. There is simply no way shelters can be built so fast and it’s not a feasible solution anyway. On the other side, plenty of citizens have argued that stray dog bites have become a huge problem, which is true, and they believe a drastic measure such as this was the only way out.

I see merits in both sides of this debate. Strays biting people is a genuine concern. Data shared by the government shows that 3.7 million dog bites were reported in 2024 in India, up from 3.1 million the previous year. Not all have resulted in deaths but the concern is real.

However, the Supreme Court order is not just illogical, it is inhumane and goes against other top court judgements and even the rules currently in place. Under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, strays cannot be relocated. This has been upheld by other judgements of the Supreme Court. Which is why it is astonishing that this bench simply “forgot” the law and it’s own judgements and gave an order which will amount to the mass killing of animals who can’t speak for themselves.

Before the judges passed this order of building shelters within eight weeks did they think about how many thousands would actually be needed to be built? Did they think about where these would be made, how many thousands of employees would need to be trained and staffed to look after the dogs and feed them? With few resources and a Supreme Court deadline hanging around their necks, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out where this is headed.

Experts have pointed out that what is needed is effective implementation of sterilisation and immunisation drives. The Netherlands is one country that successfully dealt with the stray dog problem. First, people had to pay high taxes for store-bought dogs. The idea was to encourage them to adopt dogs from shelters. This then freed up space in the shelters to house strays. There was also a programme run by the government called CNVR (Collect, Neuter, Vaccinate, and Return) offering neutering, spraying, and vaccination services. They even set up a police force just to deal with animal cruelty cases. Dog welfare is a big issue in the Netherlands and they used compassion as a means to dealing with the stray dog problem.

India is of course a much bigger country. But there is no reason that we can’t adopt similar practices in our cities to begin with. There can’t be a knee jerk response. It has to be humane, it has to be ethical. And not all strays are going to attack you. Across neighbourhoods, many are community dogs, looked after by the entire colony, fed and vaccinated. Even my neighbourhood pet shop has adopted a couple of strays who they feed and clothe and take care of. Those little souls have never harmed anyone.

As a proud dog lover I genuinely believe that anyone who is cruel to animals simply isn’t a good person. You may say I’m making a sweeping judgement but this is based on my own experiences with people. Dogs are the most wonderful creatures. Those out on the streets are often living under the harshest conditions, subject to the vagaries of the climate, of little or no food, of disease and outright cruelty by human beings.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court bench order has left civic authorities to figure out the details. Faced with a huge backlash, the Chief Justice of India has promised to look at the matter again and sent it to a new, three-judge bench, which has reserved its order. Maybe, just maybe, better sense will prevail.