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.