PROBLEM OF STRAY DOGS: SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT AND WAY FORWARD

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Picture Courtesy:  THE HINDU

Context:

The Supreme Court's initial order to imprison Delhi's stray dogs was a flawed, unscientific, and inhumane distraction from the municipal corporation's failure to implement proper sterilization and vaccination programs.

Stray Dog Problem in India

Total stray dogs: According to the 20th Livestock Census in 2019, India had over 1.53 crore stray dogs, a figure widely believed to be a underestimated due to limited urban coverage and inconsistent enumeration practices.

• Recent estimates suggest that India is home to about 6 crore free‑ranging dogs, a figure corroborated by the State of Pet Homelessness Index and wildlife surveys on stray dog impacts across the subcontinent.

Dog bites: In 2024 India saw 37.17 lakh dog bite cases – about 10,000 per day. (Source: Economictimes)

Children victims: Over 5.2 lakh children (under 15) were bitten in 2024 (14% of total bites).

While the U.S., China and Brazil have the highest overall dog populations (pets+strays), India’s rapid urbanization and large undomesticated dog population make its public health challenge unique.

Economic Impact: Millions of dog bites impose costs for anti-rabies vaccines and medical care.

• Rabies deaths and bite-related disabilities remove tens of thousands of productive lives from the workforce each year. The human toll (deaths and chronic care) indirectly damages the economy.
• Municipal authorities spend heavy on stray control.

Public Safety: Rabies is lethal once symptoms appear (99.9% case-fatality). There is no effective cure post-onset.

• Government data logged just 21 rabies deaths in 2022 (and 54 “suspected” deaths in 2024), whereas WHO estimates 18,000–20,000 fatalities annually in India (Source: Economictimes). 
• Shortages of anti-rabies vaccine and immunoglobulin and uneven rural access leave victims at risk.

Health Impacts: Dogs can carry 60+ diseases transmissible to humans. Beyond rabies, pathogens such as leptospirosis, brucellosis, and intestinal parasites spread via dog bites, scratches or contamination. Stray dog thus pose a broad public health hazard.

• Stray dogs create sanitation issues. Experts estimate over 15,000 tonnes of dog faeces and 8 million gallons of urine are deposited on Indian streets every day (Source: Indianexpress).
• The dog waste contaminates water and soil, spreading germs and causing foul conditions, especially near markets and slums.
• Frequent dog attacks generate fear and anxiety in communities, especially among parents of young children. Schools and parks become less safe.  

Animal Birth Control Rules 2023

Sterilisation & vaccination: Municipal bodies must sterilise and vaccinate street dogs, then return them to their original habitat. Studies confirm sterilisations keep dogs territorial so areas become stable. The central advisory urges ULBs to sterilize at least 70% of stray dogs to curb population growth.

No culling or relocation: The rules strictly prohibit harming or permanently removing healthy dogs. Culling (killing) and relocating strays are banned. Only dogs found aggressive or rabid can be isolated for treatment. The emphasis is on humane, community-based control.

Implementation focus: The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) oversees ABC projects, issuing guidelines and recognitions for sterilisation drives.

• Sterilisation subsidies (via AWBI) provides ₹800 per dog (and ₹600 per cat) for sterilisation and vaccination.
• State governments can receive a one-time ₹2 crore grant to upgrade veterinary hospitals.
• AWBI offers capital grants to build animal shelters – up to ₹15 lakh for small-animal shelters and ₹27 lakh for large-animal shelters.

Supreme Court Interventions

August 11, 2025 Order

Relocation mandate: Directed all municipal authorities in Delhi-NCR to round up stray dogs and move them to shelters. The court mandated an “immediate start” to remove strays from all localities, emphasizing child safety.

No-release rule: The order explicitly banned any relocated dog from being returned to the streets. This was a sharp departure from existing law.

Shelter expansion: The court ordered the rapid creation of shelters – within 8 weeks – to house the captured dogs humanely.

August 22, 2025 Modified Order

Revised release policy: After nationwide protests, court stayed the “no-release” prohibition. Dogs picked up will now be dewormed, vaccinated and then returned to their original localities. Only dogs that are “unfit” (aggressive or rabid) are to be detained separately.

Deworming requirement: The court urged that all returned strays be dewormed and vaccinated as a public health safeguard.

Feeding restrictions: Banned feeding strays in public spaces without approval. It directed governments to designate specific feeding zones (with ID tags for feeders). This is meant to reduce large dog congregations around food sources.

Uniform policy: The bench instructed that all similar High Court cases across India be transferred to the Supreme Court and called for a comprehensive national stray-dog policy Thus, the scope moved beyond Delhi-NCR to a pan-India framework.

Implementation Challenges: Why Policies Fail

Shelter shortage: Across India, shelter/ABC infrastructure covers only a fraction of strays. Example: Gurgaon has an estimated 50,000 stray dogs but only two operational shelters, each with a capacity of 50 animals. (Source: Time of India). Rural towns are worse.

• The ABC Rules’ mandate to sterilise and return meant governments never felt urgency to build shelters, leaving cities ill-prepared for mass removal.

Budget limits: Many local bodies have small budgets for animal welfare. Stray dog programs compete with essential services. Smaller cities can barely fund ABC drives.

Cost-benefit dilemma: Officials often focus on treatment rather than prevention.

• The recurring cost of thousands of vaccine doses and bite treatments (around ₹3,000–₹5,000 per person) competes with sterilisation campaigns.
• Without clear cost-benefit analysis, many municipalities neglect prevention.

Fragmented responsibilities: Municipal bodies run ABC programs, the Animal Husbandry Dept sets rules, and the Health Ministry collects bite data, this leads to confusion: e.g. health officials may not know local dog census, and livestock officials may lack bite data.

Jurisdictional gaps: Stray dogs cross municipal borders freely. A dog sterilised in one colony can roam to another. Standardized national protocols and monitoring are still lacking.

Sterilisation gap: Experts agree at least 70% of the stray population must be spayed/neutered to reduce births. However, most ULBs fall far short, mean population continues grow faster than towns can sterilise.

Logistical hurdles: Catching and operating on dogs is labor-intensive. A single sterilisation requires transport, surgery, and recovery. Remote areas lack veterans.

• The 2023 ABC rules require “Animal Birth Control Units” with specific facilities, but many towns lack even basic infrastructure (operating tables, kennels, vaccines).

Data limitations: Cities depend on outdated dog censuses and inconsistent counting methods. Without accurate population data, planning is guesswork.  

• Many dog bites go unrecorded, especially in rural areas. Victims may only seek traditional healers or fail to reach a clinic. Thus actual bite numbers (and deaths) may be far higher than official statistics.

Feeding culture: Millions of citizens feed street dogs, which creates breeding hotspots near residential areas. When courts imposed feeding bans or zones, many people protested that starving dogs was cruel.

Conflicts: In some areas, incidents of dog attacks have led to vigilante or illegal culling (poisoning attacks have occurred). At the same time, animal activists sometimes clash with communities demanding removal of “dangerous” dogs.

• These social tensions complicate any unified policy.

Way Forward

Scale up ABC programs: Accelerate sterilisation-vaccination drives to meet the 70% target, this requires hiring/training veterinarians, funding mobile clinics, and ensuring continuous supplies of safe anesthetic and suture materials.

Public-Private partnerships: Encourage NGOs, CSR initiatives and welfare boards to partner with municipalities.

• Grants (₹800/dog etc.) can be increased or made flexible so that shelters (run by NGOs) absorb overflow. Pune’s example of a 42% reduction in strays through NGO drives shows the potential.

Expand shelters & adoption: Increase construction of modern shelters (using the ₹15–27 lakh grants and adding state funds).

• Promote dog adoption campaigns to move dogs off streets humanely. Tie shelter capacity to sterilisation targets.

Designated feeding zones: As per the SC, set up monitored feeding areas managed by trained volunteers. This concentrates dog activity away from children’s play areas and ensures dogs are visible to caregivers.

• Mumbai and Bengaluru have piloted such “dog-free parks” where animals congregate under supervision.

Accountable pet ownership: Impose and enforce pet registration, mandatory sterilisation and rabies vaccination for all pet dogs.

• Heavy fines for abandonment and incentives for microchipping would reduce “ownerless” dogs.
• Learning from the Netherlands, India could levy higher taxes on unsterilized pets and enforce laws to prevent interbreeding with strays.

Improve waste management: Municipalities must cover dumps and enforce littering fines. Singapore-style policies discourage public feeding. Cleaner streets mean less food for strays, slowing population growth.

One Health coordination: Use digital tools: create a centralized dog-bite registry, GIS mapping of hot spots, and a pan-India dashboard for ABC progress.

• Japan’s rabies elimination succeeded through strict registration and surveillance – similar systems can help India.

Learn from abroad: Follow global best practices. Bhutan, for example, sterilised 61,800 dogs (free-ranging included) between 2021–23 under a national program.

• The Netherlands achieved zero stray dogs through "Collect, Neuter, Vaccinate, and Return" (CNVR) combined with strong pet laws and public awareness.

Improve Urbanization and Governance: Stray dog population is a bio-indicator of poor urban governance. Their population grow on the failures of the municipal system, particularly ineffective solid waste management.

• The presence of open garbage dumps directly sustains and encourages the breeding of strays.

Community engagement: Empower local communities and women’s self-help groups to participate in surveillance and feeding under guidance.

• Educate schoolchildren on safe behavior around dogs.
• Media campaigns should teach wound cleaning and vaccination importance.

Legislative action: States must amend municipal acts to mandate stray dog control budgets and data transparency.

• Union laws be updated to require periodic stray census or bite reporting. Coordination among Health, and Environment ministries can be formalized.  

Strengthen the "One Health" Concept: Rabies cannot be eliminated in humans without controlling it in the animal reservoir (dogs), and dog populations cannot be controlled without managing the urban environment (waste).  

Source: THE HINDU