In a city where there isn’t enough shelter or food for the homeless people, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court gave the order to civic bodies in Delhi NCR to pick up every stray dog within 6 weeks, confine them to shelters within 8 weeks, and never let them out, with “no intervention” allowed.
This is unscientific, unethical, inhumane, and impossible to implement. The Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023 already provide a lawful and scientific solution that is sterilisation, rabies vaccination, and then release the animal to the same location it was picked from. This controls population and builds herd immunity. Not looking far for examples , but right in our neighbourhood,Bhutan has been declared the first country to have completely sterilised and vaccinated its entire stray dog population by following a 14 year dog population control programme. WHO’s Expert Consultation on Rabies in its technical report in 2004 also states that the sterilisation program is the only effective and humane method of controlling stray dog population.
If ABC had been implemented as per law, we would not be here. But years of maladministration and corruption by civic bodies allowed the problem to grow. Instead of holding them accountable, punishing them, and ordering strict implementation of ABC, the Court has given an impractical and dangerous order, the equivalent of putting community dogs into a gas chamber.
Where will Delhi find the land, the budget, the trained manpower, or the facilities to permanently confine lakhs of territorial dogs, when they have not even been able to implement the ABC programme? It is impossible for them to take care of these dogs for the rest of their lives. Who will feed them, treat them, and clean the shelters year after year? There is not a single government-run animal shelter in Delhi today.
History and science haved warned us that an abrupt mass removal of dogs creates ecological imbalance, worsens public health risks (including rodent infestations), and destroys years of vaccination coverage , a public health disaster in the making. Under the ABC Rules, 2023, sterilised and vaccinated dogs, when released back to their original location, maintain herd immunity, keep the population in check, and reduce conflict, making streets safer for both people and animals.
It is horrendous that the order says “no intervention.” So are we to silently watch this unscientific and inhumane permanent mass capture when the law already provides a scientific, humane, and effective alternative in the ABC Rules, 2023? Instead of directing civic bodies to do their job, they have handed a death sentence to the voiceless.
From Yudhishthira, who refused heaven rather than abandon a stray, to King Janamejaya, who was rebuked by the celestial hound for cruelty to a dog, our epics remind us that dharma begins with protecting the voiceless. Will we betray that dharma? Gandhi taught us that the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. With Independence Day around the corner, should our “progress” now be measured by how swiftly we confine and condemn the voiceless?
Our Constitution states for developing scientific temper, humanism, and having compassion for all living creatures. This order violates all three.
Shanti Devi Welfare Foundation 