Supreme Court Order On Stray Dogs: Animal Rights Groups Raise Concerns
New Delhi: The animal rights groups have raised strong concerns over the Supreme Court‘s order to relocate Delhi-NCR’s stray dogs, calling it “unscientific” and “unfeasible.” The apex court on Monday (August 11) instructed the government of Delhi, civic bodies, and authorities of Noida, Gurgaon, and Ghaziabad to shift the stray dogs to shelters, and stated that these animals must not be returned to the streets.
The Supreme Court bench, consisting of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report regarding incidents of dog bites leading to rabies. As per the directions, the Delhi government was asked to create shelter capacity for at least 5,000 dogs as an initial step within six to eight weeks. These shelters should be equipped with adequate staff for sterilisation and vaccination, have CCTV monitoring facilities, and be expanded in the near future.
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Mini Aravindan, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India’s senior director of veterinary affairs questioned the efficacy of the order concerning mass removal.
In a statement, Aravindan said: “Communities think of neighbourhood dogs as family, and the displacement and jailing of dogs is not scientific and has NEVER worked. Per a population survey conducted in 2022-23, Delhi has around 10 lakh community dogs, with less than half sterilised. Forced removal of some 10 lakh community dogs from Delhi’s streets will cause uproar in communities that care deeply for them and chaos and suffering for the dogs on a large scale.”
Furthermore, she added, “It will also ultimately do nothing to curb the dog population, reduce rabies or prevent dog bite incidents. This is because it is unfeasible to build enough dog shelters….”
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PETA India emphasized that an effective dog sterilization programme should be initiated.
Bharati Ramachandran, CEO of the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO), stated that the Supreme Court’s order contradicts global public health guidance and India’s own laws. She also argued that the mass sheltering of healthy and vaccinated dogs is an impractical and inhumane approach.
