The Supreme Court on Monday directed Delhi-NCR authorities to permanently relocate all stray dogs to shelters within eight weeks.
The directive has gladdened many residents but dismayed animal rights activists.
Many social media users and others said the measure would protect children and the elderly, in particular, from dog bites. But animal activists complained of impracticality, saying the capital lacked the space to build enough shelters for its 10 lakh stray dogs. They advocated a sterilisation programme, instead.
Chief minister Rekha Gupta said her government would frame a policy soon to carry out the court’s order.
The apex court order came on a suo motu petition, adopted after the death of a six-year-old girl following multiple dog bites. It said the dogs would be sterilised and immunised at the shelters — never to be released again. It warned of contempt proceedings against anyone who resists the rounding up of street dogs.
“All these animal activists and so-called animal lovers, will they be able to bring back all those children who have fallen prey to rabies?” the bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan said.
Media reports cited in the court said the country records an average of 20,000 dog bites a day, of which 2,000 occur in Delhi alone. Animal rights activist Gauri Maulekhi said most dog shelters in Delhi were run by animal welfare bodies. The government now has no dog shelters at all.
Mini Aravindan, senior director, veterinary affairs, PETA India, said: “The 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.”
She added: “It’s unfeasible to build enough dog shelters, and displacing dogs causes fights over territory and problems like starvation.”
She said that instead of wasting time, effort and public resources on ineffective and inhumane displacement drives, an effective sterilisation programme should be run.
Bharati Ramachandran, CEO, Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations, said: “Relocation disrupts existing vaccination coverage, breaks up stable, disease-protected dog populations and triggers the ‘vacuum effect’, where new, unvaccinated dogs quickly move in.”