Students stand guard for dogs

Student feeders are pushing back against attempts to remove community dogs from their neighbourhoods — even as the Supreme Court has issued its directive on how such drives are to be carried out.

Children, many of whom have grown up feeding neighbourhood dogs long before policy-makers entered the scene, have jumped into action. Thirteen-year-old Yatharth Raj Gaurav of Class X from Hebron School, New Rangia, has fed two dogs outside his housing complex in Bagdogra for almost three years. “I am told the dogs will be taken to shelters, but who will check if those shelters treat them well?” he asked. “Removing them from their own area feels like a punishment to these canines.”

The order, which instructs civic bodies to pick up stray dogs from institutional areas, including school premises, hospitals and transport hubs, and move them to designated shelters after sterilisation and vaccination, has triggered both relief and resistance. While some residents welcome what they see as a safety-driven move, the city’s growing brigade of child-feeders and young animal activists are calling it “a heartbreak disguised as policy”.

Their questions are clear. Where will the dogs be kept? Are shelters safe? Why are the dogs being removed instead of being protected in their own territories? Across Calcutta, WhatsApp groups run by teen animal lovers are buzzing with indignation. Many have grown up witnessing the sterilise-vaccinate-release model in action — the practice that kept neighbourhood dogs stable and familiar. The fear now is that relocation will undo the very balance they have seen slowly built.

Arni Saha of Class XII from Julien Day School, Howrah, says her classmates are torn between empathy and worry. “We agree safety is important,” she says, “but removing every dog from school areas doesn’t solve fear — it just hides the dogs somewhere else. Why not teach students how to behave around dogs instead? We have learned it, and it helps.”

Many feeders argue that they have long acted as informal guardians of local dogs — tracking vaccinations, arranging sterilisation drives, calling NGOs when needed and providing consistent food sources so the animals don’t scavenge aggressively. Some young feeders say the court’s order feels like it dismisses their efforts entirely.

“We are not against the government,” said Tanistha M. Lama, a student of Class XII from Birla Divya Jyoti School, Siliguri, who feeds three dogs outside her locality and has also adopted a few. “We just want assurance. We are the ones who know these dogs every day.”

Ritsika Sarkar of Class XII from Delhi Public School, Newtown, is as worried. “We want compassion mixed with rules. If the court wants shelters, make sure there are real shelters — not cages. I am preparing for the law entrance exam. Such directives against stray dogs have made me question our legal system.”

Harshika Jhawar of Class XII from La Martiniere for Girls also wants to study law and is as furious. “Who are we to decide and pick them up from their homes — the roads,” she said.

Many children have grown up with the strays since their childhood, and they fear that this step will take their childhood from them. Krish Dasgupta of Class XII, La Martiniere for Boys, has grown up feeding multiple dogs in his area. “I can’t let them go. They are home to me.”