Midweek Musings 32 15.07.2026
Dog shelters
By Malini Shankar
India’s Supreme
Court ordered on the 7th of November 2025 the removal of all
stray dogs from public places, and further ordered that all dogs need to be
captured, vaccinated, neutered as per guidelines and laws or kept in dog
shelters and not released in public places. It was specified that public
places included schools, hospitals, bus stands, railway stations, sports
complexes, and similar public spaces. Discerning order is that vaccinated and
sterilised dogs can be released in residential areas where somehow it is
considered low risk. This judgement was preceded by an order that had called
for extermination of all street dogs… This order was somewhat amended by its
order of 19th May 2026 declined petitions filed by animal welfare
groups and individual petitioners seeking to modify its 7th November
2025 which called for order directing the removal of stray dogs within
eight weeks from certain public areas with heavy human presence. These “public
places” included educational campuses, hospitals, bus depots, railway stations,
and similar facilities. The 19th May 2026 Order of India’s
Supreme Court declined the Plea by Animal Welfare Organisations which sought to
modify the 7th November 2025 SC Order of relocating all street dogs
to shelters after due diligence (of vaccination and sterilisation). The
November 7th 2025 Order had called for euthanasia of abandoned
street dogs, spurring animal lovers into a frenzy.
The Supreme Court has also
directed the removal of stray cattle and animals from national and state
highways, requiring authorities to relocate them to suitable shelters to
prevent accidents and ensure road safety. The Court warned that Chief
Secretaries and responsible officers would be held personally accountable for
any failure to implement the directive. The Court has given an eight-week
deadline for full compliance. States and UTs must submit detailed status
reports and appoint responsible officers to oversee the process within this
timeframe.
Negligence may invite contempt proceedings or disciplinary action. The removal, sterilisation, and
relocation processes are governed by the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules,
2023, which outline humane and lawful procedures for managing stray animal
populations.
Local bodies are required to: Conduct regular inspections of public premises. Secure
premises through fencing and gates. Capture and relocate stray dogs to shelters.
Maintain vaccination and sterilisation records. File compliance reports within
the Court’s prescribed timeline
Now there is an estimated 15.3 crore street dogs in India in FY 2025. All
these 15.3 crore orphaned homeless street dogs. India’s bureaucracy and planners
have not made land use policy part of public policy so making resources for
abandoned street dogs or cattle is certainly no priority for them, never had
been. The public health safety and the
dog lovers’ lobby were split right in the middle.
Dog lovers who feed stray dogs
because of their inability to house and care for the street dogs are just as
responsible as those abandoning the domesticated wolf on to the streets.
All the same euthanizing them is even more irresponsible as it is only an
extension – cruelly so of abandonment of other creatures. Animal birth control
and vaccination of all strays is the most sustainable / best practice. Euthanasia
of captured street dogs in the days before animal birth control was not only
cruel but yielded no decrease in numbers of stray dogs / street dogs.
It is thus time for planners to
make space for stray dog shelters. Shelters does not mean cages. Stray dogs must
have so much food shelter water and health care on a per capita basis. Expenses
incurred thereon must be taxed to citizens because: it is the citizen who is a
thinking, rational Human being created by God. If his / her intelligence and
rational powers were inadequate for inducing him / her to care for the
domesticated wolf, the least they can do is pay a tax for upkeep of one’s share
of stray dog population.
This reflects poorly on land use
planners in any case. If per capita land use had been planned then all of Human
Being’s civilizational needs could well have been catered too right? Today people
inflate their incomes by renting out illegal structures … a sad and poor
reflection of the corruption that plagues civic administration. A 20 X 30 plot
will house atleast 10 tenements with 10 kitchens and four toilets and one 10000
L tank will serve the needs of atleast 16 people per day. No space of course
for 15 cars four SUVs, etc
But there is a need to house 153
lakhs stray dogs in open spaces without caging them. If we cannot create space for
this let us utilise the space available, sustainably for all living creatures.
Boom town rats want a finger in
the pie in big towns where everyone wants five cars and three flats, besides
two pieces of land holdings. The case of camel in the Arab’s tent reflects the
lack of human rights and right to livelihood of the boomtown rats. Gandhiji was
so right in saying Natural resources can feed everyone’s need(s) not greed.
Indeed Gandhian Thought forms the
founding charter of the UN and Sustainable Development Goals # SDGs
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