Streets to surgery, a fix for stray dog crisis

India is preparing a national funding offensive to tackle a burgeoning stray dog crisis, as a surge in attacks and rabies fatalities forces the government to intervene in a longstanding public health failure.

- Priyanka Sharma & Vijay C. Roy

The Union budget may propose a scheme to finance the mass sterilization of stray dogs at government veterinary hospitals, three officials familiar with the matter said. The scheme, the first of its kind in India, will provide onetime grants to the hospitals to build dedicated surgical theatres and postoperative recovery facilities.

The Union ministry of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying has submitted the Animal Birth Control (ABC) scheme to the finance ministry, the people cited above said on the condition of anonymity.

The development comes at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing petitions questioning its order to remove stray dogs from public premises such as schools and hospitals.

“We have received the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) pertaining to ABC and we are studying the various provisions,” one of the three people said on the condition of anonymity.

Case load

Dog bites have nearly doubled in two years, shows data from the ministry of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying, rising from nearly 2.2 million in 2022 to over 3.7 million in 2024. The crisis intensified in 2025, with January alone recording 429,664 bites—a staggering rate that translates to more than 13,800 bites every day across the country.