Remove stray dogs from Delhi-NCR’s streets: SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday directed that all stray dogs in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) be rounded up within eight weeks and housed in dedicated dog shelters to be set up by civic authorities, making it clear that no captured animal will be released back on the streets.

- Utkarsh Anand

A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, hearing a petition registered on its own motion on the “alarming and disturbing” rise in stray dog attacks, also ordered contempt proceedings against any individual or organisation that attempts to obstruct the authorities from carrying out the capture drive. It further directed that authorities in Delhi-NCR must set up a helpline so all dog bite complaints can be registered, with the offending animal picked up “within four hours” of a complaint.

“Round up all stray dogs from all localities, including localities on the outskirts of Delhi, and shift them to some other place...Whether sterilised or not sterilised, the society must feel free and safe. You should not have any stray dog roaming around,” the bench told Delhi government, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and authorities in Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram.

It wasn't immediately clear how these bodies would go about implementing an order that, according to many experts, has been brought about by their own ineptness in dealing with stray or community dogs.

Currently, Delhi has a capacity to house around 4,000 dogs in shelters, and the population of stray dogs in the Union territory is estimated at about a million. And even the court's order to create shelters for 5,000 dogs will end up barely scratching the surface. MCD will now have to figure out the space to house these dogs, and muster the funds to feed and care for them.

Activists criticised the order and said it would be difficult to implement. They pointed out that they, and others like them, had stepped in to care for community dogs because of the failure of government agencies, and said the order could eventually see community dogs being culled.