'Unsustainable & Counter-Productive': Animal Welfare Activists Condemn Supreme Court Order To Relocate Stray Dogs From Public Spaces

Mumbai: A recent Supreme Court directive ordering the immediate removal of stray dogs from public institutional areas, including schools, hospitals, bus stands, and railway stations, and their relocation to designated shelters has triggered a massive and critical response from animal welfare organizations and activists across India.

Mandate To Prevent Dog Re-Entry Into Public Premises

The order was passed on Friday while addressing the issue of an alarming rise of dog bite incidents in high-footfall public spaces. Crucially, the bench mandated that any dog captured from these specific locations must not be released back to the same area, a departure from standard practice under existing animal welfare rules. Authorities were also directed to secure these premises with fencing and boundary walls to prevent re-entry.

Activists Call Directive Cruel And Counter-Productive

Animal welfare organisations, activists and common animal-loving citizens expressed concerns regarding the directive, calling it unsustainable, counter-productive, and a recipe for cruelty and chaos.

Activists have highlighted that the order conflicts with the established Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, which mandate the ‘catch-neuter-vaccinate-return’ model, where sterilised and vaccinated community dogs must be returned to their original territories.

Experts Warn Of Rising Conflict And Mass Displacement

Alokparna Sengupta, managing director at Humane World for Animals India, said that removing community animals from their habitats and permanently relocating them to shelters is likely to increase human-dog conflict further.

She alleged that such a sweeping order risks displacement and death for lakhs of community dogs across India, adding that consistent animal birth control and anti-rabies vaccine along with community engagement programs have demonstrated progress.

Activists Demand Humane And Legal Reconsideration

"This is a directive that is unsustainable and counter-productive, since it lacks consideration of the law established by Parliament, the infrastructure of our public institutions and the lives of street dogs in India. We recognise the need to ensure public safety but removing community dogs creates territorial vacuums, leading to the re-entry of unsterilised, unvaccinated dogs and worsening the very issue the order seeks to address," she said, adding that the court should consider the submissions from various organisations.

Maharashtra Officers Question Legal Consistency

Roshan Pathak, animal welfare officer appointed by Maharashtra government, raised concerns regarding the order saying that the ABC rules were made by the government and the court’s order totally rules them out.

“If a normal human tries to relocate an animal from its original place, the police file a complaint under the animal cruelty act. Now after this judgment, if the government tries to relocate an animal from its original place, what complaint should be filed against them? Just because animals can't speak, we cannot treat them according to our whims and fancies,” he said.

Call For Specialised Animal Control Units

Soorraj Saha, another animal welfare officer from Maharashtra, called it a biased order and defended that all dogs are not a threat to humans. “We see cases on an everyday basis where dogs have alerted people and prevented crimes. There are a few animals who are aggressive but we need to understand the reason behind their aggression. We should have an animal control unit to treat such dogs carefully”

Activists Urge Humane And Long-Term Approach

Activists emphasised that the long-term, humane solution lies in strict enforcement and scaling up of the ABC program, robust waste management, and public awareness campaigns on co-existence, rather than a mass removal that is likely to prove inhumane and ineffective.

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They also raised concerns regarding the lack of infrastructure to house stray animals, alleging that it is impossible to create shelters with a capacity to relocate so many dogs.

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