SC order on stray dogs leaves city officials scrambling

Status: cleared

Chennai: The Supreme Court's eight-week ultimatum to remove stray dogs from public spaces such hospitals, colleges, bus depots, and railway stations has put civic authorities in the doghouse. After sterlisation these animals must be moved to designated shelters, the order said, and added that these public spaces must be fenced and nodal officers must ensure dogs don't inhabit these spaces again.

The two-month deadline, civic authorities say, may be impossible to meet for several reasons. First, there are no designated shelters for stray dogs in the city. Tamil Nadu Animal Welfare Board honorary board member Shruti Vinodh Raj said the board is planning to construct six shelters in Chennai along with Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC). This may take at least six months to be commissioned. While the 10 new GCC Animal Birth Control Centres will be ready in Dec, the civic agency is planning two designated stray dog pounds for rabies-affected and aggressive dogs in Perungudi and Madhavaram, said GCC Veterinary Officer J Kamal Hussain. "This will take time," he said.


Second, there are no plans or funds allotted for anything beyond sterlization and vaccination.

Rajiv Gandhi Govt General Hospital dean K Shantaraman told TOI that he has written to the health secretary P Senthilkumar. "I don't like dogs on hospital campus," he said. "We do our best to keep them out. With the court order, we must make better plans now," he said.

Two large-campus instititions allied to the general hospital — Institute of Child health in Egmore and Institute of Mental Health, Kilpauk — said they are considering internal fixes with infrastructure. "We have multiple entry points as 800–1,000 patients and attenders come here every day," said ICH resident medical officer Dr R Venkatesan. "It may be tough for just a watchman to monitor gates. We are planning in-ground safety bollards or trench gates to block entry," he said.

The situation at the Chennai Central railway station, where two Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel were bitten last month, is worse. "There are six entry points at Central station," said RPF officer Vijaya Bhaskar. "Many people from Wall Tax Road, who sleep in the station platform, keep community dogs as pets. They bring them along without a leash. These dogs eat food from passengers and overflowing dustbins. How do we stop them?," he asked.

Not all dogs roaming in these places are friendly. At CMBT, passengers were forced to take Gate 4 as there were a pack of five dogs at the main entrance. "Dogs chase passengers and vehicles. Security personnel chase them away, but they keep coming back," said shopkeeper S Gokul Raj . "Two days ago, a dog gave birth to three puppies. The mother dog is aggressive. It's scary for passenger near platforms 3 and 4," he said.

The judgment has upset animal welfare groups. "Dogs are territorial animals. Shifting them to poorly maintained shelters could create more chaos," said People for Cattle in India founder Arun Prasanna. He added that the ruling overrides a key clause in the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, which required sterilised and vaccinated dogs to be returned to their original locations.

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