Focus on management, not removing strays, urge activists

New Delhi: Animal rights activists, academics and legal experts on Sunday urged authorities to strengthen sterilisation and vaccination programmes for stray dogs rather than removing them from public spaces. The issue of street dog management stems from administrative failures and inadequate implementation of the existing laws, they argued.

At a press conference organised by Conference for Human Rights (India), the speakers cautioned against interpreting Supreme Court’s May 19 judgment relating to the relocation of community dogs as an endorsement of their mass removal or confinement.

Expressing concerns that the order could be misused and weaken safeguards against cruelty to animals, they maintained that sterilisation and anti-rabies vaccination under the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme remained the only scientifically validated, legally permissible and sustainable methods to manage stray dog populations.

The speakers urged authorities to formally reaffirm the ABC programme as the sole humane and lawful approach in accordance with Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023. They also called for the expansion of animal birth control infrastructure. Municipal authorities, they said, should undertake large-scale awareness campaigns and support local volunteer groups to facilitate its implementation and improve community participation.

The conference recommended the establishment of stronger monitoring and accountability mechanisms to ensure compliance with ABC Rules, transparent utilisation of funds and periodic assessment of programme outcomes.

Advocate Nanita Sharma said while the order did not define mechanisms to determine whether officials were acting in good faith or with mala fide intent. She questioned who would monitor the implementation process and ensure that relocated animals were not subjected to cruelty.

Sharma argued that the current situation should not be viewed as a “dog menace” but rather as the outcome of years of inadequate efforts by civic authorities.

Anu Pandey, a professor at Delhi University, said students often played an important role in feeding, vaccinating and sterilising street dogs on the campus. She also highlighted "widespread misinformation” surrounding rabies and dog bites.

The activists said any policy response emerging from the order should place animal welfare at its centre. They also warned that large-scale confinement could lead to overcrowding, increased disease transmission, stress among animals, and significant financial and logistical burdens on local authorities.

They claimed that sustained sterilisation and vaccination campaigns in Goa and Sikkim had improved the situation, while Jaipur and Karnataka were cited as examples of implementing ABC Rules alongside improved waste management practices and community participation.

Meanwhile, an international Buddhist delegation, accompanied by Aloka, the Indian stray known as the “peace dog”, met Maneka Gandhi on Monday.