Supreme Court Issues Detailed Guidelines on Stray Dog Management, Balancing Public Safety and Animal Welfare

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a comprehensive written order expanding on its August 11 verdict in the ongoing suo motu proceedings on the stray dog menace. The order lays down stringent guidelines to safeguard the welfare of captured stray dogs, while ensuring public safety, and emphasises that these animals must never be subjected to mistreatment, cruelty, overcrowding, starvation, or neglect.

The matter, earlier heard by a bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan, has now been transferred to a three-judge bench headed by Justice Vikram Nath. The court directed that all stray dogs in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) be rounded up without delay and housed in shelters, prohibiting their release back onto the streets. It instructed authorities to prevent overcrowding and ensure continuous care, with round-the-clock supervision at every facility.

Strict Shelter Protocols
The order mandates that shelters maintain minimum staffing levels, with at least two responsible personnel present at all times and a duty roster for 24-hour oversight. Adequate and regular feeding is to be ensured, with trained veterinarians providing timely medical attention. Vulnerable or weak animals should be housed separately whenever possible.

Every captured dog must be earmarked, logged, and recorded for identification, with strict action warned against any lapses leading to re-release. The court stressed that civic agencies and shelter staff are duty-bound to uphold animal welfare while implementing the round-up programme.

Expansion of Measures
The written order incorporates and expands the original oral directions, adding Faridabad to the list of cities—Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, and Gurugram—required to establish shelters with capacity for at least 5,000 dogs within six to eight weeks. A dedicated helpline must be set up for dog-bite complaints, with instructions that offending animals be picked up within four hours. Obstruction of the capture programme will be treated as contempt of court.

Adoptions with Safeguards
On the subject of adoptions, raised during the August 11 hearing, the court authorised such initiatives only under strict vetting protocols laid out in the Standard Protocol for Adoption of Community Animals (May 17, 2022) by the Animal Welfare Board of India. Adoptions must ensure permanent rehoming, with no animal released back into public spaces.

Questioning Existing Policies
The bench openly criticised the Animal Birth Control rules mandating the release of sterilised dogs back into their original localities, questioning the rationale for reintroducing animals that may continue to pose a threat.

Balancing Rights and Risks
The order underscores the need to protect vulnerable human groups—such as children, the elderly, visually impaired persons, and the homeless—who face heightened risk from stray dog attacks and often lack access to timely medical care. The court noted that its intervention follows a two-decade failure by authorities to adequately address public safety concerns, triggered most recently by media reports of a child’s death from rabies after a dog bite.

Rejecting what it described as “virtue signalling” by certain stakeholders, the bench called upon genuine animal-welfare advocates to volunteer in shelters and contribute meaningfully to their operations. It stressed that the directions serve both human safety and animal welfare, urging the public and civic bodies to work in concert.

Clear Standards for the Future
By codifying welfare benchmarks, operational requirements, and enforcement mechanisms, the Supreme Court aims to ensure that the ongoing round-up of stray dogs neither compromises their humane treatment nor overlooks the urgent need to protect the public from the dangers posed by uncontrolled canine populations.