India's Supreme Court Rules Against Sending All Stray Dogs in Delhi to Shelters
The court ruled only rabid or aggressive strays should be sheltered, while healthy dogs must be vaccinated, sterilized and released back to their original locations.
India's Supreme Court has scaled back a directive requiring all stray dogs in Delhi and its suburbs to be rounded up and placed in shelters, following protests from animal welfare organizations.
A three-judge bench ruled that dogs exhibiting no signs of rabies or aggressive behavior should be vaccinated, sterilized, and returned to their original locations. Only those confirmed as rabid or dangerously aggressive are to be confined in shelters.
The court also prohibited the indiscriminate feeding of strays in public areas, mandating the establishment of designated feeding zones instead. Authorities must create adoption programs, allowing individuals to apply to local municipal bodies to adopt stray dogs, provided the animals are not returned to the streets.
Earlier this month, a two-judge bench had expressed alarm over a reported rise in dog bites and rabies cases. Estimates put Delhi's stray dog population at around one million, with numbers also climbing in neighboring cities including Noida, Ghaziabad, and Gurugram. India accounts for 36% of global rabies fatalities, according to the World Health Organization.
Animal welfare groups had challenged the initial order to house all strays in shelters--arguing it breached existing animal birth control rules that require neutered and vaccinated dogs to be released at the site of capture--and warned of the dangers of overcrowding and culling.
The Supreme Court has now suspended the order to round up all stray dogs and announced plans to develop a national policy on stray dog management after considering similar cases from other states.
The court affirmed a balanced approach: non-aggressive, vaccinated strays should be returned to their habitats, while only rabid or aggressive dogs remain in shelters.
This topic was reported by BBC.
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