I'm from Bangalore, Karnataka, been a mother of 6 foster puppies and feeding stray puppies near my home, and I am deeply concerned about the Supreme Court’s recent order directing authorities to remove all stray dogs from the streets of Delhi and its suburbs to animal shelters.

While the intention may be to ensure safety, this blanket removal is neither humane nor practical. Here’s why :

• It violates existing animal protection laws — The Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023 clearly state that sterilised and vaccinated community dogs should be returned to the same area they were taken from. Past Supreme Court judgments have upheld this principle.

• It will harm both animals and humans — Delhi’s shelters are already overcrowded, and mass relocation will lead to poor living conditions, disease outbreaks, and high mortality rates.

• It will make the problem worse — Removing community dogs creates a “vacuum effect,” where unsterilised and unvaccinated dogs move in, increasing the risk of bites and rabies.

• It is ethically wrong — Dogs are sentient beings that have coexisted with communities for centuries. Forcibly confining healthy animals is unnecessary and cruel.

Instead of removing all stray dogs, authorities should :

• Intensify sterilisation and vaccination drives.

• Keep sterilised dogs in their own territories where they act as natural guardians.

• Relocate only genuinely dangerous or aggressive animals, not every street dog.

Here are 5 reasons executing the Supreme Court’s order to round up dogs in Delhi and put them in shelters is next to impossible :

• Delhi doesn't have a single permanent dog shelter, even if the existing vaccination units are turned into permanent dog shelters, they can at best accommodate 3,000 dogs. Delhi has almost 10 lakhs stray dogs, which means these limited shelters would be extremely overcrowded and could also become disease hotshots.

• How will the Delhi Government go about building thousands of dog shelters, if it doesn't even an updated count of it's stray dogs.

• The Delhi Municipality has no funds to sustain such a big dogs population. As per estimates the Delhi Government will need to spend 1,000 crore rupees. Annually to just feed the dogs.

• Delhi simply doesn't have the space to accommodate 10 lakh stray dogs in captivity to survive in humane conditions, a stray dog needs at least 50 sqft space which means these city's entire dog population would require 1,000 acres to survive in shelters homes.

• Experts say, this not only unscientific. It is illegal. According to Animal Birth Control Rules, dogs are required to be released in the same locality after recovery. 

Conclusion : 

Yes, India has the world's highest rabies deaths.

Yes, 37 lakh dog bites are reported every year, but the real blame lies with civic bodies that have failed to sterilise a large percentage of the stray population.

This is not the dogs fault even they have been victims of inhuman crimes..because of this failure punishing dogs won't fix what years of Government neglect have unleashed.

I am calling on :

• The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI).

• The Delhi Government.

• Municipal Corporations of Delhi.

• The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal. Husbandry and Dairying.

…to urgently file for a review or modification of this order and adopt humane, evidence-based stray dog management practices.

If you care about Delhi’s community animals, public health, and compassion, please sign and share this petition. Together, we can ensure a solution that protects people and animals.