Stand against the Delhi Supreme Court Ruling

Let’s call it for what it is: Ineffective, Impractical and Inhumane

On August 11, the Supreme Court of India passed a controversial order to the authorities in New Delhi: capture 5, 000 dogs, sterilize and relocate them to “shelters” within just six to eight weeks. This was done in the wake of an increase in dog bite incidents leading to an uptick in rabies, including the recent death of a six-year old due to stray dog attack. This move by the Supreme Court is unprecedented and goes against the Prevention of Cruelty (Animal Birth Control/ABC) Rules established by the Central Government in 2023 recommending a humane approach and prohibiting relocation.

Naturally, this has led to a widespread uproar among animal activists and communities fighting for fairer animal treatment. Cruel animal treatment by officials in India should not come as a surprise to anyone despite powerful voices. One such voice is that of Maneka Gandhi - a politician, an animal rights, human rights and environmental activist; and more recently, that of Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition party who joined the fight calling “The SC’s directive to remove all stray dogs from Delhi-NCR is a step back from decades of humane, science-backed policy” on social media platform X.

This issue of rabies in India is longstanding and the country accounts for 36% of the world’s rabies deaths. The WHO reports that these numbers could be much higher as not all incidents are reported. While implementing policies to combat this endemic are not to be questioned, the method is highly at odds with proven solutions from all around the world. Delhi does not have the infrastructure nor the financial means to support these “captured” animals in shelter-like environments. This stunt is a government sponsored culling which will make no distinction between a pet, an already vaccinated, unharmful animal, an animal with active disease. Overpopulation of strays is a failure of the government and the community as a whole. The population of dogs got out of hand because the Animal Birth Control (ABC) measures already in place were not implemented. The Supreme Court's ruling is short sighted and needs to recognize that Delhi does not have to reinvent the wheel.

Mumbai has better control over this issue by adopting the proven method of spay/neuter and vaccination. Vaccinating the community animals prevents the spread of infectious diseases, sterilizing them (spay/neuter) eventually brings the stray population under control, one day even reaching the dream of a stray free state and even country. Netherlands is one of the first countries to have solved the stray animal issue by systematically applying the two pronged approach discussed earlier: spay/neuter and vaccination without any widespread culling or euthanzia.

Dogs, even those without rabies can exhibit aggression towards humans for reasons such as their territorial nature, lack of food, and human abuse – all of which are exacerbated with overpopulation. The rabies virus affects the brain and alters the behavior of its host, making an infected animal become aggressive and lose their fear of other animals and humans. While this miserable disease is fatal for the dog and human victim, it is entirely preventable by vaccination. Humanity aside, this ruling will not work because when strays are removed from an area, animals from neighboring locations move in as there is less competition for food. Newer dogs will bring along issues of territorial conflicts, which will worsen the problem that is at the forefront.

A hasty decision such as this is ripe for abuse and becomes hard to monitor. What happens when someone’s pet is mistakenly captured as a stray? What happens when one of these animals that has already been sterilized and vaccinated against rabies is captured? What happens to these animals after they are captured, the life that awaits them is worse than the one of the ruthless streets of Delhi. The rabies crisis is solvable in a nation like India that has eradicated polio – a feat that was once thought impossible. As India celebrates its 79th independence day on Aug 15, we hope they do so by being humane not just to people but to all beings in the country.