Delhi needs sterilisation and vaccination not cruel dog shelters

Source: The post Delhi needs sterilisation and vaccination not cruel dog shelters has been created, based on the article “A Court order that was barking up the wrong tree” published in “The Hindu” on 23rd August 2025. Delhi needs sterilisation and vaccination not cruel dog shelters.

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 2- Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health.

Context: On August 11, 2025, the Supreme Court ordered Delhi’s street dogs confined; on August 22, 2025, it stayed that order. The initial decree ignored science, law, and compassion, and distracted from governance failures. With the final hearing pending, humane, evidence-based options require focus.

For detailed information on Supreme Court order on street dogs raises legal concerns read this article here

What the Court Ordered and Why It Matters

1. A flawed decree and reversal: The order mandated citywide incarceration of street dogs. Its stay on August 22, 2025 exposed deep policy and legal flaws.
2. A sentence without compassion: Lakhs of sentient beings would face misery and likely death. The directive sidelined constitutional compassion and societal duty.
3. A diversion from real crises: The dog focus masked governance failures: alleged voter theft, crumbling infrastructure, monsoon flooding, corruption, and inflation. MCD’s statutory lapses persisted.
4. Costly and impractical fantasy: Mass shelters would cost thousands of crores and lack capacity. The plan promised chaos, not safety, for people or animals.

Why Mass Sheltering Fails

1. Public health catastrophe: Overcrowded shelters fuel aggression, injuries, and disease. Outbreaks would create hazardous carcass-disposalburdens for poorly protected staff.
2. Behavioural harm is predictable: Research, including Leslie Irvine and David Tuber (1999), shows confinement causes severe distress and dangerous behaviour. Welfare declines sharply.
3. Zoonotic risk magnifier: Shelters can become epicentres for rabies and leptospirosis, endangering dogs and workers. Public health risk rises, not falls.
4. Imagined outcomes in Delhi: Mixing territorial dogs would trigger fights and casualties. Control would collapse as stress and injuries escalate quickly.

Ecological and Policy Contradictions

1. The vacuum effect: Mass removal creates an ecological vacuum. Dogs from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh would migrate to food sources. Border policing is absurd.
2. Losing urban scavengers: Removing dogs cuts scavenging. Rodent and monkey numbers could surge, bringing new public health problems.
3. Against WHO and NAPRE guidance: WHO and India’s NAPRE endorse mass sterilisation and vaccination for control. The order contradicted these scientific guidelines.
4. Social misrepresentation: It is not elite versus poor. Research shows street dogs’ symbiosis with marginalised residents, including homeless people who rely on them.

Evidence and Law Favour ABC

1. Proven programme, poor execution: ABC has worked, including in Jaipur. A 2010 Jodhpur study showed stable declines and high vaccination. MCD missed targets and budgets.
2. Legal inconsistency corrected: The Pardiwala order clashed with Maheshwari (2024) upholding Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023. The August 22, 2025 modification restored coherence.
3. A constitutional duty of compassion: Article 51A(g) mandates compassion for living creatures. State-sanctioned cruelty violates India’s moral and legal framework.
4. Accountability, not scapegoats: The core problem is MCD dereliction, not dogs. Statutory duties and humane protocols remain unimplemented.

A Targeted, Humane Way Forward

1. Focused risk management: Address bites with evidence. Capture and observe specific dogs after clear, unprovoked attacks. Avoid indiscriminate round-ups.
2. Implement proven protocols: Scale sterilisation and vaccination. Establish uniform, humane protocols aligned with WHO/NAPRE for population and rabies control.
3. Re-centre governance: Fix waste, drainage, and urban services shaping human–animal interactions. Hold MCD accountable for execution.
4. Choose science and compassion: Reject dog prisons. A safer city comes from ABC, vaccination, and responsible governance—science with compassion.

Question for practice:

Evaluate the scientific, ecological, and legal flaws in the Supreme Court’s initial order to shelter Delhi’s street dogs.