Stray Dogs, Supreme Court Orders, and the Data We Can’t Ignore
- Vivek Raj
- Aug 13, 2025
- 3 min read
On August 11, the Supreme Court delivered a sweeping order to the Delhi government and its urban local bodies: capture all stray dogs, place them in shelters, and keep them off public streets permanently. This came in response to a suo motu case on rising dog attacks — including incidents involving infants. The Court’s instruction was unequivocal: “Not a single dog picked up shall be released back on the streets/public spaces.”
The order has polarised public opinion. Some hail it as a long-overdue move to protect public safety, given Delhi’s high number of dog bite cases. Others question its feasibility — pointing out that the city simply does not have the shelter capacity for tens of thousands of animals. This disagreement highlights a deeper challenge: before debating solutions, India needs to fix its dog data.
A Dog-Counting Problem
Whether the goal is mass vaccination or permanent sheltering, any plan starts with knowing how many dogs exist. Yet, the last nationwide stray dog census was the 2019 Livestock Census — already six years old. Delhi’s own count is even older, from 2016. In 2025, policymakers are forced to work with these outdated figures.
Even more concerning, the 2019 data itself has inconsistencies. In Tamil Nadu, the census reported 4.4 lakh stray dogs, yet the State recorded 8.3 lakh dog bites the same year — nearly two bites per dog. Manipur’s data is even more puzzling: it reported zero stray dogs in 2019 but logged about 5,500 dog bites that year.
Meanwhile, Odisha was listed as having 17.3 lakh dogs (second highest among States) but recorded only 1.7 lakh bites— a much lower bite-to-dog ratio than Tamil Nadu. If accurate, this suggests some States are managing dog-human interactions far better than others. If inaccurate, it points to a serious measurement problem.
Why the Numbers Matter
The World Health Organization estimates that 99% of human rabies cases are caused by infected dog bites. India’s National Action Plan for Dog-Mediated Rabies Elimination (2018) outlines a clear strategy: vaccinate 70% of the dog population for three consecutive years to stop rabies transmission. Without reliable population data, this becomes guesswork.
Goa offers a compelling case study. Through a targeted, data-driven vaccination programme, the State vaccinated around 70% of its dogs, leading to a 92% drop in canine rabies cases and the complete elimination of human rabies by 2019. Ironically, Goa also had the highest dog bite rate per capita in 2019, showing that high bite numbers don’t necessarily mean high rabies risk — if vaccination is effective.
The Legal and Policy Clash
The Supreme Court’s new order directly contradicts the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules 2023, which follow the “capture, neuter, vaccinate, release” model and prohibit long-term confinement of healthy dogs. This sets up a dangerous legal conflict for municipalities: obey the Court and risk violating the Rules, or follow the Rules and risk contempt.
Meanwhile, sterilisation coverage across most cities remains well below the 70% threshold needed to curb reproduction, allowing packs to persist in high-density areas where garbage and human activity overlap.
A Way Forward
India needs:
Reliable, regular dog population surveys at State and city levels
Integrated bite and rabies case tracking for real-time risk assessment
Legal reform to reconcile animal welfare with public safety in urban areas
Sustainable funding for shelters, vaccination teams, and trained veterinary staff
Without accurate data, the debate over whether to shelter or release dogs will remain ideological rather than evidence-based. The Goa model shows that with the right numbers and sustained action, rabies can be eliminated without creating overcrowded “canine jails” on city fringes.
The Supreme Court’s intervention should be the push to modernise both law and practice — replacing outdated census figures with live, actionable data, and shifting the conversation from conflict to coordinated action.
💬 What’s your view — is better data the missing key to solving India’s stray dog crisis, or is the problem more about willpower and resources?
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