The Supreme Court of India has ordered authorities to remove stray dogs from the streets of NCR. The Court was quite emotive in its judgment. It warned animal rights activists against obstructing authorities from carrying out its order. They will face legal consequences if they attempt such a thing.
Along expected lines, the order has triggered a heated debate across the board. Protesters marched on the streets of Delhi against the Supreme Court order. The Police detained several animal rights activists for the same and the activists claimed they are being persecuted for their noble ideals. In other words, it was just another day in the great dance of Democracy.
#WATCH | Police detain animal rights activists, rescuers, caregivers, and dog lovers protesting in front of the India Gate against the Supreme Court order to send all stray dogs in Delhi-NCR to shelters within 8 weeks. pic.twitter.com/3xCWA17UNG
— ANI (@ANI) August 11, 2025
The debate has also permeated into political discourse. Congress MP Karti Chidambaram has welcomed the Supreme Court verdict and found himself on the same side as BJP’s Amit Malviya. Chidambaram’s father also joined him in demanding that the Supreme Court order be implemented nationwide.
Congress supremo Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, has criticised the order and declared that it is a “step back from decades of humane, science-backed policy”. It is unclear which policy he is referring to. ‘Do nothing’ is not scientific or humane, it’s not even a policy. It’s an abdication of responsibility.
Nevertheless, the debate around how to solve the stray dogs menace is necessary. Unfortunately, until now, people were only debating whether any action should be taken or not. That debate has been settled. The only question now is how to move forward.
There Is No Humane Way To Solve The Stray Dogs Menace
Dog Lovers have based their opposition against the Supreme Court order around one simple theme. They argue that the order is ‘inhumane’ and lacks ‘compassion’. I agree with them on this part. But they also have to be reasonable enough to acknowledge that there is no ‘humane’ way to deal with the menace.
Animal Rights Activists, and even those who support the Court Order, argue that sterilisation is a humane solution. But how is it humane? In human society, sexual offenders are punished sometimes with mandatory castration and even that only in the most extreme cases. How does something that is punishment for the worst human beings become a ‘humane solution’ when the same is done to dogs? I hope animal lovers see the irony here.
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Dog Lovers believe, even though most wouldn’t admit it, that the lives of stray dogs and humans hold equal value. Unfortunately, they do not take the belief to its logical conclusion. If they do hold equal value, then why do they recommend forced sterilisation as a solution, which is a punishment if done to a human?
The reality of the situation is, and I repeat myself here, there is no ‘humane’ solution to the problem. Since there is no humane solution, dog lovers will oppose whatever every solution that anyone proposes. Because they don’t want a solution. They believe things are fine as they are. That, ultimately, is the core of the problem.
Dog Lovers don’t want a solution but why?
Dog Lovers should have taken up the initiative to propose solutions to the Stray Dogs Menace a long time ago. When viral videos of dog attacks started circulating on social media, dog lovers should have realised that things will not remain as they are. Instead, they ignored the matter altogether.
When people shared videos of stray dogs attacking children, no dog lover stepped forward to present a solution to the problem. People circulated statistics online of the obscenely high dog attack incidents in India and demanded solutions. Dog Lovers still had nothing to say.
People were begging for solutions and the Dog Lovers did not give them one. Worse, they did not even acknowledge the magnitude of the problem in the first place. Now that someone has given people a solution, they are complaining that the solution is not humane. Dog Lovers had the chance to present a solution but they did not take it.
They cannot complain now that a solution has finally been provided. If they think they have a better solution, they should have presented it when they still had the time.
A Stitch In Time Saves Nine
Activists for Stray Dogs have adopted ‘Sterilisation’ and ‘Immunisation’ as their Mantra. But those are not solutions. As Solicitor General Tushar Mehta pointed out on Thursday, sterilisation does not stop rabies. It does not stop dog bites.
SG: SHOCKING FIGURES… 37 lakhs a year…10000 cases in a day…of dog bites.. more than 36% of lobal rabies fatalities in India..nobody is an animal hater..only 4-5 species of snakes are poisonous but we do not keep them at home..people are unable to send children out..young…
— LawBeat (@LawBeatInd) August 14, 2025
There are 37 lakh dog bites in India every year. That is 10,000 per day. The Solicitor General was right when he pointed that out. Why was there no concern from ‘animal rights’ activists regarding this? If nothing else, humans are animals too, biologically speaking. Are the victims of dog bites not worthy of even the littlest of concerns?
As I said, there are no ‘humane’ solutions to this. The solutions that have been branded ‘humane’ are not humane really. But just like there are hierarchies in love, there are hierarchies in cruelty too. Some options are more cruel than others. Not every cruel act carries the same degree of intensity. Sometimes, a cruel act in time negates the necessity of a cruel act a hundred times worst later. A stitch in time does save nine.
All things considered, the Supreme Court order directing authorities to relocate stray dogs into shelters is the least cruel option of them all. If some similar action had been taken in time, we would have had much less cruel options on the table. But that time has passed. And animal rights activists only have themselves to blame.
