Mumbai: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (PETA India) has filed an application before the Supreme Court in the petition related to the stray dogs issue, urging the court to reconsider its order for the jailing of dogs from various areas and the rounding up of cows in “an out-of-sight-out-of-mind approach”; and instead issue directions for the humane, lawful, and scientifically grounded management of community animals in accordance with roadmaps submitted by PETA India.In its application, the NGO cautioned the apex court against the warehousing of dogs for life in cramped and underfunded facilities, warning that such measures are not only cruel and unscientific but also unworkable at scale, a major public health risk, and would divert public resources away from real solutions, including the implementation of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules 2023, and ultimately worsen human–animal conflict. PETA India also urged the Court to stay the implementation of the Animal Welfare Board of India’s SOP, which recommends large-scale shelters that allot a mere 20 square feet per dog—roughly the size of a traditional funeral pyre.Among other recommendations, PETA India urged the Supreme Court to reaffirm and strengthen the implementation of the ABC Rules, 2023, rather than focus on punitive, knee-jerk displacement measures that repeatedly failed wherever they were attempted. It submitted for the court’s consideration 2 comprehensive, expert-driven roadmaps, which were also sent to the Prime Minister, states and union territories, and the Animal Welfare Board of India.Grounded in the principles of Ahimsa and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, these roadmaps provide preventive, evidence-based, and legally sound solutions that address root causes, including illegal pet shops and breeders and the abandonment of dogs by impulse-buyers, as well as the abandonment of male calves and cows when their milk production wanes by the dairy sector.For community dogs: time-bound, area-wide implementation of the ABC Rules, 2023; expansion via smaller-scale sterilisation and rabies-vaccination capacity; closure of illegal breeders and pet shops; prohibition of foreign dog breeds bred for use in illegal dogfights; protection of community feeders; and strong govt incentives for adoption.“The lifelong incarceration of dogs in spaces the size of a funeral pyre—and the relocation of stray cattle into already overcrowded and underfunded gaushalas—is not population management; it is cruelty dressed up as policy,” said Shaurya Agrawal, Policy Associate, PETA India. “India already has lawful, science-based frameworks to address stray dog and cow populations that need to be implemented in a time-bound manner,” he added.PETA India emphasised before the court that confining countless dogs and an ever-growing number of stray cattle is neither feasible nor humane. With an estimated 62 million free-roaming dogs and 5 million stray cattle (and counting due to dairy industry abandonment) in India, there is no infrastructure, funding, or administrative capacity to confine even a fraction of the population without triggering enormous suffering and mass disease outbreaks.Through its application, PETA India urged the Supreme Court to ensure that any directions issued in the matter uphold constitutional values, existing animal-protection laws, and India’s long-standing commitment to compassionate coexistence.
