New Delhi: Over the past five years, Delhi’s efforts to manage its stray dog population saw wide fluctuations, shows data shared by Delhi govt’s urban development department.From 2021 till 2025, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) sterilised and administered anti-rabies vaccination to more than 4.3 lakh stray dogs, including a record 1.3 lakh in 2024 alone. In 2021-2022, a total of 91,326 strays were sterilised and vaccinated. The number fell steeply to 57,076 in 2022-2023 — a drop of nearly 38% — before rebounding in 2023-2024 to 79,959. The biggest jump came in 2024-2025, when 1,31,137 dogs underwent the procedure, a year-on-year increase of about 64%, marking the highest output of the programme so far in the five-year period.In 2025-26, about 68,000 dogs were sterilised and vaccinated between April and Nov, averaging 8,551 dogs per month, which is lower than the previous year’s average of 10,928. While the lower total reflects the shorter period, the monthly figures indicate a moderate slowdown in pace.Though month-on-month comparison of the available data was not immediately available, an official said catch-sterilise-vaccinate-release efforts usually slow down during extreme summer heat and heavy monsoon rains as these conditions can stress animals and complicate surgery and recovery.“By the end of the financial year, the number for 2025-26 is likely to increase significantly because sterilisation and vaccination efforts are going on throughout the city,” said an official.The Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, notified under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, mandate local authorities to carry out sterilisation and anti-rabies vaccination of stray dogs as the primary and humane method of population control. The rules place clear responsibility on municipal bodies to ensure dogs are captured, sterilised, vaccinated, ear-notched for identification, and safely returned to their original locations after recovery.Under the Act, 20 sterilisation centres are being run in the city by NGOs, where the dogs are sterilised and vaccinated. In 2024, these centres handled an average of about 6,550 dogs each — roughly 18 dogs per centre per day. In 2025 so far, the daily average dipped to 14 dogs per centre.The NGOs also carry out periodic anti-rabies awareness drives by involving members of RWAs. MCD also runs a helpline number, 155305, for reporting dog bite cases in the city.According to officials, management of stray dogs is likely to get a major boost with Delhi govt’s plans to microchip them in an advanced stage. In Sept last year, development minister Kapil Mishra announced that nearly 10 lakh street dogs across the city would be microchipped over the next two years in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme as part of a broader push to strengthen rabies control and dog population management. He said govt would prepare a state action plan against rabies in a bid to check dog bite cases.However, the total number of stray dogs in Delhi is still unknown as a survey has never been carried out by MCD.
