NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has ordered the Delhi government and civic bodies to begin removing stray dogs from streets and housing them in shelters, calling the city’s dog bite situation “extremely grim”. A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said the government must create shelters for about 5,000 stray dogs, with adequate staff to sterilise and immunise them. “The stray dogs should be kept at dog shelters and not be released on streets, colonies and public places,” the bench said. “We are issuing these directions keeping larger public interest in mind. Infants and young children should not at any cost fall prey to stray dog bites leading to rabies.”The SC bench also chided animal activists during the hearing.“All these animal activists, will they be able to bring back who have fallen prey to rabies?”, the bench was quoted by Bar and Bench as saying: The court warned that strict action would be taken against anyone obstructing the removal of stray dogs and directed that a helpline be set up within a week to report dog bite cases. It took the step after initiating suo motu proceedings last month over a media report of a dog bite incident that led to rabies in Delhi.A growing crisis By some accounts, Delhi sees nearly 2,000 dog bite incidents every day, contributing to the estimated 20,000 cases nationwide. According to official data, the city recorded 51,773 dog bite cases in 2023, while this year’s number had already reached 44,995 by August.
The last dog census, conducted in 2016, estimated 1,89,285 strays in four zones of the erstwhile south corporation — 1,14,587 male and 74,698 female dogs. Officials say the absence of a recent survey makes it difficult to plan sterilisation drives effectively. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) operates 20 animal birth control centres in locations such as Rohini, Timarpur, Dwarka, Tughlakabad, Usmanpur and Bijwasan. These are run by 11 NGOs and four veterinary doctors, with dogs from 250 wards brought in for sterilisation and vaccination. Sterilisation figures reveal the scale of the challenge — 51,990 dogs were sterilised in 2020-21, rising to 91,326 in 2021-22. The number dropped to 59,076 in 2022-23 but rose again to 79,959 in 2023-24. Between April 2024 and February 2025, 1,20,264 dogs had been sterilised.
