Mumbai: Following a Supreme Court ruling prioritizing human safety over sentient animal welfare, activists have raised concerns about misinterpretation and misuse of the order, opposing plans for dog shelters. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has identified sites in Malad, Chembur, and Malvani for permanent dog shelters, but activists argue that diverting resources toward confinement instead of sterilization could prove ineffective, expensive, and potentially cruel.
Current Stray Dog Situation in Mumbai
Civic officials report that Mumbai currently has 90,757 stray dogs, with approximately 13,000 sterilizations conducted annually at eight centers. However, no animal welfare group has yet expressed interest in building the proposed dog shelters.
Activist Concerns
Meet Ashar, activist and legal advisor for PETA India, stated: “Firstly, dog shelters will take resources away from sterilization. Importantly, the areas vacated by sending dogs to shelters will be quickly repopulated by dogs from surrounding areas due to the vacuum effect, rendering the exercise completely futile and resulting in a complete waste of resources and taxpayers’ money.”
Ashar added: “We have opposed 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. This is cruelty.” Pointing to the impracticality, Ashar said: “With an estimated 62 million free-roaming dogs in India, there is no infrastructure, funding, or administrative capacity to confine even a fraction of the canine population without causing mass suffering and public-health risks.”
Case of Kaddu the Dog
Animal lovers highlighted the recent outcry among Delhi feeders after an affable old dog named Kaddu was picked up from the airport. “Kaddu had lived peacefully in the Delhi airport for over 12 years, and never even barked at any of the passengers. So, why was Kaddu picked up and imprisoned?” said activist and legal advisor Roshan Pathak in defense of strays.
Pathak added: “Besides the three sites marked by BMC for building dog shelters, we fear that more may come up in forest areas, including Aarey, to accommodate more stray dogs. If corruption happens, we wonder if the captive dogs will even get adequate food. At present, feeders are lovingly giving them food and also vaccinating and sterilizing them from their own pockets.”
IIT-Bombay Community Opposition
At IIT-Bombay campus, over 500 students and teaching staff signed a memorandum to authorities stating they do not want their institute’s community dogs to be picked up and placed in shelters. All local dogs are healthy, sterilized, and vaccinated.
Misinterpretation of Supreme Court Order
Animal activist Pallavi Patil emphasized that the Supreme Court’s order should not be misinterpreted or misused by private individuals, housing societies, institutions, or hospitals. “The order does not grant any blanket authority to any private person or group to remove, relocate, assault, detain or harm community dogs or to harass animal feeders,” said Patil.
Financial and Logistical Burdens
As the country braces for tighter financial conditions following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent call for citizens to cut down on expenses, animal welfare activists are questioning the huge costs involved in implementing the Supreme Court’s stray dog directives. In Mumbai, the BMC has already identified sites in Malad, Chembur, and Malvani to build permanent shelters for community dogs picked up from public spaces such as educational institutions and bus depots — a move activists say could place a massive financial and logistical burden on civic authorities.
Response to Supreme Court Directive
When informed about the SC directive that feeders should take responsibility if their locality dogs become aggressive or bite someone, since “human safety is paramount,” Pathak said: “We have read so many cases where rapists have been released on bail, only to commit more heinous crimes. Ever heard of a stray dog involved in rape and murder? So, who should be jailed, and which creature needs our love and support?”
Clarification on Culling
There was also a huge backlash against the Punjab chief minister’s statement that they would start culling stray dogs in their state after the SC verdict. The Punjab CM has now issued a clarification on this sensitive issue. “SC never said that stray dogs can be killed at will. Only those which are rabid or suffering from a serious disease may be euthanized. However, who will take a call on this, and how to also judge which dog is aggressive or not,” argued Patil.
