No more strays on streets: Supreme Court directs Delhi NCR authorities to move all street dogs to shelters

Calling the stray dog menace in the city “extremely grim,” the Supreme Court on Monday directed Delhi-NCR authorities and civic bodies to begin picking up strays from all localities within the next two months and house them in dog shelters.

Issuing several directions to curb dog bite incidents, the court warned that strict action would be taken against any person or organisation obstructing the authorities from picking up stray dogs.

"NCT Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad, MCD, NMDC shall start picking up stray dogs from all localities, particularly from more vulnerable localities. It is for the authorities to look into and if they have to create a force, do it at the earliest. However, this should be the first and foremost exercise to make all localities free of stray dogs. There should not be any compromise in undertaking the exercise," said the top court bench.


A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said dog shelters should be set up to accommodate around 5,000 stray dogs, with adequate personnel deployed to sterilise and vaccinate the animals.

"If any individual or organisation comes in the way of picking stray dogs or rounding them up, we will proceed to take action against any such resistance," said Justice Pardiwala.

The court made it clear that stray dogs must be kept in shelters and not released back onto streets, colonies, or public spaces. In addition, the bench directed that a record of stray dogs that have captured and detained must be kept daily.

“The authorities concerned, more particularly the government of NCT Delhi, are directed to put detailed information about the place where such vacancies are available, the stock of vacancies and the number of persons who report for treatment every month," the bench added, stressing that infants and young children should under no circumstances fall prey to dog bites leading to rabies.

The bench also directed the creation of a helpline within a week to ensure all dog bite cases are reported immediately.

The court had, on July 28, taken suo motu cognisance of a media report on a dog bite incident in Delhi that led to a case of rabies.

In response, the Delhi government will swiftly implement the Supreme Court’s order to move stray dogs to shelter homes, Development Minister Kapil Mishra said. Mishra, in a post on X, said the animal department, under CM Rekha Gupta, will work with agencies to ensure proper and timely execution of the order, with due care for the dogs’ welfare.