Delhi HC notice to government, civic bodies over stray dogs

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the city government and all civic bodies on a petition seeking appropriate action or framing of guidelines to protect Delhiites from the menace of stray dogs.

A division bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva issued notices to the city government's urban development department, the North, South and East Delhi municipal corporations, the New Delhi Municipal Council and the Delhi Cantonment Board and asked them to file their responses by May 13.

The plea filed by NGO Nyaya Bhoomi through its president Lt. Col (retd.) B.B. Sharan said that recently there have been various repeated instances where stray dogs have brutally attacked people and more importantly children, resulting in fatalities.

It said that recently, a two-month-old baby was mauled to death by a stray dog.

The plea said that to save the lives of citizens and prevent cases of stray dog bites, there should be effective implementation of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme.

"No doubt, the civic agencies carry out sterilization and vaccination of dogs regularly, but the number of dogs is so large that vaccination cannot cope with the strength. The effect of vaccination lasts only for one year," said the plea.

The ABC programme is the only effective solution to reduce the population of free roaming dogs which works in the long run.

"The Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001, was enacted by parliament under section 38 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and this envisages that in order to control street dogs' population, and to control the threat of rabies, 'animal birth control' and 'immunization' under the supervision and guidance of the Animal Welfare Board of India, are the only methods that can be resorted to," said the petition.

Many states have successfully controlled their stray dog populations and checked the problem of endemic rabies by implementing these rules, it added.

Sharan also sought direction for the authorities to release composite data on the number of stray dogs in every locality and the number of dogs vaccinated and sterilised till now.