Stray Dog Menace: Supreme Court issues new diktat on their removal
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ November 7,2025
Taking note of the “alarming rise” in dog-bite incidents across the country, the Supreme Court on Friday directed all states and Union territories (UTs) to ensure the removal of stray dogs from educational institutions, hospitals, sports complexes, bus depots and railway stations, and said such dogs cannot be released back into the same locations after sterilisation.
A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and N.V. Anjaria held that it would be the responsibility of the concerned local authorities to remove stray dogs from such premises and relocate them to designated shelters after vaccination and sterilisation in accordance with the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023.The Court has set a timeline of eight weeks for this removal process to be completed.
During the November 3 hearing, the Bench had taken serious note of government employees feeding stray dogs within office premises, observing that such conduct violated its earlier directions mandating the establishment of designated feeding zones for canines. The observations were made during the court’s ongoing suo motu proceedings to evolve a national policy on stray dog management.
The Supreme Court had previously issued several orders to tackle what it termed an “extremely grim” situation. In July, the Court had ruled that all stray dogs in the national capital and adjoining regions must be shifted away from residential localities to shelters.
