STRAY DOGS MENACE FALLS UNDER STATE GOVTS ALONG WITH LOCAL BODIES, SAYS CENTRE
NEW DELHI: Amid the ongoing ‘menace’ of stray dogs across India and the Supreme Court’s controversial order to pick all of them up from Delhi-NCR streets, the Centre has said that the matter falls under the purview of the state governments along with local bodies.
“The issue of stray dogs falls under the purview of State Governments, with Local Bodies mandated to manage related matters,” the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court has reserved its order on a batch of pleas seeking to quash its earlier order of picking up every stray dogs from Delhi-NCR streets and keep them in a shelter.
The Centre, the ministry said, has framed the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, to ensure proper and humane dog population management.
The new stray dog rules in India, which align with the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) standards for the Capture–Neuter–Vaccinate–Release (CNVR) approach, states that “local bodies are responsible for implementing sterilisation and vaccination programmes in collaboration with animal welfare organisations.”
“The sterilisation programme is an ongoing process being implemented by Urban Local Bodies. An advisory was issued by the Secretary (Animal Husbandry and Dairying) to all Chief Secretaries on 11.11.2024,” the ministry said,
An advisory subsequently issued in July 2025 by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and Ministry of Panchayati Raj reiterated that sterilisation of stray dogs is central to dog population management. The advisory urged urban local bodies to establish Animal Birth Control units and undertake large-scale sterilisation programmes, covering at least 70 per cent of stray dogs.
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