Feces, flies & broken promises inside Chandigarh’s govt animal shelter

On questioning the on-duty veterinary doctor about the unlivable conditions, he said, “This wasn’t even a cats’ room to begin with… we have just been using it like one.”

Compounding the suffering was a power cut that lasted more than three hours. None of the air coolers worked. With no proper power backup or generator, the animals, many of them sick, injured or recovering, were left struggling in the heat inside concrete rooms.

‘Aggressive’ labels, guesswork medicine

One of the most disturbing issues raised by volunteers was the way animals are being classified and kept inside the shelter. One of the volunteers claimed that the facility does not even have the basic equipment needed for routine blood tests. Due to which, several dogs are allegedly being shifted to isolation or “aggressive” wards without proper tests.

According to volunteers, many healthy and friendly street dogs picked up by municipal teams are being kept in overcrowded cages under the label“aggressive.”

Volunteers alleged that a healthy puppy recently died after being placed in one such enclosure. They claimed the puppy was wrongly marked as aggressive, later caught an infection inside the shelter, and died due to poor hygiene.

Harshpreet Kaur, a volunteer at the shelter for over two years, alleged that repeated complaints sent to the Municipal Corporation and authorities received no response.

In a written complaint dated May 14, 2026, she alleged negligence in animal treatment, poor sanitation, overcrowding, and lack of accountability. “Puppies are often seen lying in their own waste and feces for long durations,” she wrote, adding that flies were visibly sitting on the wounds of sick puppies.

“Being the only government-run veterinary hospital in Chandigarh, it is shocking that there is not even a single diagnostic machine. The shelt­er continues to remain inhumane,” said Nikki Latta Gill, Executive Director of Sehjeevi Foundation.

A veterinarian present at the shelter responded to allegations regarding irregular attendance and said he was present at the facility during the visit and was balancing his duties between the SPCA and office-related responsibilities in Sector 17. While the budget allocation is somewhat near Rs 1 crore, more than half of it is spent on salaries, hence the lack of infrastructure, he said.

Court proceedings

The concerns mirror observations recently discussed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In an interim order dated March 11, 2026, the court noted allegations regarding neglect of animals and poor upkeep at the shelter. It also recorded complaints that some SPCA employees had not been paid salaries, allegedly affecting functioning at the facility.

The court reiterated directions requiring clean and fresh water and well-ventilated accommodation for animals , conditions that, based on on-ground testimony, remain unmet.

The court reiterated earlier directions requiring clean and fresh water and well-ventilated accommodation for animals , conditions that, based on on-ground testimony, remain unmet.

The order additionally questioned the shelter’s expenditure pattern after audited financial statements showed annual expenditure of Rs 1.22 crore for FY 2023-24, including over Rs 1.09 crore spent on salaries, while only RS 3.53 lakh was shown as expenditure on animal feed and Rs 57,565 on medicines and hospital expenses.

The RTI records, accessed by Nikki Latta Gill, show that the Chandigarh Administration provided Rs 96 lakh as annual grant-in-aid to the SPCA for 2023-24.

Questions that still remain

As Chandigarh’s only government-run animal shelter, the SPCA was meant to offer care and recovery to vulnerable animals. But volunteers allege that overcrowding, poor hygiene, lack of infrastructure and administrative neglect continue to put animal lives at risk.

Whether this testimony will finally force accountability remains the only question that matters.