‘No space for so many stray dogs, will affect sterilisation drive’: Worry at Delhi shelter homes after SC order

With the Supreme Court directing that stray dogs from Delhi-NCR should be removed to shelter homes within eight weeks, officials running the Animal Birth Control (ABC) centre in collaboration with Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) are concerned that their sterilisation programme will now take a backseat.

Many of the dogs at the shelter – which can accommodate up to 280 strays – belong to the Red Fort area, says Dr Rajat, the vet at the centre run by an NGO.

For him, the SC order is a step towards “mass culling”. He adds that sterilisation surgeries cannot take place if dogs are needed to be caged forever. “We have little space and post-operative care requires space… There are chances of the dog, which has undergone sterilisation, getting infected.”

The Neighbourhood Woof, an ABC centre in Timarpur, meanwhile, has received orders from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Tuesday not to release dogs recently captured from the Red Fort area even after Independence Day celebrations are over.

As Scooter, Phoenix, Simba, Jackie, Bharati, Komal, and Christina roam around the centre, with some other dogs either sleeping or playing, those running the facility are worried about their sterilisation programme.

Partially under construction with more kennels being added, the centre can as of now accommodate 100-120 dogs. Officials say the centre also sterilises 300 dogs in a month. “We have received a call from MCD saying that we should not release these dogs back on the streets after August 15. How can we keep them here? This will stop our sterilisation programme since dogs require 4-5 days of post-operative care and we don’t have space to accommodate so many,” says Ayesha Christina Benn, Managing Trustee and CEO of Neighbourhood Woof.

Some of the kennels at the centre are marked ‘Red Fort’ along with dates, indicating these dogs were picked up from the Red Fort area last week.

A few kilometers away in Bela Road, Yash Domestic ABC centre is located beside an MCD cremation ground. It is one of the ABC centres that has an operation theatre of its own.

Dr Sanjeev Kumar, the vet, says he has been receiving multiple calls since Monday from local residents. “Some say ‘please take away the dogs from our locality’ while some plead that they be intimated before the rescue team reaches their locality, so that they can hide the dogs at their homes.”

He adds that in case all strays are shifted to shelters, the sterilisation drive will suffer. “When a dog comes for sterilisation, it is kept under observation for 24 hours. After operation, it is again kept under observation for 4-5 days. This will not be possible if kennels are overflowing.”

“The SC must be aware that centres can’t accommodate dogs beyond a certain number. If the MCD asks us to not release dogs to the streets, we will have to stop sterilising dogs.”

At Jal Vihar Colony in Lajpat Nagar, Animal India Trust ABC facility has been shut for two weeks after its roof collapsed. “No dog was hurt… We are rebuilding the damaged portion,” says an official. The facility now lies abandoned with empty and cramped kennels covered by plastic sheets.

Speaking to The Indian Express, an official from MCD said the first step to be taken now is to capture and shelter aggressive dogs. “We are looking at complaints received from RWAs and rounding up dogs. Sterilisation is not the main focus now… Our main objective is to give people relief from stray dogs.”