On feeding stray dogs, Delhi’s RWAs say animal welfare board should play larger role

The Supreme Court has vacated its interim stay, ordered in March, on a Delhi High Court verdict on feeding stray dogs. In June last year, the High Court had said that stray dogs have the right to food and citizens have the right to feed them. A three-judge bench presided by Justice U U Lalit vacated the stay on Thursday after being informed that the parties before the High Court had settled the matter.

Ruby Makhija, secretary of Navjivan Vihar RWA said, “We respect the judgment and we will follow the same. We already had designated feeding spots, but being a small colony it’s a little difficult for us since the spots have to be less frequented by the visitors. The Animal Welfare Board had to work in coordination with RWA to identify such spots, so we wrote to them last time also but we haven’t received any revert from them.”

Iqbal Tandon, RWA secretary Saket G Block, said they too had a designated area – a lane to feed dogs.

“But people don’t usually stick to it and around messing up the roads. We don’t want to deter dog lovers from following their passion because street dogs are here to stay. They are not going to vanish. You have to look after them. But designated spaces are necessary so that other residents in the colony are not inconvenienced. It also poses a problem sanitation, disease-wise,” he said.

Shilpa Chandra, the Green Park Extension RWA Secretary, said they had controlled the stray dog population to a great extent. “Strays are there but to a great extent, over a period of time we have got them spayed or neutered. Right now we have maybe one per lane, and they are not very aggressive and are well fed. At one time there was a problem. The SDMC came and took some of them away. Some residents had opposed it. We were not in favor of relocation either. Of late, we haven’t had many incidents,” she said.

“My idea is that through the animal welfare board, we can have designated feeding spots away from residential areas. They can be fed there twice a day because too much feeding also makes them aggressive,” she said.