Too many strays, too few shelters: Delhi NGOs say they do not have the capacity to act on SC’s dog orders

MCD sources said that an order may be issued early next week designating an individual at every hospital, school, etc., to ensure no feeding of dogs takes place on the premises or close by

Stray dogs inside JNU campus on Friday (Express/Praveen Khanna)

The Supreme Court’s direction on Friday to “forthwith” remove “every stray dog” from public premises including educational institutions, hospitals, and transport hubs “to a designated shelter”, and to not release them “back to the…location from which they were picked up”, has triggered concern over the logistics of housing the captured animals.

There are an estimated 8 lakh strays in Delhi, and the animal welfare nonprofits with whose help the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) tries to manage this population may not have the capacity to handle the load.

The court has said that the dogs must be put in shelters “after due sterilisation and vaccination in accordance with the Animal Birth Control Rules”.

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The MCD carries out sterilisation and immunisation through 13 registered NGOs who operate 20 Animal Birth Control (ABC) Centres across Delhi. Each centre can house between 80 and 200 dogs. A total 54,623 dogs have been sterilised and immunised between April and September 2025, the MCD has submitted to the SC in an affidavit.

“Currently we have 70 dogs in our shelter. Ten underwent sterilisation yesterday; if these animals can’t be released back, and if tomorrow an MCD van comes with more dogs, where will I keep them?” Bandana Sen Gupta, founder of the NGO Sonadi Charitable Trust, said.

Sen Gupta noted that Friday’s order resonated with the court’s August 11 order, which directed authorities in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, and Ghaziabad to “start picking up stray dogs from all localities” and putting them in shelters “at the earliest”, and to “make all localities free of stray dogs”.

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The court modified this order on August 22, saying that the dogs that are picked up shall be “released back to the same area” after they are sterilised, dewormed, and vaccinated.

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Sen Gupta also complained that the civic body owes her NGO a significant sum for its ABC services. “It is very hard to manage sterilisation, feeding, and medical expenses of dogs. Since the MCD does not help, if more dogs are bought here, what will they eat?” she said.

Deepak Nagar, a dog catcher and caretaker at an ABC centre run by the NGO Neighbourhood Woof in Timarpur, said the SC’s order is almost impossible to implement. “Our shelter is constructing more kennels to keep dogs, but each kennel can only hold 4-5 dogs, or at the most 6, at a time. We already have 150-200 dogs at a time. They cannot be confined forever,” he said.

MCD sources said that an order may be issued early next week designating an individual at every hospital, school, etc., to ensure no feeding of dogs takes place on the premises or close by.

“The first step is not to relocate the dog but designate a feeding spot nearby so they don’t enter these premises,” said an official.

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