Balancing Public Safety and Animal Welfare – All you need to know.

Introduction

There is a growing rise of hatred towards dogs but this intolerance is not only limited to dogs but other animals too.This hatred is often found baseless and targeted  by the dog feeding community. According to them, they are intentionally making baseless allegations for not allowing dogs in the society.

But the Delhi High Court recently emphasized that dogs are the most loved animals and great friends of humans, urging authorities to treat them nicely and address stray dog issues humanely.

Justice Mini Pushkarna emphasized that there is an urgent need for policy intervention and it should address the root cause rather than lingering on the half measure propaganda.

Government Measures for Stray Animal Management

Despite being a sterilization drive has been the topic of discussion but nothing  has changed after three decades and  still there is a lacuna in the functioning of the animal welfare system.

Even the authorities which are working for the animal welfare system ,most of them are non-functional and non-operating hampering the system’s functioning.

There should be more emphasis on administrative action rather than adopting just stringent measures.

Court Observation

1. The Delhi High Court on the increasing dog-human conflict emphasized that we should protect human safety but at the same time we should also prioritize animal welfare.
2. The Court further said that the dog should be kept in house or in shelter rather than left abandoned on the road to suffer alone searching for food.And not only dogs are suffering but beside dogs humans are also suffering.Neither human are safe and nor dogs
3. The Sterilisation drive has yielded no result instead of improvement the issue has further become worse.
4. There is still a cycle of crisis management in handling dog-human conflict ,no policy framework is working and such outcome would result in more escalation of conflicts.
5. The Court said most of the authorities which are running for animal welfare are non-functional or non- operational.

Way forward

The Delhi court emphasized on the  submission of concrete recommendations on this issue.And the matter is listed for September 17,2025.

Apart from court recommendations and orders ,complementary measures should be adopted such as:

1. Relocation of the  alternative government or NGO run shelter before the demolition took place.
2. Setting up temporary maintained enclosures near unused public buildings.
3. Clear allocation of funds in managing Animal Welfare machinery.
4. Making both animal birth control centers functional and operational.
5. Need of amendment of municipal laws so as to prevent demolition in the transition.
6. Vaccinate the animals before their relocation.
7. Sterilisation drive should be managed effectively.
8. Involvement of Civil society and NGO should be encouraged to enhance their involvement in management of animal wellbeing.
9. Strengthening Animal Birth Control programmes for effective implementation.
10. Upgrading the shelter infrastructure.
11. Community awareness and engagement should be encouraged more.
12. Aggressive animal rescue protocol should be established.

About the Author

SANSKRITI GUPTA ,Final year Law student  pursuing a B.A.LL.B (Hons) with a specialization in Business Law from Amity Law School, Noida.