In a significant legal intervention, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (PETA India) has approached the Supreme Court, urging it to reconsider its directives for the mass incarceration of stray dogs and the rounding up of cattle. The animal rights organization has filed an application in an ongoing petition, arguing that such measures represent a cruel and unscientific "out-of-sight-out-of-mind" approach that will exacerbate human-animal conflict.
PETA's Plea for Humane and Scientific Solutions
PETA India has cautioned the apex court against the lifelong warehousing of dogs in cramped, underfunded facilities. The NGO's application warns that such a policy is not only inhumane but also unworkable on a large scale, poses a major public health risk, and misdirects crucial public resources away from sustainable solutions. Instead, PETA India has urged the court to issue directions for the humane, lawful, and scientifically grounded management of community animals, based on roadmaps the organization has submitted.
The application specifically seeks a stay on the implementation of the Animal Welfare Board of India's Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which recommends large-scale shelters allotting a mere 20 square feet per dog—an area PETA India compares to the size of a traditional funeral pyre.
Roadmaps Rooted in Ahimsa and Evidence
PETA India has placed before the Supreme Court two comprehensive, expert-driven roadmaps that outline preventive and evidence-based solutions. These documents, also sent to the Prime Minister, states, union territories, and the Animal Welfare Board of India, are grounded in the Indian principles of Ahimsa (non-violence) and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family).
The roadmaps address the root causes of the stray animal population crisis. Key recommendations include:
- Time-bound, area-wide implementation of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023.
- Expanding smaller-scale sterilization and rabies-vaccination capacity.
- Closing illegal pet shops and breeders to curb impulse buying and abandonment.
- Prohibiting foreign dog breeds often used in illegal dogfights.
- Protecting community feeders and offering strong government incentives for adoption.
For stray cattle, the solutions target the dairy industry's abandonment of male calves and cows whose milk production has waned.
An Impractical and Cruel Alternative
PETA India emphasized the sheer impracticality of mass confinement. With an estimated 62 million free-roaming dogs and 5 million stray cattle in India—a number growing due to dairy industry abandonment—the country lacks the infrastructure, funding, and administrative capacity to house even a fraction of this population. Such attempts would inevitably lead to enormous suffering and mass disease outbreaks.
"The lifelong incarceration of dogs in spaces the size of a funeral pyre—and the relocation of stray cattle into already overcrowded and underfunded gaushalas—is not population management; it is cruelty dressed up as policy," said Shaurya Agrawal, Policy Associate at PETA India. He added that India already possesses lawful, science-based frameworks that need to be implemented in a time-bound manner.
Through its application, PETA India has urged the Supreme Court to ensure that any final directions in the matter uphold constitutional values, existing animal-protection laws, and India's long-standing commitment to compassionate coexistence between humans and animals.
