NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday clarified that it had not ordered the removal of every dog from the streets and that its directions were limited to treating stray canines in accordance with the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules. Hearing arguments in a suo motu case on the stray dog issue, the apex court reiterated that its focus remained public safety and proper implementation of existing rules, not a blanket clearance of animals.A three-judge special bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria was considering a series of pleas, including those filed by dog lovers seeking modification of earlier directions, as well as petitions calling for stricter compliance. “We have not directed the removal of every dog from the streets. The direction is to treat them as per the rules,” Justice Mehta observed.During the hearing, the bench also made an observation on canine behaviour, noting that dogs can sense fear or past trauma in humans. Justice Nath remarked, “A dog can always smell a human who is afraid of dogs and who has suffered a dog bite and he will always attack.”Senior advocates including Shyam Divan, Sidharth Luthra, C U Singh, Krishnan Venugopal, Dhruv Mehta, Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Karuna Nundy made submissions on the complexities of managing stray dog populations. During his submissions, Singh pointed out that cities such as Delhi face a serious rodent problem and also grapple with a unique issue of monkey overpopulation. He warned that the abrupt removal of canines could worsen the rodent menace and lead to serious consequences.“When the rodent population increases, we have seen extremely disastrous outcomes,” he said.In a lighter remark, Justice Mehta noted that dogs and cats are natural enemies and that cats prey on rodents, adding, “So we should promote more cats.”The bench referred to a December 29, 2025 report in the Times of India titled “On the roof of the world, feral dogs hunt down Ladakh’s rare species” and asked lawyers to study it ahead of the next hearing.The hearing will continue on Friday.(With PTI inputs)
