By Shirin Dhabhar
Shirin Dhabhar is India’s pioneering Canine Behaviourist and Trainer. For the past 25-plus years, she has worked hard to ensure that dogs in India are trained using humane, reward-based methods.
On 7th November, 2025, the Supreme Court of India directed that free-ranging dogs be removed from schools, hospitals and other institutional areas. Local bodies must capture, sterilise and shelter the dogs, and prevent their re-entry into premises, it said. To some, this could seem like a solution to make our streets safer, but it isn’t.
I have spent over 30 years working with dogs and communities across India and I know this directive will cause more problems than it will solve. Why? Because when we remove the dogs, we don’t just move bodies, we disturb an entire system.
Are We Throwing Out The Baby With The Bathwater?
Contrary to what most people think, our community dogs are not just blots on the landscape, hiding in the shadows, waiting to pounce out on unsuspecting victims. They play a crucial role in the ecosystem. Every night, when shop shutters roll down, street dogs settle by them, quietly guarding the shops at night. At dawn, they greet the watchmen, the milkmen, the first rickshaw out. Not all street dogs chase cyclists or bite passersby, many are a part of the ecosystem.
People complain about the dogs that attack when people come home late at night, but what about those that quietly accompany us on a dimly lit street as we make our way home? What about the dogs that deter rodents, discourage theft, and when sterilised and vaccinated, serve as buffers that prevent new, unvaccinated dogs from entering? What about the dogs that lie quietly outside the hospital gates, or those that play safely with children in schools? Are all those dogs to be removed too?
When we consider blanket removals, we are removing the well behaved, safe dogs too.
What Removal Really Does
Across countries and decades, data tells us one thing clearly: blanket removals and culling don’t work. They create a vacuum effect. Remove one group of dogs, and new ones move in. These newcomers are often fearful, unsterilised, and unvaccinated. Within months, the same conflicts reappear, sometimes worse.
Bali (Indonesia) tried culling during its rabies outbreak. It failed. Dog numbers rebounded, and rabies spread faster. Sri Lanka’s earlier removal drives yielded little progress until vaccination and community programs took over. Latin America, in contrast, achieved near-elimination of rabies not by removal, but by vaccinating over 80% of its dog population every year for decades. Closer to home, India’s own Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules recognise this science. The law already requires dogs to be sterilised, vaccinated, and returned to their location; because stability, not absence, keeps us safe.
The Infrastructure Gap
Even if removal were effective (and it isn’t), it would be logistically impossible to do humanely. Shelters are overflowing. Relocation isn’t humane or sustainable; it only shifts the problem elsewhere. If we remove dogs without a plan for what happens next, we’re setting up a bigger problem. Capturing thousands of dogs from every hospital, school and station without adequate quarantine, medical and behavioural support would overwhelm the system and the programme will collapse in a chaotic heap in weeks.
The Better Way Forward
If we truly want safer cities, we need to stop reacting from fear and start acting with intelligence. There is a better way, and it is already within our reach…
Assess, Think, And Then Remove: Each dog in a sensitive area should be assessed by a behaviourist and a veterinarian. Calm, sterilised, vaccinated dogs stay under supervision while fearful or food-guarding dogs receive training and management. For those with proven aggression or rabies suspicion, immediate quarantine is recommended, with proper documentation.
Strengthen Vaccination And Sterilisation Programs: The WHO and PAHO have shown that vaccinating 70–80% of the dog population can break the chain of rabies. Municipalities across India can do this – it simply needs sustained funding, monitoring, and need to be held accountable.
Expert-Led Intervention Teams: Deploy small, expert teams – a vet, a behaviourist and a community liaison – to handle ‘biting dog’ cases. Many aggression issues can be solved in situ through simple training, control and better feeder practices.
Community Education: Most people get bitten because they misread a dog’s signals. Learning how to stay safe and understand dogs is easy. Educating people how to react to street dogs is possible. Make this education a part of school curriculum so that children can stay safe. It’s not rocket science – it’s possible.
Transparency And Data: Maintain data on every intervention, the assessments, sterilisations and outcomes. Public reporting can help keep the system accountable and build trust.
The Supreme Court’s intention to make public spaces safer is right. But the modus operandi needs to change. We can either repeat the mistakes other countries have made – culling, mass removal or displacing dogs, or we can lead the way by working with proven scientific, humane management.
Because the goal is not to have no dogs – it’s to have no danger. And that difference, between eradication and management, is what separates a fearful society from a wise one.
- Managing Dogs, Protecting People: The Smarter Path To Safer Streets - 22 November2025
- My Parsi Grandma’s Guide to Raising Dogs (And Humans) - 9 August2025
- The Secret Life Of Dogs: What’s Your Doggie Really Thinking? - 15 March2025
