The worst form of death a human being can encounter is due to rabies, which makes the loved ones watch haplessly as the victim dies an unbearably painful death, for there is very little that medical science can do
The Supreme Court’s order directing the authorities in Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida and the rest of the National Capital Region to remove all the stray dogs to specially-made shelters in eight weeks may sound impractical and financially untenable but it seeks to address a very serious issue from the point of view of the most vulnerable segment of the human population in the light of the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The court was moved by reports of a girl succumbing to rabies and insisted that “infants and young children, at any cost, should not fall prey to rabies”. This was not a one-off instance — over 37 lakh dog bite cases were reported across the country in 2024. Worse, there were 180 deaths due to rabies, as per the Union government’s reply to a Lok Sabha question. The number of deaths shot up from 22 in 2022, the House was told.
The worst form of death a human being can encounter is due to rabies, which makes the loved ones watch haplessly as the victim dies an unbearably painful death, for there is very little that medical science can do. Even vaccination will be ineffective if the bite is on the nerve centres close to the head or face as the virus reaches the brain in a matter of a few hours. A combination of serum and vaccine may be of help but it’s not very practical in most cases.
As the court noted, the victims are mostly children, and those who walk or travel by two-wheelers. Those who move around in cars do not have to fear strays at all. This is a problem faced by people at the bottom of the social and economic ladder and there has been little effort to attend to the misery they faced all these years.
Animal lovers would allude to the impracticality of the Supreme Court order, which also contravenes the Animal Birth Control (ABC) rules prohibiting transferring strays from their habitat. It has been pointed out that the government will have to spend Rs 15,000 crores to arrange for shelters for all the estimated three lakh strays in Delhi and another Rs 5 crores a month to feed them. It would rather suggest that sterilisation would help regulate the strays’ numbers while vaccination will alleviate the fear of rabies.
The court cannot be blamed if it did not advocate sterlisation since the human and financial resources required to run such centres meeting the requirements, including project recognition certificates and the infrastructure, would be next to impossible for most local bodies to arrange. That the whole country has only 41 such centres as on date demonstrates why such initiatives are hardly sufficient. The same would be the impediments towards vaccinating all the stray dogs.
However, a practical, considerate and humane approach is necessary if we were to eradicate rabies deaths and regulate strays. As a first step, the Union government must make ABC rules practical, workable, doable and affordable for local bodies. It must also consider setting up shelters, as the court has suggested.
While culling is one way through which some countries manage the number of certain species of animals, it may also be seen in several quarters as a particularly cruel solution. The focus must remain on the health and safety of all people, and humane treatment for all species.
