New Delhi, November 3, 2025: Esya Centre has released a landmark Issue Brief on Free-Ranging Dogs in India: An Empirical Analysis of Human-Animal Interactions, responding to the ongoing policy debate following recent Supreme Court directives on the removal of stray dogs from Delhi–NCR. The brief presents new empirical evidence and national-level survey data from 1,063 respondents across 10 cities to inform a humane, evidence-based approach to community dog management that aligns with both public health priorities and India’s ethical responsibilities.
The paper highlights that India’s Animal Birth Control (ABC) and Anti-Rabies Vaccination (ARV) programme has been successful in reducing rabies-related deaths while improving community safety and coexistence between humans and dogs. It underscores the need to strengthen, not dismantle, this framework through better coordination, reliable data, and citizen participation.
Key Findings
- Human rabies deaths in India have declined tenfold from 534 in 2004 to just 54 in 2024 showing the success of sterilization and vaccination. Between 2022 and 2025, only 126 rabies-related deaths were recorded nationwide.
- The risk of dying from lightning is higher than from rabies; 162 people died from lightning in two months of 2025, while Delhi has reported no rabies deaths since 2022.
- The national survey of 1,063 respondents across 10 cities in India, carried out by the Esya Centre, found that 73.5% of respondents describe community dogs as friendly, 15% as timid, and only 10.8% as aggressive, indicating that most dogs are not aggressive.
- Free-ranging dogs play a critical role in community safety: 91% of respondents said community dogs act effectively deter criminal activity, and 52% felt they help keep women and children safe. Nearly 96% feel safer in their neighborhoods because of them.
- Free-ranging dogs play a role in pest control: Over 51% said community dogs help control rats and monkeys, contributing to cleaner and more balanced urban environments. • Among dog feeders, 74% said feeding dogs is part of their religious practice, rooted in Hindu traditions that have long revered dogs for loyalty and protection.
- Most dog feeders do not face harassment. However, those that are harassed face egregious and disturbing forms of harassment, including physical assault, threats of poisoning dogs, and other serious threats like acid attacks.
- 78% of citizens support sterilization as the most humane and effective control method, and 79% are willing to work with authorities to strengthen the implementation of the ABC–ARV program.
Policy Gaps and Recommendations
The report identifies key challenges, including underfunded ABC programmes, weak veterinary infrastructure, and poor data systems. It recommends:
- Improving data collection by revising the Animal Bite Reporting Form to explicitly record whether the biting dog was a pet or stray.
- Conducting a dog census by enabling evidence-based planning and better resource use. • Protecting feeders by penalizing harassment and recognizing feeders as partners in welfare efforts. • Engaging communities by involving dog-feeders in sterilization, vaccination, and tracking. • Ensuring accountability by creating local vigilance mechanisms for municipal oversight.
Specifically, make municipal authorities accountable to local feeders, and enable to the latter to audit and inspect their premises.
- Strengthening ABC–ARV by prioritizing humane sterilization and vaccination over relocation or culling.
Speaking on the release of the report, Meghna Bal, Director at the Esya Centre, said: “India’s (and humankind’s) relationship with dogs is as old as our civilization itself. They have protected us, lived alongside us, and adapted to our communities in ways few species have. Yet today, we are witnessing calls to erase them from our cities without understanding the data or our shared history. This report shows that humane, evidence-based programmes like ABC–ARV work, save lives, keep communities safe, and reflect on who we are as a society. It also shows that community dogs play a very critical role in keeping us safe. We must build on this progress, not undo it.”
The Esya Centre noted that arbitrary relocation or removal of sterilized dogs, as recently proposed, contradicts both the Animal Birth Control Rules and global best practices. Instead, the think tank urges the creation of robust, data-backed mechanisms for humane management that balance public health, community safety, and animal welfare.
