Supreme Court deadline looms as J&K battles escalating stray dog crisis

Srinagar, Nov 13: The Supreme Court’s November 7 order directing the immediate removal of stray dogs from schools, hospitals and transport hubs has put States, Union Territories on notice. But Jammu and Kashmir, battling one of the highest stray dog densities in India and a collapsing sterilisation sy2em, is nowhere near ready to meet the mandate.

Since 2022, J&K has recorded 2,12,000 dog-bite cases, according to official data. Yet only 48,998 dogs have been sterilised and vaccinated in Srinagar and Jammu between June 2023 and September 2025—an inconsequential fraction of an unchecked stray population for which no official census exists. This year alone, rabies has claimed three lives, including two children in Kulgam and Rajouri.

With 23 stray dogs for every 1,000 people, J&K has the second-highest density in the country.

Under the Supreme Court directive, issued by a bench led by Justice Vikram Nath, States and Union Territories must identify high-risk institutional premises within two weeks and relocate dogs to designated shelters after sterilisation and vaccination under the ABC Rules, 2023. The deadline ends on November 21. The bench also summoned the Chief Secretaries for failing to file compliance reports. J&K and Delhi informed the Court that they had framed guidelines, though the contents have not been made public.

Officials admit that J&K is far from meeting even the basic requirements.

A senior government officer said the sterilisation programme in Srinagar has halted for unspecified reasons, leaving the city without its primary tool to control the population. He described the crisis as the outcome of “infrastructural deficits and administrative inertia,” noting that the Union Territory has no functional Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and “hardly any shelters” outside Jammu district. “Dogs are everyone’s concern, but nobody’s problem to solve,” the official said, adding that municipal bodies are already stretched.

The Supreme Court has made it clear that dogs removed from “risky premises” cannot be returned to their original locations—a requirement that demands large, properly run shelters in every district, equipped to feed, treat, and provide long-term care.

Animal welfare advocates caution that relocation without infrastructure will do more harm than good. “Relocation without robust shelters risks cruelty. We need to upgrade infrastructure, increase manpower and not just resort to knee-jerk roundups,” said Chinny Krishna of Blue Cross India, an early architect of the ABC programme.