Animal rights activists stage silent protest against SC orders to relocate stray dogs

CHENNAI: A silent protest was held in Egmore on Sunday as animal activists voiced their strong opposition to the Supreme Court's recent directive for the relocation of stray dogs from public spaces.

As per a report in The Times of India, the demonstrators, who included several pet owners with their animals and animal rights activists, argued that moving community dogs to shelters would be detrimental to the animals welfare and advocated for more compassionate and long-term solutions.

The participants carried placards and walked from Casino Theatre to Langs Garden Lane. They noted that mass impounding is an illegal and unscientific approach that violates animal welfare principles. A city like Chennai which has thousands of stray dogs, lacks the shelter capacity to house them and such facilities would inevitably become overcrowded, and stressful which in turn would lead to high mortality rates, they said.

The activists emphasized that removing sterilized and vaccinated dogs from a territory creates a vacuum that is filled by new dogs which would potentially increase risks of rabies and unchecked breeding. They also stressed that the catch-neuter-vaccinate-release method was a much better alternative.

The protestors also raised doubts about the feasibility of establishing adequate shelter infrastructure within the eight-week timeframe set by the court. Apart from this they were concerned about the government's ability to provide the necessary veterinary care, staffing and resources, with fears that shelters could become death traps for the animals.

As an effective alternative to impounding, the activists proposed that the authorities should take efforts to work with residents to establish designated feeding areas to minimize conflicts between people and dogs.