The Supreme Court is hearing a case on stray dogs. Animal welfare advocates argued that removing the dogs could increase the rat population, prompting the court to ask ... read more

The Supreme Court is hearing a case on stray dogs. Advocate CU Singh, representing animal welfare, argued in court that if stray dogs are removed from the streets, the rat population could increase dramatically. Responding to this, the judge asked, "So, should we bring in cats?"

Advocate CU Singh says that housing large numbers of stray dogs in a single shelter poses the risk of spreading various diseases. Therefore, 91,800 new dog shelters should be built.

Lawyers presented arguments

Senior advocate Dhruv Mehta argued in the Supreme Court that the last monitoring of dogs was conducted in 2009. At that time, there were only 560,000 dogs in Delhi. However, their numbers have now increased. Therefore, monitoring dogs is extremely important.

Senior advocate Nakul Dewan, appearing for another petitioner in the court, said, "My client runs an NGO with 45 people. His team has so far saved the lives of over 66,000 dogs and sterilised 15,000 dogs."

Advocate CU Singh said in the court-

Monkeys also remain a problem in many areas. If we suddenly remove all the dogs, the monkey population could increase, which would have dire consequences. Therefore, we need to strike a balance. Everyone knows what happened in Surat 20-30 years ago.

What did the Supreme Court say?

Responding to the lawyers' argument, the court said, "Does this have anything to do with the removal of stray dogs? The enmity between dogs and cats is well known. Cats kill rats, so should we increase the number of cats and reduce the number of dogs? We need to properly implement ABC (Animal Birth Control) rules."

 PC:Jagran